Tag Archives: puzzle games

June Games

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Once again I managed to travel this month, this time to sunny Scotland on the sleeper train. Didn’t stop me from getting a couple of completions in though first.

Games completed this month

Mortal Kombat One – Xbox Series X

As started last month, I had a good time with this. I eventually completed both the main story more and the extra “Khaos Reigns” content, wasn’t sure where that had come from though so just counting the whole thing as one completion. I doubt I’ll spend any time with the extra single player stuff, as I don’t think the gameplay is as good as the last two Mortal Kombat games, but I might come back to it for some local versus in the future.

Forbidden solitaire – SteamDeck

This was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. A really fun solitaire puzzle game, wrapped up in 90s horror gaming ala The 7th Guest. It was also perfect on the SteamDeck and I can see me playing more card games on there.

Games played during June

Unravel 2 – PS5

We’ve played the first hour or two of this now, and it is brilliant. A bit of a change from the games we had been playing, and I think we’ll probably see it through.

Paper Train – Nintendo Switch

Forgot I had this but noticed it when I was checking my libraries for train games (don’t ask). I fired it up and made a decent amount of progress through the puzzles before I got bored again. I mostly just love the art style and detail.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2

Managed to get a bit back into this. I am finding it much more challenging than I did the original Hollow Knight, but it’s still just as great to play and I adore the aesthetic. I pleasingly managed to beat the boss I had been stuck on when I last put it down, and have made a reasonable amount of progress since.

Regency Solitaire & Faerie solitaire Remastered – SteamDeck

After loving Forbidden Solitaire I found myself installing these from my library. I never played Regency before, and it seems quite fun in a Jane Austen kind of way, and the puzzles etc are very similar to Forbidden Solitaire. Faerie Solitaire Remastered is fun but I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, as I did play through the original game a while back, I think the remastered edition may have been added to my library for free.

Hollow Knight – Nintendo Switch 2

I didn’t spent a long time playing this again, but just wanted to familiarise myself with the new Switch 2 upgrade for it. I did do the majority of the content when I completed it previously, but there are things I missed. Have been tempted to go back and look for them, but that may depend on how well I do with Silksong in the long run.

51 Worldwide Games – Nintendo Switch 2

Not fully sure what possessed me to go back to this, but I have spent a few hours this month on the various games in here. It is at once a great collection of distractions, but could be so much better in terms of the multiplayer offering. I still like it though.

Pinball FX (various) – SteamDeck

Felt like playing a bit of pinball, so thought I’d try my tables on here to see how they play. They did sour me a bit with the most recent update, trying to make me buy all the tables I owned in the last version again. I think I have over 100 tables in Pinball FX2 (now called classic) and about 18 in the new version. Interestingly, while FX2 runs great on the Deck and had me playing quite a bit, the new one looks amazing, but has terrible input lag on the flippers. I might be able to tweak that in the settings, but it did at least stop me from buying any more tables.

June Pickups

Skies Above – Nintendo Switch

This is odd, and admittedly I bought it because I loved the giant pixel art whale.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

May Games

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Managed quite a bit of gaming considering it was an otherwise busy month, including a trip to the Lake District to touch grass (and lakes).

Games completed this month

Suikoden 1 HD Remaster – Nintendo Switch

I enjoyed this for the most part, but plagued with randomness and unless you want to guarantee failing to get the proper ending, some kind of walkthrough is essential. I used a recruitment guide to make sure I secured all 100 characters, which at least still avoided most spoilers. Good game, but it’s not breaking into my all-time top 5 RPGs. I may need to update that list though as other games I’ve played since probably should have… Taking an RPG break before I start Suikoden 2 now.

The Quarry – PS5

We managed to finally finish this, it does do some things better than the Dark Pictures series, but some of the exploration is a bit weird in comparison. I think we might play the Until Dawn remake at some point, to get us ready for the sequel.

Sektori – Nintendo Switch 2

Yes I know, I’ve played this on the SteamDeck and PS5 already, but I couldn’t help myself grabbing it again when it launched on Switch 2, particularly as that’s kind of my favourite system at the moment. Including it as a completion as I was very proud of myself for doing a 1CC on my first go on Switch 2.

Games played during May

Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect – Steam

My Tetris obsession from last month was still present, and I had forgotten I owned this on Steam. The intention when I bought it was to just play it in VR, but since all that stuff is in storage, I fired it up on the SteamDeck. It’s obviously not as perfect an experience, but it still plays great in the dark with headphones.

Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move 2X & 3 S-Tribute – Nintendo Switch 2

Last month’s pick up, I have been enjoying playing a bit of this as a change from all the Tetris. I think this collection could be the definitive way to play Puzzle Bobble.

Returnal – PS5

Haven’t played a lot this month, but a friend was sharing some reddit threads of tips for people struggling to progress. I figured I’d try some of them to see if it helps when I do go back. Mostly involved setting things like always run and increasing the camera speed. It did make it feel like a new game, but I’ll need to be in the mood for it if I’m going to give it another proper go.

Mortal Kombat One – Xbox Series X

Entirely forgot I picked this up last year, and stumbled across it in my Xbox library when I was reminding myself what I owned on there. Been playing a bit of the story mode, I really enjoy the single player content in these modern Mortal Kombat (even more so the Injustice games) and now I’m hoping the rumours of Injustice 3 being in development lead to a new game soon.

May Pickups

Forbidden solitaire & The Ancient Enemy – Steam

I’d had my eye on the development of Forbidden Solitaire for a long time so was always going to pick it up on release. I hadn’t seen the Ancient Enemy before, but it was in a bundle with Solitaire for an extra £1.50 and sounded like my kind of game. I’ve played a couple of hours on Forbidden Solitaire so far and it’s everything it promised. An addictive card game, with pure 90s PC gaming horror.

Typinc – Steam

Heard this described on a podcast as being Balatro meets Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Given my love for typing games and that I did have some fun with Balatro I added it to the wishlist. Finally dropped to 50% off so I’ve grabbed it. A quick go on my laptop shows promise, but I need to play it with my proper keyboard at somepoint.

Streets of Rage 4 – SteamDeck

This was just silly cheap, I want to grab these modern brawlers on Steam for when I do my next Arcade Cabinet build…

Unravel 2 – PS5

After finishing The Quarry, this is next up for me and my partner. Never got round to playing the previous game, but I’ve heard good things. Went on sale for £3.99 so perfect timing too.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

April Games

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A couple of completions, but mostly a return to various games I’ve played hundreds of hours of before.

Games completed this month

Sonic Origins Plus – Nintendo Switch

Finished the campaign mode, excellent fun, and a really good way to play these games. I might go and play some of the extra games, but it is still a shame that the included bonus games are all Game Gear versions, when there are much better Master System versions of some of them which would have been more playable.

Tetris Forever – SteamDeck

I’ve fallen down a Tetris hole recently, as you’ll see from some of the other stuff I’ve been playing. This collection is from Digital Eclipse, the same people who brought us the Atari 50 Collection and Llamaoft: The Jeff Minter Story releases. This follows a similar setup, lots of documentary footage and various media accompanying a fairly comprehensive collection of games. You can just dip into any game, but like those other releases, the best way to play it is following the curated timeline. This way it flows like an interactive documentary, where you can sample the games as they are appearing in the history. I very much enjoyed doing that again with this one, but I think I’ll still be dropping in to play the new Tetris Time Warp game too.

Games played during April

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Edition – PS5

I’m not playing quite so often now, but have made a bit more progress. I stumbled across the “Explorer Rune” which I didn’t know about before. Basically uncovers the full map when you hit a certain percentage of exploration in a zone. Speeds things up a bit!

Zool Redimensioned – PS5

Haven’t spent a lot of time with this, but I did fire it up and clear the first three worlds. It’s not amazing but I do like how fast it plays and I did always think Zool was a cool character, even if his games weren’t the best.

Mario Kart World – Switch 2

This has found a new lease of life now I’ve finally started playing the Knockout mode. The game as a whole is still a disappointment for various reasons, but playing the online Knockout is some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a Mario Kart game so all is (mostly) forgiven. At least the system also has Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to make up for the shortcomings.

The Quarry – PS5

We continue to make slow progress with this, it’s a good game just have to be in the mood for it. Also we can only play at night, obviously.

Tetris 99 - Switch

Tetris 99 – Switch 2

Of course I’ve been playing Tetris again so this has been taking my life over once more. Still haven’t managed the elusive Tetris Royale, my best remains placing 2nd a couple of times. Sadly I doubt I’m likely to manage it now as the people still playing it are pretty good!

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - PS5

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 – PS5

Continued the Tetris run with this, realised I had barely touched the campaign so I have been back on that. Sadly I might have hit a wall about 60% in, as I still suck at Puyo Puyo and I’m stuck on a challenging versus battle against the CPU. I may persist.

April Pickups

Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster – Nintendo Switch

Picked this up as my next JRPG to play, mostly because people keep banging on about it so I figured I should at least see what the fuss was about. It did annoy me immediately though, as there is no Switch 2 edition physical, and no way to upgrade the Switch 1 game to Switch 2. Knowing I’d want to trade it in when I finish (or bounce off) the games, I needed the physical release, so I’ve got the slightly poorer quality Switch 1 version to play on my Switch 2. I can’t imagine it makes much difference, but still annoying.

Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move 2X & 3 S-Tribute – Switch 2

Awful title aside, this is a great retro release. Containing the Saturn versions of Puzzle Bobble 2 and 3, and was on sale for £5. Yes of course I’ve played these games to death, have them on my Saturn and the arcade versions on my cab. However, both those things are in storage and I wanted to play.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

All-Time Top 5 Arcade Puzzle Games

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A good arcade puzzler is second only to a fighting game for a bit of 2-player versus. Like those fighting games, I’m not much good at these either (although I’m not entirely terrible at Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble). That doesn’t stop me giving them a go though, and I like to play a variety so at least I’m not always losing in the same way.

Here we have my Top 5, in reverse order as usual. Many of these games came out on a multitude of platforms, I’ve just put the versions I play in the title.

5) Zoo Cube (GC & GBA)
A bit neglected as I hardly ever manage to play it with anyone, largely because no one else seems to have heard about it. I enjoy the GameCube version, but have probably spent more time with it on the Gameboy Advance. It’s pretty unique as a puzzler, with falling shapes coming towards your cube from 6 directions, and you having to rotate the cube to match the abstract animal shapes appropriately. The GameCube version supports 4-player, but I’ve never found myself in a room with 4 people who knew how to play…

4) Baku Baku Animal (Saturn)
The second animal themed puzzler on this list, Baku Baku Animal does at least follow a more familiar pattern. Blocks containing animal heads or food stuffs fall from the sky, match the animal to its food to clear the blocks and send more blocks to your opponent. Bright, cheerful and very SEGA!

3) Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Saturn, PS3, PSP)
Recognisable characters from Capcom’s Street Fighter and Darkstalkers games line up to puzzle each other to death. Big combos on the gem matching front see your character giving the opponent a bit of a kicking in the middle of the screen. If you like the art style of this one, it’s worth also picking up Pocket Fighter, which is a 1 on 1 fighting game in the Street Fighter style, featuring the Puzzle Fighter versions of these characters.

2) Bust-a-Move 2 / Puzzle Bobble 2 (Saturn and anything else I get my hands on)
This held the top spot for a very long time, and may well claw it back in time. The Puzzle Bobble franchise is iconic, often imitated never bettered. Taking it’s characters and design from the Bubble Bobble series, the game is a joy. Fire coloured bubbles up the screen, matching 3 or more of the same colour in order to make them disappear, the more you get rid of at once the more you send over to your opponent to ruin their day. Or more often, you slightly miss your shot, frantically try to repair the damage your own ineptitude has caused while your opponent gleefully sends over more bubbles to add to your ever descending wall.

1) Puyo Puyo Tetris (PS4)
Probably cheating slightly, this is exceptional value given that along with the crazy Puyo Tetris mode (where you’re matching Puyos and making Tetris lines), it also includes arguably the finest versions of both Puyo Puyo and Tetris standalones too. The genius stroke here is when you play a versus match up, each player decides what to play. When competing with my girlfriend, I generally play Tetris against her Puyo Puyo, which gives me an almost fighting chance before my inevitable demise.

Although Puyo Puyo Tetris is still a Japanese only release, it is well worth importing. The menus are all in Japanese but there are plenty of excellent fan-translations online to help you navigate them, and even translations for the entire story mode should you be that way inclined.

Other mentions:
Dr Mario and Columns both almost made the list. Dr Mario missed out because I am entirely useless at it to the point of not enjoying myself even trying. Columns would have made the list if I was working just on childhood memories, it just doesn’t hold up today.