All 16-Bit

Review #12094 Puggsy One-person Lost Vikings Sega CD 1994 Psygnosis Puzzle Puzzle › Platform F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I debated whether to call this a puzzle or a platformer but settled on calling it a Lemmings-style puzzler. Oddly enough, much of the puzzle elements in each level are optional which I suppose gives the game replay value. Gameplay is...awkward. You've got a ridiculously short jump. You can pick up one moveable item at a time, some of which can be "used", such as firing a gun. Other items can simply be moved around to create a platform or to solve a simple puzzle. What's weird is that literally everything has collision so while carrying an item you bounce off of or knock around other items. As a ...

Review #11064 Lemmings Slowdown incarnate PCE CD 1992 Sunsoft Puzzle Puzzle › Platform E 69 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay What can you say about Lemmings? It's a near perfect puzzle game. Unfortunately, this version is so incredibly slow. Play any other version instead. 5 / 5 Level Design After a quick series of tutorials you're on your own to figure out the puzzles which quickly become devious and are always addictive and satisfying to complete. Wonderful difficulty curve. Play for as long as you'd like and use a password to pick up where you left. 4 / 5 Theme Simple premise and I appreciate that they didn't try to give the lemmings 90s 'tude...

Review #11014 Builder Land PCE CD 1992 Micro World Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 17 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like Eek the Cat or Rocko's Modern Life. You escort a little guy who walks across the screen. You can stop time and grab certain blocks and move them elsewhere. The rules are that you can't place a block on or above the kid (he'll die) and you can't move the block while he's standing on it. Problem is, he is only one block from the far left of the screen so you barely have time to grab the block he's just walked off of before it's lost off screen. You can stop time to gain ample time to move blocks around but the level timer doesn't stop. Controlwise the cursor is somewhat slow and d...

Review #8154 Zipang I'm blocked PCE 1990 Pack-In-Video Puzzle Puzzle › Platform G 43 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Single screen puzzler. The core mechanic is the ability to build or destroy blocks. Enemies can be killed only by removing a block from below them. It's basically Kickle Cubicle as a platformer but without the ability to directly kill enemies. That last part about not killing enemies is this game's Achilles heel, but we'll talk about that in the level design section. An oppressive timer means that you can't take your time to noodle over how to solve a room. It's a speedrun the full time. Laggy controls. Feels like the mid-80's arcade game that it is. Also, jump is accomplished via pressing up on the dpad, w...

Review #6847 Worms Don't play solo MD PAL 1995 Ocean Puzzle Puzzle › Platform H 27 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Probably only works as a multiplayer game. The only mode I can find allows me to play as every player using a single controller. Controls are fine, although movement is annoying. It's turn based and you can select a weapon and fire it at a nearby enemy Worm. The novelty wears off quickly. My main complaint is an inability to move the camera to see the map. How am I supposed to aim at anything outside of my immediate area? 2 / 5 Level Design The stages seem random and the game places players all around the map in clusters. Who ever goes first in these groupings has an advantage. Mm k ...

Review #6831 S.S. Lucifer: Man Overboard! Sink MD PAL 1994 Codemasters Puzzle Puzzle › Platform F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the SNES version, but with more responsive controls. 3 / 5 Level Design Some of the same levels as the SNES version, but a much improved learning curve. I got further into this game and didn't get stuck. 2 / 5 Theme You're a scuba guy. Actually you're Scuba Steve from Big Daddy and you ride in a yellow submarine, like The Beatles. Your job is to rescue idiots on a sinking cruise ship, ala The Poseidon Adventure. So yeah, there are a whole bunch of very dated pop culture references in this one. Oh and you look li...

Review #6069 Pyramid Magic III First stage woes MD 1991 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 20 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Same game 0 / 5 Level Design I can't beat the first stage. WTH 2 / 5 Theme 2 / 5 Art Style 2 / 5 Audio A different song! Much better than the one in the first two games. More MD reviews Browse all reviews

Review #6070 Pyramid Magic Special MD 1991 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 18 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay I'm so confused. Why were four identical games released in a single year?! 0 / 5 Level Design Once again I can't finish the first stage. 2 / 5 Theme 2 / 5 Art Style 1 / 5 Audio Back to the awful music. More MD reviews Browse all reviews

Review #6068 Pyramid Magic II Tumuchankhamun MD 1991 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 23 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Looks, plays, and is identical to the first game. Is this DLC? 1 / 5 Level Design Same story here as the first game. I got ot stage 5 there and only to 4 here. 2 / 5 Theme 2 / 5 Art Style 1 / 5 Audio Same song More MD reviews Browse all reviews

Review #6067 Pyramid Magic Cubes in pyramids MD 1991 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 23 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Reminds me of that Sutte game for the Super Famicom where the game amounts to carefully dropping blocks in just the right position. Place it just wrong and you're dead. The controls are strange, but not unlike other single screen puzzlers. A kicks, B picks up blocks, and C jumps. Your jump is short so again the core mechanic is using blocks in precise patterns to create staircases for climbing or squeezing through short passages. I found myself fighting the controls more than the puzzles and having little fun while doing it. 1 / 5 Level Design I only made it through 5 stages befor...

Review #6031 Ikasuze! Koi no Doki Doki Penguin Land MD Toki Tori x Billy Hatcher x Downwell MD 1992 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Platform D 72 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay The objective is to get your egg to the bottom of the screen. You can do only three things - jump, push the egg, and dig a hole. You can only dig on the space next to you so single spaces can't be used. There are special blocks like one that disappears when the eggs touches it or a wood block that can be pushed. Also bear enemies who will kill you but can be killed with a wood block. And finally the egg can fall no more than three spaces else it will break. These simple rules make for an easy to understand concept. Controls are responsive and easy to use, although one mistake and you...

Review #3938 Worms Don't play solo SNES PAL 1996 Ocean Puzzle Puzzle › Platform H 31 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Probably only works as a multiplayer game. The only mode I can find allows me to play as every player using a single controller. Controls are fine, although movement is annoying. It's turn based and you can select a weapon and fire it at a nearby enemy Worm. The novelty wears off quickly. My main complaint is an inability to move the camera to see the map. How am I supposed to aim at anything outside of my immediate area? 2 / 5 Level Design The stages seem random and the game places players all around the map in clusters. Who ever goes first in these groupings has an advantage. Mm k ...

Review #3930 Super Morph SNES PAL 1993 Sony Imagesoft Puzzle Puzzle › Platform H 30 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay You're a boy who's been turned into a blob. You have four forms which you can morph into at will, albeit with strict limitations. Your movement differs for each form, and none of them feel good. There's a bouncy ball which is awful to control as you bounce off every surface and it requires numerous bounces to get to the height needed for most platforming. Then there's an iron ball which allows you to smash into walls and nothing else. Then there's a ball of water which let's you walk through some walls and floors and finally there's a cloud which allows you to float upward and laterally but not downward for some ...

Review #3928 Super Dany The Lost "French Kid" Vikings SNES PAL 1994 Virgin Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 22 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay The Lost Vikings clone with imprecise and frustrating controls. Incredibly slow movement with a run button that has a long warm-up and cool down making it difficult to control. Three playable characters - a kid with a laser gun, a child who can crouch and crawl, and a girl who tumbles like a gymnast. Besides the laser kid, these abilities are terrible. The girl has the tallest jump, but her tumbling is a weird attack ability. Several collectibles are spread around the stage but most do nothing. The only useful items are keys which open doors. Awful hit detection destroys any fun you might have. ...

Review #3912 Humans Lemmings meets Lost Vikings meets Tedium SNES PAL 1993 GameTek Puzzle Puzzle › Platform X 21 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Shares similarities with Lost Vikings and Lemmings. You have a group of humans and can take direct control of one at a time. You can cycle between different jobs to give to them, such as making a human ladder or throwing out jumping with a spear. Their moves are incredibly restrictive and therein lies the problem - the game just isn't fun. It offers no joy - it's laborious to solve even the early puzzles. 2 / 5 Level Design I mercifully only played a couple of puzzles. And yeah they took that long to complete. The solution was painfully obvious but th...

Review #2394 Sutte Hakkun Place the block here. No, here. NO, HERE! AAARRGGH SFC 1999 Nintendo Puzzle Puzzle › Platform H 25 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Terribly awkward controls. Use Y to inhale or exhale blocks and paint which gives those blocks movement. Red is vertical movement, Blue is horizontal, and Yellow is diagonal. Sounds simple enough, but the truck isn't so much in decided what to do, it's in making the game do what you want it to do. The main problem is that placement of the blocks is done via a grid-based system with miniscule tiles. Combine this the way-too fast movement of your character and what you get is a frustrating game of timing your jump and exhale at just the right moment. It's maddening and not worth the hass...

Review #2226 Mario & Wario Point and click, and click and click and click SFC 1993 Nintendo Puzzle Puzzle › Platform F 53 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay This is a mouse game where you click to create or destroy platforms, collect coins, or interact with other environmental elements. The objective is to clear and prepare a path for Peach, Mario, or Luigi to wander toward the goal. So yeah, it's an escort mission using a mouse. And not just any mouse - the Super NES Mouse. I played it with the authentic hardware and could not believe how hard it is. Even with the slowest settings I was constantly yelling at the mouse to register my clocks and move where I told it to. I hate to blame the controller but this is what the game was built fo...

Review #2143 Hameln no Violin Hiki SFC 1995 Enix Puzzle Puzzle › Platform E 68 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Well, it's an escort mission, but done fairly well. The puzzles get obtuse quickly but most of the game is just platforming. You've got a short projectile attack to get rid of the infrequent enemies but the real challenge is navigating the platforming sections using an ever growing assortment of transformations for your companion. It's like a really slow mashup of Kirby, Poochy from SMB2, and The Lost Vikings. Very slow movement which makes enemy avoidance difficult. 3 / 5 Level Design As you might expect, the levels are carefully crafted to make you find a solution with the transformati...

Review #4454 Puggsy One-person Lost Vikings Genesis 1994 Psygnosis Puzzle Puzzle › Platform F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I debated whether to call this a puzzle or a platformer but settled on calling it a Lemmings-style puzzler. Oddly enough, much of the puzzle elements in each level are optional which I suppose gives the game replay value. Gameplay is...awkward. You've got a ridiculously short jump. You can pick up one moveable item at a time, some of which can be "used", such as firing a gun. Other items can simply be moved around to create a platform or to solve a simple puzzle. What's weird is that literally everything has collision so while carrying an item you bounce off of or knock around other items. As a r...

Review #4318 Lost Vikings Level design 101 Genesis 1994 Interplay Puzzle Puzzle › Platform C 82 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Excellent of course. Go read the SNES writeup. However it must be said that you should only play this game with a six button controller. With a three-button the menuing is horrendous. 5 / 5 Level Design Every level is fair and thoughtful. You can take your time as you move from station to station within each level such that it feels like each checkpoint is a level within a level. Most levels require careful planning more than twitch reflexes but there's enough variety to keep you on your toes. Superb level design. 5 / 5 Theme This is where the game shi...