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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N - Novabug's Desert Island Games, My Top 10 Games Ever

You know this age old question; what would be the 10 songs you would have if you were stranded on a desert island? Or is this case, video games. In a fashion, these should be my 10 favourite games of all time, and that's exactly what they are, mostly. This is a mixture of classic titles and games with a large amount of re-play value, just so getting bored on that island is a far off thing. Obviously the concept is silly and unworkable in reality, but if I had the choice of playing only a handful of games for the rest of my days, this collection would be it. My top 10 desert island video games. If you have read my A to Z challenge up till now, the top 3 will come as no surprise!

Dizzy had never quite got the hang of knock-knock jokes

#10 Fantasy World Dizzy - To pick one of the Dizzy games was a difficult choice, but the third installment would be it. It's the first Dizzy title I really gelled with, it introduced the menu function and had puzzles that were not bordering on impossible to work out. The two previous titles did present a bit of randomness about finding certain items, but FWD merely required a little bit of thought and everything makes sense. The music is also uplifting and jolly, solid bright graphics and with the inclusion of the Yolkfolk and other featured characters,  it's the best game of the series for me. Also, the second game,Treasure Island Dizzy, would just constantly remind me of the predicament I would be in. Depressing.

#9 Metal Gear Solid - Solid Snake's first 3D outing is still the best of the Metal Gear series has to offer, and so repeated plays of practicing sneaky silent neck-breaking, mindlessly picking of the rats with a sniper rifle and finding a new way of pissing off your evil brother Liquid would provide a fair amount of enjoyment. The cut scenes alone would take up a good chunk of time too, as would the wonderful soundtrack. It could have the potential to give me ideas to escape an isolated island too, Snake would bloody manage it!

#8 Super Mario World - Most people would chose at least one of the Mario games to keep senility at bay, so it's the Snes's superb Mario platform caper that gets my vote. It's a big game for starters, so completing all the levels is one thing, but also would give me time to finish bonus levels like Outrageous without flying over it, or trying to beat the game without any of the Switch Palaces activated. Would be a tough challenge, and keep a grin on my face for a long while.

#7 Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting - No best-games list is complete without one of the Street Fighter games, and the fast, multicoloured Hyper Fighting would be perfect for letting out that pent up anger and loneliness. I could master every combo, find new ones, and endlessly insult Ken about his stupid daft eyebrows. It's also a game that has stood the test of time, so would always be a joy to play again and again. Maybe I could teach the local primates to play too for some 2 player action.

#6 Tetris - Even now it's a game many of us fall back on as something just to pass a few minutes by, so it's no surprise this classic Russian puzzler takes a place here. Endlessly addictive in the most basic of ways, Tetris has a half-life of about 5000 years I would assume, so setting your own personal goals is the key to longevity. Be warned though, the music could just drive you utterly insane, losing all communicative skills leaving only the notes of the famous music. You may even start calling yourself Dr Spin...

The budget airline route from Japan to Hawaii was grueling

#5 Pang - The GX4000's crowning title, I would have to have this balloon popping shooter as to remind me of the fabled but flopped Amstrad console. The game is tricky, so beating it over and over would be very satisfying, but hearing those classic 8-bit tones would provide a goose-bumping experience for a passing moment.  It would also bear memory fruit of the real world, with the in-game background images of London, Paris and such like. A great game bursting with fun.

#4 Starfox (Starwing) - If I were to choose a first person space shooter that captures all that makes a great space shooter without hanging off the fame of Star Wars, Starfox would be the one. With it's choice of courses, levels of difficulty, it's excellent polygon enhanced visuals and epic sci-fi soundtrack, it's a title to get the juices flowing and too immerse yourself into some hardcore firefight action. I could also shoot Slippy down just for the pointless thrill of silencing the dumb amphibian!

#3 Rez - Not only would this give me a fix of high quality gaming off the PS2, but it would also fulfill the gap left by the absence of dance music. The tracks included in Rez would be more than sufficient, because you can always play the game poorly and produce a different tune. The unlockables in this are also very long-winding to complete, so that would be something to achieve. There is a way, so I have heard, that you can complete the game and give it's final boss, Eden, the salvation she begs for. That would be an emotional end and something to savor.

#2  Final Fantasy VII - Need I say more? No? Ok, I won't. Oh alright then, I will. Final Fantasy VII; one of the best games ever to grace a TV's pixels. Anybody that calls himself a gamer will have played or read about this title. It's that good. I could try beating Emerald with just Cloud, or produce a Master Materia for all magic for every member of my party... (I really do sound a bit sad sometimes don't I?) Anyway, it's one of the greatest games ever. Nuff said!

Duck Hunt 2 never came to fruition, so Mana stole ideas

#1 Secret of Mana - Just pipping FF7 to the top spot is another JRPG, and only because I found it the most awe-inspiring game I had played at the time of it's release, and this would stand me in good-stead if I were pottering about on some desolate sandy island. Playing SOM just makes me smile, makes me reminisce, makes me happy and gives me a warm glow of good feelings. The story, the music, the playability; it should be no shock to my regular readers that this IS my all time favourite game. Ever. The most indispensable game for my personal tastes.




A pretty far-fetched list this one I know, but it does show you what I find great and what I look for about video games. There is a wide selection of genres here, so something to keep the boredom to a minimum. Of course, even these games would eventually become unbearable over a long period, but it's the best I can do. What would your picks be? What is your favourite game of all time? Tomorrow we take a different turn on things and look at the most ridiculously hyped games there has been in my opinion. Is GTA3 really that good? We will find out tomorrow as I continue the A to Z challenge of video game top 10's.


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