The Brainies, a title that was released on many computers half a decade earlier, is a puzzle title with a twist for the Super Nintendo.  When Titus released this game on the Super Nintendo, it was quite late in the life of Nintendo’s 16-Bit console.  Innovation and brain teasing challenge were being used heavily with The Brainies though sales did not translate from it.  By 1996, many gamers had already left 16-Bit behind, sequestered to the closet or, worse yet, the family hard sale.

More than a gimmick

The innovative part of The Brainies is the heavy use of Mode 7- the Super Nintendo’s scaling capabilities almost exclusively.  Each and every level, there are over 100 of them total, scales in from the far background.  Then before play, the level is slightly scaled to be viewed from an angle.  Why Titus didn’t simply let the player play from the straight on overhead view I am not sure.

Brainies feels familiar

The puzzle part here is somewhat similar to what you got in The Adventures of Lolo mixed with color matching.  The twist is that you take control of each Brainie individually to manually move them to their corresponding color tile in the level.  The challenge comes into play in later levels that have switches and other level challenges that you must traverse to complete the level.  Did I mention there is a timer counting down?

This is one of those puzzle games that received very little exposure when it released. This is a shame as it is an interesting and unique experience.

The Brainies is not available in any digital form that we know of at this time, at least on SNES so head over to eBay or Amazon for a copy.  There are computer versions available for the Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIgs, Macintosh and Amstrad CPC.  In Europe, The Brainies is known as Tiny Skweeks. Check here for more retrogaming puzzle fun.

Carl Williams

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