Puzznic is one of those titles that got around to a ton of platforms but no one realized it. Seriously, this game has officially hit the Sharp X68000 (see issue #2 of RGM for more on this computer), Game Boy, Nintendo NES, PC-Engine, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, PlayStation One and the ZX Spectrum. Whew, that is a lot of platforms for a little puzzle game that at first glance is completely forgettable. That is till you play it.

Simple to learn, tough to master

Puzznic is all about matching items in the level with their pairs. Gravity rears its ugly head here keeping you from moving all over the level. Things have to be done procedural or you will definitely lose. This makes Puzznic decidedly difficult in later levels.

Puzznic was one of many

Puzzle games are the genre that is often a good way to measure a platform’s success. If there are many puzzle games then there are probably a lot of owners of that platform to warrant those releases. You could say the same for sports games to an extent (though on another level). The beauty of puzzle games is, they can come in so many different styles and offer so many variations on even similar themes. One such theme, the falling object, gave us Tetris, Columns, and Puyo Puyo style games – all falling object but each unique to the others in many ways.

The battle of the ports

The PlayStation version is the one we are celebrating today so let’s talk about that version a bit. Versus the Nintendo Entertainment System and most of the other versions, the PlayStation version is the best looking. There are additional animations when pairs are created and even a touch of Puyo Puyo/Kirby’s Avalanche/Columns III with little enemies on the screen taunting you as you play.

There is currently no digital re-releases available for Puzznic. You are left to hit check eBay or check Amazon for a copy of this interesting, and challenging, puzzle title.

Carl Williams

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