Dr Mario

While Nintendo had Tetris as their lead puzzle game you could have assume they would rely on their laurels, surprisingly however they actually complimented Tetris with a number of other top puzzle games including Dr. Mario. The game which has been released on the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and most recently the Virtual Console which has helped it to have an enduring fan base.

Like most puzzle games of the time the player needs to manipulate falling blocks, this time however the blocks act as "capsules" and are 2-toned. The capsules need to be used carefully to get rid of the virus' that are shown on screen. Like a number of games of the time this is done by matching the coloured segments of the capsules to the corresponding virus'. Each virus needs to be put in a line
with 3 matching capsule segments to get rid of it and the player needs to do this before the stage (a "capsule box" type of design) become full.

As the player progresses through the levels they will notice a growing number of virus' making the game more difficult and also the pills will fall quicker. It's not long before the game becomes incredibly challenging and the game starts to rush you causing your mind to panic and oddly, for such a simple game, it gets your blood pumping.

Whilst the game doesn't look amazing and the music won't blast you away (mainly due to it now sounding aged) you will find this is a solid puzzle game in it's own right. It's not got the magic feeling of Tetris or quite the same addictiveness but it's a solid and challenging game that you can burn time with and enjoy. Though perhaps the best part of the game is the excellent multiplayer mode which sees the two players competing with each other. Whilst it may seem like a little bonus the multiplayer really brings even more life into an excellent and deep puzzler.

86%

Details:
Console-SNES/NES/Game Boy/Game Boy Advance
Release-1990 (NES version)
Developer-Nintendo
Genre-Puzzle
Players-1 or 2

Trivia:
An N64 version was released on the obscure iQue in China in 2003
Dr Mario was a hidden character in Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube

The Great Waldo Search

Licensed games were all the rage in the 1990's whether it was an iconic cartoon character such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, a sports star like Wayne Gretzsky or Brian Lara every other game seemed to be licensed at one point. Whilst some licensed games were amazing ("Aladdin" on the Mega Drive for example) other were simply atrocious and "The Great Waldo Search" certainly sits in the second category.

 If you are in your late teens or early 20's you will almost certainly remember the "Where's Wally?" or "Where's Waldo?" (In the US and Canada) books that most primary schools were littered with. The books were full of colour images and you have to find items in the book (most obviously the title character). They were the sort of colorful and interesting things that would keep a small child busy for a lunch time when it's raining and they were pretty cheap and good fun...sadly someone from Radiance thought it was a great idea for a game. The folks from Radiance however were wrong, very, very wrong.

When you start playing 1 of the 5 levels (which can be played in almost any order) you notice a lot of things. Firstly the graphics, they look like a 12 year old has been told to draw and scene and just stick in the Waldo/Wally character, they look garish and completely lack the charm of the books. The music is a further off putting feature and sounds incredibly naff.

The gameplay however is exactly what you would expect, you need to take a magnifying glass and click it over the items you are searching for (such as Waldo). It's simple but a bit too simple, in fact you can play through the whole game in little more than 10 minutes, which in a way is a relief as you're unlikely to want to spend much longer having your eyes abused by the graphics.

To call this a simple cash in is to state the obvious. It must be avoided like the plague, it's garish, cheap and has the life span of a may fly.

17%

Details:
Console-Sega Mega Drive, SNES and NES
Release-1992
Developer-Radiance
Genre-Puzzle
Players-1

Trivia:
The game was only released in north America (thankfully)
The game is based on the 3rd book in the series created by Martin Handford

DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure

The title screen

 It's funny how some fantastic games were never released outside of Japan and DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure was one such game until coming to the Virtual Console some 12 years after Japanese gaming fans got their hands on this fantastic platforming gem. The Japanese got this classic on the Super Famicom in 1996 and sadly it was never translated (officially) into English (though RPGONE have done a fan translation of the game).

In the game you control Milon (from the games title) who has to go through 7 worlds collecting musical instruments (including an Ocarina for you Zelda fans out there) with a number of levels contained in each
 of these worlds.

Before we get onto the actual game play the first thing you will notice is just how fantastic the game looks. The characters look brilliant the backgrounds are amazing and the game just looks like it's a game that was made to look beautiful. Every level is wonderfully good looking and the presentation makes it something you want to look at and almost admire when you should be playing the game. This is aided massively by music that sounds as good as the game looks it has a very fantasy sound to it and although it was on the Super Famicom the whole presentation is second to none...except for the fact it's in Japanese (see the screen shot to the right.
So now onto the gameplay, your in control of the Milon, the little guy you can see in the screenshots (looking oddly like Link in the screenshot to the left). You can move left and right, enter doorways, jump and...blow bubbles. The bubbles are Milon's main offense and can be blown at enemies to trap them allowing you to push them off the screen, if you jump on enemies (as was typical in other platformers from that error) you merely stun them. The bubbles can also be used be used to break the various blocks you see on your travels through out the game.

As you go through Milon's adventure you come across a number of collectable items including musical notes, winged boots, extra lives, clothes, bubblegum and bowling balls which each have their own use. For example collecting 100 notes will make you invincible for a short period of time whilst the winged boots will allow Milon to "glide" when he jumps. Though it's the "clothes" that make the biggest impact to the game and it's also what acts as Milon's health meter. When he's wearing green clothes he has full health, if he gets hit his clothes will turn to blue and another hit will turn him to red. If Milon gets hit when he's red he will die.

The game features around 40 levels each of which are themed and will see Nilon going through the forest, a food world, a snow world and a fire world (amongst others) all of which look amazing and have charm oozing out of them. Within most levels is a what appears to be a star, these need to be collected on every level inside a world before the player can face that worlds boss, with many later levels having a number of routes through, many of which will see the player failing to get the star.

Despite looking cute, innocent and at times childish the game is incredibly challenging, especially the bosses (the Snow world boss had me swearing much louder than it should have) though the game is rewarding and you feel as if you MUST beat the boss and see the rest of the game.

Whilst SNES owners did have a number of excellent platformers to play around the world (including the Super Mario World and Donkey Country series) this game holds it's own with any other SNES game out there. It looks incredible, it sounds brilliant, it's oozing charm, the levels are excellent throughout, the game is challenging. Whilst the game is now available on the Virtual Console it's a mystery as to why it was never released in the US or Europe in the 90's as it really would have done very well.

Despite being totally in Japanese (apart from "Hudson Soft" and "Stereo" on the title screen) it's simple enough to play and understand and is thoroughly enjoyable from start to end. If you can get you mitts on it DO!

92%

Details:
Console-Super Famicom (Japan Only)
Release-1996
Developer-Hudson Soft
Genre-2D Platformer
Players-1

Trivia:
The game was a sequel to the NES game Milon's Secret Castle (which did get a US release)
A fan translated version of the game can be found and is called "Do-Re-Mi Fantasy: Milon's Quest"