The Puzzle Head Thread - The Bear and Badger

davyK

mk64 wrote:

No hard drop???? Wtf?!?!

Yeah - that's what I thought - there's a fair bit of Japanese throughout the game (options screen for example) and there's a toggle setting that I haven't figured out yet - hadn't thought it might be hard drop option though that is unlikely - will give that a try.

Given that there's keyboard support you would think that hard drops would be there as I'd associate keyboard tetris as more hard-core. Will try it with keyboard to see if it makes a difference. Come to think of it - I have only tried to hard drop by pressing up - maybe it's mapped to another button...

EDIT : no joy - and the keyboard was a red herring - it's only for use in the long defunct online lobby. No hard drop then.

Discovered a hard mode and a weird 1 player mode that sticks the next two pieces together each time you clear line(s)... Couple of other options I can't figure out though.

davyK

Just went online and got my arse handed to me again (Tetris Party Deluxe)....up against someone with a 7000+ rating (I'm around 4500). Only won 1 round out of about 15 or so,,,,,gave up.

Depression lifted slightly by breaking 2 mins in 40line mode - 1:58 - getting better.

davyK

Tetris considered as an event at the Mind Sports Olympiad

http://harddrop.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4893

mistercrayon

The only way that makes sense is if you are allowed infinite time for each piece and everyone gets the same piece. Its about as mind sports as streetfighter!

davyK

Pretty sure there are versions that will do that - though I thought infinite time was more or less game breaking.Â

Much better to reset the lock delay after a line drop which is now considered good form (unless I'm mistaken - mk64 will no doubt enlighten me!)

There are highly configurable open source games out there are a lot of people use..NullpoMino seems pretty definitive. Problem is though the old Tetris licence wrangling..

davyK

Have ordered the lovely looking Wind and Water Puzzle battle for Dreamcast....currently reduced to 15euro...

mk64

That looks cool.

I'm playing tower defense games at the moment which are part strategy/part puzzler imo

davyK

They certainly fit into my idea of a puzzle game. Have only ever played one though - it was a free browser based affair that I can't remember the name of.

davyK

Just received my copy of Wind and Water Puzzle Battle for Dreamcast.

This is an independantly produced game and if the game is anywhere near as good as the packaging then its going to a be treat. This looks better than an officially released game - it comes in a jewel case a la US/JPN Dreamcast official titles with spine card (Saturn importers will remember those) with a lovingly produced manual in Japanese and English. The disc itself has a very nice piece of artwork on it. This was delivered to me very quickly in nice packaging accompanied by some nice promo material (redspotgames) - and a lollipop - for less then 20 euro inc. p&p.

It is region free, supports the DC's VGA box and arcade stick, and seems to be packed with content. Can't wait to get home and give this a go - really looking forward to Sturmwind from the same people now.

The game is what matters of course - reviews have been positive - will report back.

UPDATE
This is nice - really nice. Gameplay is like a cross between PanelDePon (aka Tetris Attack) and Bejeweled Twist. There seems to be a pile of options , modes and difficulty levels - it could get terribly hardcore. This is a full featured game with tutorial, story, arcade and puzzle with sub-modes , unlockables etc. and the whole thing is presented immaculately with lovely graphics and audio.

There's a real cute option for you to send a photo off and they send you a code that seems to generate a custom avatar for you to use - nice.

acemuzzy

I was about to start a puzzle game thread, and then found this one in need of a bump. What recent finds have people had?

I've recently enjoyed:
- The Bridge
- Thomas Was Alone (if that counts)
- Pullbox
- Picross

I'm also kinda intrigued by Metrico... not sure quite what to expect from it, but could be fun if done well

Shinji

That trailer explained nothing, pretty though.

I managed to find Slitherlink on the DS on my recent Japan trip. It's very good. Hasn't grabbed me like Picross did.
Also, Mabble on the iOS which is a maths crossword kind of thing. It's free to try but there are IAP to unlock the full game. Worth it

mk64

Not sure why I feel compelled to say this but if you haven't played Meteos on the DS then by hook or by crook you should. I played for about 3 months and it's insanely fun/hard/clever/tense. Can prob emu these days.

Birdorf

I would have enjoyed it but...

Spoiler:

kind if killed it for me.

Birdorf

OF, BLOODY OF.

dynamiteReady

Fentonizer wrote:

Ok, so reaction/dexterity based puzzling still counts. I retract my statement because this:

That game, and Devil Dice, were awesome.

adkm1979

acemuzzy wrote:

I'm also kinda intrigued by Metrico... not sure quite what to expect from it, but could be fun if done well

Shinji wrote:

That trailer explained nothing, pretty though.

The world is made up of infographics which represent your movement in real time. It seems that, as it gets harder, if you traverse the screen the most obvious way, your path at the end will be blocked by the bar of a bar chart or whatever, so you need to find a way to traverse the environment with, say, less jumping and more running, or whatever. Not sure I've explained that well...

davyK

dynamiteReady wrote:

Ok, so reaction/dexterity based puzzling still counts. I retract my statement because this:

That game, and Devil Dice, were awesome.

Agreed. The PS1 got loads of great puzzlers actually. Anyone remember One Piece Mansion ? You were a landlord trying to keep all your tenants happy and it got pretty manic making sure compatible people lived beside another etc.

davyK

Picked up another version of Tetris.....Tetris64 by Seta. JPN N64 only.

There are 3 main modes - Classic, Giga Tetris, and bio tetris.

Within classic and giga tetris there are 3 sub-types. A is classic Tetris. B is the Nintendo 25 line mode with selectable garbage from the start and C-Type adds garbage onto the bottom every so often.

The Giga mode (with A,B and C options) is a nice alternative - you play with normal and double sized pieces. The big pieces break up and then fall under gravity when you create lines (not unlike New Tetris when you perform a twist move) and you can select the width of the pit in giga mode too.

Bio mode works with a heart monitor that clips onto your ear and connects to the controller(!) You can play in two ways - speeds matches pulse or speed is opposite of pulse. There are odd shaped pieces thrown into this mode.

Control: No hard drops which for the age is no surprise perhaps but then it gets interesting.

By default there are no wall kicks either. There is lock delay and charging. It is pretty responsive and feels nice to play even for an old game.

There's an option screen that lets you switch on wall kicks and also lets you toggle between 2 rotation systems - pretty cool for a game this age. You can also toggle random piece colours and random spawned piece alignment. There is also a double rotation option but i can't figure out what that is actually doing.

The look is pleasing - everything is nice and clear and the music is original (4 tracks or silence) and of pretty decent quality.

Multi-player is straight up battle tetris only - no B or C types supported which is kind of a shame - though you can start with garbage a la B-Type if you want and classic mode supports up to 4 players. You can also play multi-player giga mode (up to 4) and 2 player bio sensor mode. With more than 2 players, garbage is directed at other players by using the N64 camera buttons - you can store your attacks up and then dish them out a line at a time to different players which is cool. Attacks consist of random garbage - not like modern games that leave a column empty to allow for counter attacking.

The level progression is odd - it seems to slow right down at level 19 and then build up again - the max. speed level appears to be 30. I got to level 31 and I'm no star player - so this seems quite an easy version of the game. The randomiser seems to favour throwing 2 or 3 of the same shape at you from time to time - enough to be noticeable - reminds me of New Tetris which does that to aid square creation.

Another interesting feature is the preview piece at the top of the display will move left or right when you charge up - lets you see where it will enter the pit.

In the options you can also select smooth or line based shape movement. This is a pretty full featured game given its age and the fact that it is a console game. This is an odd one but I'm really glad I picked it up.

Blue Swirl

dynamiteReady wrote:

Fentonizer wrote:

Ok, so reaction/dexterity based puzzling still counts. I retract my statement because this:

That game, and Devil Dice, were awesome.

I played the living crap out of the Kurushi demo way back in the day. Always regret not buying it. I'm tempted to get a PS Vita TV for the PSOne library; the trailer featured Devil Dice and that's been on my list of things to buy for years.

davyK

Will be interesting to see how these 2 games can be balanced in a versus scenario - Puyo players can build huge chains.

davyK

Picked up Tetris Evolution today for £8 on a whim. I just can't resist picking Tetris games up - no idea how many I have.

For some reason I didn't hold out much hope for this - but it's actually really rather good. One of the finest Tetris 2 player versus modes for casual players is 1st to 25 lines with garbage on. This mode exists on the old SNES cartridge "Tetris & Dr Mario" and up until now I haven't been able to find this on a console since that release. It's a great mode because games don't last too long and the race concept adds a bit of pace when players aren't skilled enough to create attacks quickly - it adds up to an excellent game for my office league.

Even the mighty Tetris Party Deluxe (which I still hold up as the best ever console Tetris game) doesn't have this mode - closest it gets is 40 lines mode with no garbage - but Tetris Evolution does - it even lets you select 10, 25 or 40 lines with garbage on or off.

The variations are nowhere near as imaginative as those in Tetris Party Deluxe but it has all of the sensible modes that a good version needs. It hasn't taken me too long to adjust to the petulant xbox dpad and I'm enjoying this.

krs

Considering my list for the GotG Thread has found me playing Armadillo Run of late. Download the demo here, buy the game around about there also, and watch these videos people have made with terrible music (thankfully not from the game) somewhere ... hmm ... here ↓

hylian_elf

Whoa, check out the physics in that!!!

I was thinking about the/my GOTG thread recently... Cos Dark Souls will most likely be number 3 at the moment.

davyK

nice....reminds me of the old PC game called Incredible Machine - taken to the 21st C max of course.

Also this....

davyK

Got Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss for SNES today. Was a JPN only release.

The control is really loose but in a good way. Very responsive and accurate - feels a lot like Tetris Battle Gaiden (another gorgeous version on SNES that has spell casting built into the game).

Battery backup for 10 players - wonder how long that will last(!)

2 player battle mode is a bit disappointing. Only Type A battle in classic Tetris mode. Type B is a nice option to have as the race element means quick turn-around for matches. The only 2 versions I know of that features Type B battle is Tetris & Dr. Mario (SNES) and Tetris Evolution(360). Still - the battle mode on this cart works just fine as a straight up 2 player versus game which plays first to 3 matches.

Bombliss mode is excellent. Pieces have little bomb segments and your lines cause them to explode which can cause nearby bombs to explode in a nice chain-reaction-ey way. It's more puzzle like as the objective is to clear the screen from predefined layouts. There's a 2 player battle mode for it too which is nice. Bombliss mode is in Tetris Party Deluxe for Wii too but it looks like this original mode has different puzzles - need to check that.

EvilRedEye

Re: above discussion, Kurushi Final is on PSN.

I bought those Mario Mini games the other week. Started playing the first one, seems pretty fun.

Blue Swirl

EvilRedEye wrote:

Re: above discussion, Kurushi Final is on PSN.

I played the crap out of the demo of that. For Christmas I could have got FFVII or Kurushi, and I decided on FFVII. I still vaguely regret that decision.

AGAIN!

PERRRRRFECT!

davyK

It's a shame not many got to play Kurushi so nice to hear Sony have rectified that.

Blue Swirl

davyK wrote:

It's a shame not many got to play Kurushi so nice to hear Sony have rectified that.

I'm thinking of getting a Vita when Minecraft drops; Kurushi and Devil Dice will also be on the list of things to download!

davyK

Tetris heads probably already know about this, and I have been aware if it myself for time, but if you like Tetris you will love Nullpomino, an open source, multi-platform game.

Not only does it have Tetris with every possible mode and tweak to the rules you could think of, including hardcore stuff like tweakable auto shift delays, rotation schemes and wallkick options, AND have loads of existing Tetris games replicated using pre-set options, it also has modes replicating Dr Mario (which it calls physician), puyo, (it calls avalanche) and Super Puzzle Fighter (called SPF), all with different modes.

It also supports local and online multiplayer, and is presented with production values worthy of any release I have seen, if not better.

Worth a google, or just go here: http://harddrop.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2317

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