Q - Quizzical Quickies! My Top 10 Quiz & Puzzle Games

When all the butt-kicking, laser-shooting, spell-casting and tarmac-chewing business gets a little too much, many of us gamers turn to a puzzle game for a bit of light brain exercise and normally end up ageing rapidly in the process. They come in many shapes and sizes, some are single player stuff and others can provide a multi-player bit of mind mashing. While puzzle titles may not receive the exposure or awards that action/arcade games do, some have proved significant in the ongoing development of video games. One in particular. Here is my top 10 of the most puzzling, bamboozling and easily playable Quizzical games. Fingers on buzzers, let's begin.

The Academy Award's new design was not popular

#10 Buzz! (Series) - The quiz show in your own home; this series of Playstation titles was unique in it's presentation and interface making for a fun experience. Designed for multiple players and focused around the basis of the fictitious TV quiz of the same name, each player had a special controller to respond to questions or buzz in with the answer. Over the 18 titles released, each show is slightly different; alternate themes, question rounds etc.. All whilst remaining consistent to the premise. Many an evening has been spent at family meals with a little post-dessert Buzz! time. Enjoyable, amusing in parts and highly interactive. A fine series of games oh yes, until the questions run out of course.

#9 Pipe Mania - Simple but ingenious, this hit the 8-bit home systems with a storm, acquiring many awards in the process. Since then it has been ported and re-made several times on many platforms, sometimes going by the alias Pipe Dream. In the game, you are tasked to connect a pipeline together with a series of sliding tiles, all within a time limit. When the time expires, fluid that is due to flow down the pipe gets released. Becoming frenetic and happily maddening, it's a great one for the reflex's and eye-responses. Cheaper than a real plumber too.

#8 Plotting - Odd little game this, but quite clever and often forgotten about. You control a yellow blob who has the talent of shooting blocks with symbols on. You have to destroy the game board by matching the symbols up together. The twist comes in your skill to bounce the blocks of the walls/roof of the game area, so that they hit the right target. One of the best games on the GX4000 and for my mind, a neat looking puzzler overlooked unfairly thanks to it's big brother Puznic. (Which is not in this list. So there.)

#7 Minesweeper - We all know this one, or at least we should do. Either having chanced upon it whilst bored at work, it may have even been the first game you played on your spanking new Windows 95 PC; Minesweeper continues on with each release of the Microsoft OS, part of the furniture if you will. Mentally challenging, it's a bit of a clandestine morsel that manages to grab your attention almost by accident. If you haven't played it and you have MS Windows - Start/All Programs/Games = Bingo! Don't say I don't do nothing for you.

Mr Top was confident he would win the Chelsea Flower Show

#6 SpinDizzy - Nothing to do with that Egg-fella, this is an isometric gem that has a certain style and poise that is unmistakable. The player controls a spinning top of sorts, and you must guide it through many mazes and stages, at the same time collecting points and solving lift-puzzles. It has plenty in it to keep the brain ticking, but also requires the control expertise of a platform game. Re-made for the Snes as Spindizzy Worlds, it retained the quintessence with a lovely new 16-bit look. 

#5 Columns - SEGA's answer to Nintendo's runaway Gamboy hit (See #1), this colourful gem-dropper was to start and inspire series of similar games, but never quite having the quality this did. Played on any of the SEGA systems of the early nineties, matching those gems in lines seemed so effortless, but my word was it addictive. Many Game Gear batteries died a premature death due to Columns. Oh, and the silly TV receiver thingy. I thank you SEGA fans..

#4 Bejeweled - Clearly influenced by the above title; the graphical likenesses can be seen but the concept is slightly changed. I say slightly, because you are still matching gems in lines, but this time on a game board, swapping the gems around methodically and carefully to achieve the score required by each level. Several variations of this exist including Blitz and Twist, the latter being my personal favourite. Popcap, the creator of Bejeweled had made a top class puzzle game, with potential to dominate. It's now available on most formats, online and of course as a mobile app. I still have never worked out why the creepy, rasping voice-over is included. A hallmark of the game though if a little unusual. 

#3 Klax - Another puzzler from the nineties that doesn't get the full glory or accolades it should, it has been ported to almost every home console and home computers. It looks stunning, and the concept is wonderful. A sloping runway feeds you tumbling tiles which you have to order in the game board to achieve pre-set goals. It provokes many aspects of puzzling; including reflex's, forward planning, assumption, luck and co-ordination. It's utterly fearsome in it's difficultly in later stages but still drags you back in with it's colourful, brash look and cheerful tunes. Klax-amaze!

#2 Lemmings - Guide those little green haired blighters to safety is your draft, saving as many as possible and progress onto the next fantastic environment. A silly game and notion on the outside, but on the inside.. Wow! Lemmings was yet another remarkable game made by DMA, who had a talent for showcasing somewhat dubious themes but making them amusing and absorbing. With different ways to beat each of the many levels, this is one for the ages that calls on all of your puzzling adroitness, but the real reason why it's such a great game is because it's so enjoyable and satisfying to play. Best of all, if you fail miserable you can blow all the buggers up for a cheap thrill. Nuke 'em!

An awesome sight. Tetris of course, not the Geyser!

#1 Tetris - I would find it impossible to believe that any gamer, or any person in the western world for that matter has not played this; the Russian block-stacker that has become the most famous puzzle video game. Alexey Pajitnov, the original programmer of Tetris, was working behind the iron curtain at the time of it's birth, so it's actually incredible the game was ever even allowed to be released. The PC's had the first bragging rights, but it wasn't until Nintendo got hold of it, sold it with the Gameboy, and the rest is history. If you have been living underground since 1984, you have a blank game board with on of 7 shapes falling down for you to arrange together into lines. It's as basic as they come, but it has the uncanny ability to completely suck you in, obsessed by reaching that next level. I cannot think of another title from the last 40 years that has been ported to almost anything with a display screen, it is that widespread and undoubtedly the crown emperor of puzzle games. No argument!

This may be my first list that everybody will agree on the number 1 choice, but feel free to make a suggestion if you think otherwise. Puzzle titles are a great leveler in video game genre's, there is always at least one that any given gamer will like, play and loose their hair too. The next post in this April challenge is more factual, as I look at some of the eye-raising and interesting stats over the course of video games over the years. R is for Record Role-Call!

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I - Impossible Incarnations! My Top 10 Hardest Games

Most of us like a good challenge in life, this very blog is part of one! It's that feeling of winning that brings a sense of euphoria and well-being, after beating the odds and emerging victorious  In recent times it can be argued that video games have gotten easier, with the endless amount of guides, tips and cheats online aiding this trend. Some games are still as hard as nails, but you really have to go back a few years to find the real tough-nuts, the ones which seemed impossible and made you want to tear the skin off your face in frustration. Face still intact however, these are my top 10 impossible games, the ones which are very, very, very difficult to beat. If ever.

John regretted feeding the T-101 the cake labelled 'Eat Me'

#10 Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super Probotector) - The Contra series has always been a bit of a hard-nut, much like the gun-toting cigar-chewing antagonists of the game, but the third installment released on the Snes really upped the ante. The fine graphics, big bosses and great soundtrack don't mask the fact it is a very challenging run 'n gun romp indeed, even with all that mad fire-power at your disposal. 

#9 Robocop 2 - It's a bit of a misleading title this, and one of the few excellent games on the GX4000 console. The first level is modestly tough, but things get silly with the first puzzle section, and then on from there is progressively gets harder. The main reason of this is the hazardous obstacles, which are abundant throughout the platform stages. Also, the time limit is strict and re-start points are few and far between. Frustrating, but still a sublime game all the same. There will be... Trouble!

#8 Klax - After the early easy stages, the targets this colourful puzzler sets are high. Very high. The good news is you have the choice to choose whether you play these harder levels straight away or later on, I opt for later, because it gives you time to tune up your skills for the daunting tasks ahead. Very satisfying when you do complete hard level though, so this makes it not only very difficult but one of my favourite puzzlers of all time.

#7 Final Fight - From the moment you reach the second stage, you know things are going to be a rough ride from then on. Mostly because the arcade would rinse you of your money with glee upon your death. Unlike Double Dragon and Streets of Rage, many, many thugs would close in on you simultaneously, highly damaging flaming barrels and such like would appear of the blue, and the bosses were complete pests. They were guilty of cheating a lot too, little tykes!

Reports from the cave suggested the prototype
Batwing was not a great success

#6 Tornado Low Level - An early and rare 8-bit flight simulation that was a real bugger. No fighters to shoot down, no  whizz-bang explosions; you merely had to take off, destroy practice targets and land safely, the latter of which being the real tricky thing to pull off. Sensitive controls were essential for this, and the game had them, but maybe a little too responsive. One tiny move in error, and a nosedive into the runway was imminent. Mildly entertaining but ultimately unfulfilling due to this factor. 

#5 Fantastic Dizzy - A wonderful game, bright and breezy, smile inducing Dizzy fun. But, it was a bit of a rotten egg in the difficulty stakes. The primary game was hard enough, with the accuracy of the platform jumping having to be exactly right and the numerous insectoid nasties to drain your eggy energy, but the sub-games were just a killer. They could wipe out your entire quest in a matter of minutes, and that felt very disheartening having the start over yet again. Hard-boiled stuff.

#4 Ghosts n' Goblins/Ghouls n' Ghosts - Famously difficult on many levels and all platforms they were released on, this duo saw King Authur taking on a hoard of zombies, vampires, demons and monsters in order to save the girl. Typical. What was really annoying, was that once you had got to the end and beaten the end boss, he then has the cheek to send you all the way back to the start and go again, only this will see you complete the game. Hair-tearing, stamp-of-the-feet frustrating fantasy larks.

#3 Fear Effect - On the surface, this feels and looks like quite an enjoyable game. A bit of shooting, a bit of stealthiness and brain-teasing puzzle solving. However, blink for a split-second at the wrong moment and out pops a baddie to cap you off in an instant. So, you remember, learn and go again only to find that the same enemy has gone, until, seconds later... No, he's there again and once more lays you out unceremoniously. The re-spawn points were also sporadic, as were the save points,  making for a very unfair and un-enjoyable game whilst being extremely annoying to boot.

#2 Super Mario Bros 2: The Lost Levels* - Mario in his original platform roots was always a good challenge,  but bloody damn good fun at the same time. This doesn't lose the charm of the original Super Mario Bros, it looks pretty much identical, but it does put the hardness level way up, really, waaaaaay up! The levels are long, complicated and littered with all of Bowser's minions liberally. Suffice to say, the western version of this was a completely different game, and not a great one either. This is the true Super Mario Bros 2, and probably the hardest Mario title ever.

Why does going into this feel like a bad idea?

#1 R-Type - One of my all time favourites, as well as being my most difficult game, topping the list for me. Renowned for the challenge it presented, it's sequel and Snes edition shared this trait faithfully. Within seconds, a million plasma bolts, lasers and alien craft are in your face, before you have even got to a power up or thought about your next move. Thankfully, the upgrades to your ship are the difference maker, but keeping then equipped is another matter. Once you get hit, it's back the drawing board with no power ups to speak of. Relentlessly pummeling at the best of times, the bosses are actually the easier parts. Sort of. The king of frustration and head-slapping, all wrapped up in a brilliant shooter from the eighties. ARgghhhhh-Type!


I'm Haaard! Well Haaaaard! Ahem... so that's my top 10 list of the most challenging games according to my personal exposure and game playing skills. What's the most difficult game you have played? Speedball 2? Gradius? There are loads that could have made this list in all honesty, so it was, erm, a challenge to narrow them down. I'm going the lighten the mood for the next A to Z blog, we are talking J for Jokes & Japary! Funny video games people!

* Super Mario Bros 2: The Lost Levels (JAP) is different from Super Mario Bros 2 (US/EUR)

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