Puzzled Game Sample - Neo Geo CD
15Puzzled (also known as Joy Joy Kid) is an Arcade title that was released late in 1990 by SNK and ported to several platforms including the Neo Geo, NGCD, NGX, PS4, XB1 and Switch. If it looks like a shameless derivative of Tetris at a glance, that's because it is, but it offers a few slight differences and a surprisingly outlandish plot that would make it a nice, worthwhile game to track down if it wasn't for a few major detrimental elements and an absurd RNG element. There are two things I can say of glowing praise: it features 120 levels and it's sort of the precursor to "Tetris Plus", but beyond that, it's pretty mediocre for a a few reasons.
The story revolves around the age old "Battle of the Sexes". Once upon a time, there was a village of men and a village of women who were constantly fighting each other... like, hardcore fighting -- the skirmishes killed almost all the adults on both sides, leaving only old folk and children. Out of desperation, the Sun God built a giant wall to separate them and erected a massive tower in the middle. This caused another problem; sunlight could not reach the villages, so two representatives of each village, Rad (Boy) and Am (Girl), go on a quest to climb the tower in hot air balloons to reach the top and beg for sunshine. Along the way, many other Gods have inhabited this tower for some reason and allow you to rise ever higher every ten levels you clear, but just when you think you're done after stage 60, the character you didn't choose has to climb all the way to the top too! This ironically makes it one of the longest Arcade games ever (at least one of the longest that has an actual end) as a perfect (read: impossible without manipulation) run can take more than three hours (eclipsing the usual 20-60 minutes of the average Arcade game).
As for the gameplay, there's not a whole lot to say if you've played Tetris or Tetris Plus: Your goal is to use Tetrominos to clear lines and rescue the balloon that's always trapped on each level reach the top of the screen. After a short period, the drop speed will greatly increase and the game shows no mercy with its mission-based structure as you will run into several obstacles right away ranging from blocks that require multiple line clears to eliminate, blocks that can't be eliminated at all, blocks that regenerate over time, blocks that zap your balloon, obstacles that temporarily stun the balloon, etc. I appreciate the variety of the levels and the game's one power-up: a light ball that you can use in a pinch to help your balloon fly to freedom, and it should often be used strategically on certain levels. Two other things are the two player mode which is a competition to see who can climb the tower first, which plays out simultaneously and is at least interesting to see in action, and a few brief (and easy) platforming segments.
The audio/visuals are nothing special even for a game of the genre during its time of release, but they're serviceable; I imagine almost any system of the time could've of replicated the game with little issue, but Neo owners still needed the game in their libraries as it's one of the few titles that isn't a fighter or shooter. So why wouldn't I recommend it? The biggest reason is the game's slightly sluggish response (controls) combined with the ability to only turn your Tetrominos in one direction -- for a game like this to truly shine, it needed tight controls and the ability to flip Tetrominos in either direction. This might sound minor, but its not... to put it into perspective, try imagining you're speed-running Super Mario Bros. and you can't go left or decelerate for any reason, only keep marching right without fail... it's a little like that. It doesn't help that this game has a habit of giving you the same block three, four, or even five times or more in a row, and it does this often, which will literally screw you out of clearing many stages. No bueno.
There is one sliver lining to the play mechanics; when you clear a line, all blocks descend and fill holes or gaps where applicable, which is by design and a huge benefit, but it's still overshadowed by the aforementioned issues. Other things of note is that the NG/NGCD versions are more or less straight ports of the Arcade game... while I could understand this for the NG version, the fact that the NGCD game (1994) doesn't take any advantage of the CD hardware with enhanced music or extra features is almost offensive. In this day and age when digital versions cost a fraction of what this title goes for with a few minor tweaks for the game's betterment (High-Score Mode, Achievements, etc.), I can't really vouch for this game on the collector's market. Still, I've played worst puzzlers.
This is a brief video of the game in action. Enjoy.
- ADDITION -
Like Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegamingsanctuary/
Follow Us On Twitter: https://twitter.com/GS_Vyse_and_Bel
Visit Us At: http://www.gamingsanctuary.com