And Wii Fit Plus (Table Tilt)
My main problem with 2 is that they altered the physics of the marble, and for the worse imo. In the first the marble behaves like real marble, and as such can be difficult to move around, as it can accelerate quickly and be difficult to stop once it gained momentum. In the sequel they made it so the friction is more important, to make the game easier to control for beginners, but in turn it made the marble behaves like rolling in sticky molasses.
Forgot about this one! Recommended.
Ah, that rings a bell actually. I need to revisit Kororinpa, been a while since Iāve played through it.
Marble Blast is the single greatest marble game ever made imo.
In really looking forward to trying out One More Roll. Itās an indie title that looks to Marble Blast as its inspiration. It looks incredibly good. https://store.steampowered.com/app/911520/One_More_Roll/
Also, Iāve been playing through Polyball on steam, and itās actually quite good!
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One More Roll looks like the real deal!
Bit Generations: Coloris
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeGF2njndTI
From Skip comes a rather delightful block matching puzzle game, one that is still unlike anything else out there. Itās one of those puzzle games where everything eventually clicks after you spend a little time with it, and the audiovisual design really helps drive that I feel.
Basically, youāve got a field of multicoloured blocks of varying hues, and every time you select a block with the cursor it changes colour. But there are several rules to take into account here:
- Matching three blocks of the same hue will eliminate them, filling up the rainbow coloured goal meter at the top
- The colour of the cursor impacts what hue the block will turn into. A red cursor will make a yellow block go orange
- You can chain-combo block matches
But wait - if you leave a region of the field unattended for a length of time with no matches, itāll freeze and turn grey, taking out your progress meter with it. Basically, you canāt clear a level with grey blocks on the field, and the only way to unfreeze them is to perform a successful match next to those blocks.
The presentation really helps communicate these ideas. The block hues all follow a looping pattern, and that pattern gets faster the closer those blocks are to greying out. The background noise is a gentle hum to help you get in the zone. But the sound effects are really effective and communicating whenever things go wrong, and when youāve set them straight again.
I donāt think I managed to clear all the stages on advanced difficulty, but I still find myself mesmerised by this game whenever I return to it. Itās a unique puzzle game - despite the frantic action there arenāt any scoring mechanics, but that doesnāt stop it from being enthralling which speaks a lot for the core gameplay mechanics.
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Ah, Bit Generations!
I could only choose one at the time so I went with the glorious Orbital/Orbient
Just found about this one, another (sort of) marble platformer. Looks amazing.
One on Switch
Mindball Play (79 on metacritic)
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Looks a little sluggish doesnāt it? Or is it just me?
Probably worth a look though, nice find!
I thought that too. But it seems to just be the trailer.
Mind-blowing that a dev can shoot themselves in the foot like that.
Yeah it looks fun!
Saw this thread title again and immediately thought āColumnsā¦ fight meāā¦ then scrolled up to the top lol
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I read recently about the history of Columns, that it was made as a programming exercise by a guy who was working for HP and later acquired by SEGA.
Retro Gamer 196 (July 2019)
Also:
Thatās anā¦ interesting article. I love Columns and would play it constantly on my Game Gear as a kid. I never really connected it to anything occult-like and the soundtrack is not creepy - itās the opposite, actually.
I think the author had or has some unhealthy associations to the game as a kid, which he clearly points out.
Interesting article, nonetheless.
The Retro Gamer one is quite good, despite some repetition (in print media!?) as it features interview content with the original creator.
This French article I found the other day is a nice brief history of the evolution of puzzle games.
Yeh that article certainly took a turn. I love the soundtrack and the whole aesthetic.
Iām sure Iām missing some but biggest that come to my mind is puyo, then columns, then metros. I liked all of those more than Tetris but might be because I had a genesis growing up so they were the games I played for hundreds of hours.