Who doesn't like a good puzzle game every once in a while? Although they can be challenging and engaging, I've always found puzzle games to be more relaxing than your typical video game. I wasn't sure how popular this genre would be for TR (sim games seemed to be unpopular) so I decided to swap it to this month, since this month was cut short due to the forum downtime.
I received a Gameboy bundled with Tetris as a gift one Christmas and I played many, many hours of Tetris on it. It's a game that I can always pick up and play, no matter what platform it's on. It's always fun to play, whether it be for 1 minute or 1 hour. I eventually got the NES version of Tetris, which I also clocked many hours with. I think it's a contender for my favorite puzzle video game.
Bust-A-Move (AKA Puzzle Bobble) is a game I didn't really know about until more recently. Like Tetris, it has many different versions on many different platforms making it very accessible. I find it very relaxing, not too hard but not too easy. Just a fun and cheerful game when I'm not in the mood for something that uses too much brain power.
Fire 'n Ice is a really fun NES game that I had no idea existed until Nintendo Switch Online. It's a block pushing game, but you can create blocks of ice and you clear a level by extinguishing all flames. Very easy to pick up, and very fun to play at length or in short bursts. Too bad the NES cart is super expensive. The Famicom version is pricey as well.
Little Magic is a fun little push/pull block game. It was a Super Famicom exclusive, but there has been a fan translation (not that you need it to play the game). It's fun and addictive, the levels start easy and get progressively harder like most puzzle games. It's as cheerful and light hearted as something like Bust-A-Move.
I didn't own a Genesis until the model 3, and one of the games I purchased along with the console was Sonic Classics which included Dr. Ronotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I had no idea what the heck it was, but it turned out to be fun. I have good memories of playing this game, but I've always been super terrible at it LOL. I had no idea it was a reskinned Puyo Puyo.
I've had a lot of fun with various jewel type games over the years, but the one I probably spent the most time with is Bejeweled 3. There was a stretch of time where I was just getting hammered at work all day long and then had a rough commute home. So I wanted to relax, but didn't have any drive to play any video game that required any level of thinking or fast reaction time. So I grabbed Bejeweled 3 from Steam and use to just play that for hours after I got home from work. I turned the in-game music off, and I had my record player right next to my computer desk. So I would just spin records and play Bejeweled. And sometimes make myself a cocktail. I would play for so long, until finally I heard "No more moooves!" And then I would think, OK, I've been playing it long enough. Time to turn it off... Oh hell, just one more game!
I think it was Ack that said long ago, the games included with Windows are technically video games but we don't consider them part of our video game libraries. Minesweeper is a great game. I've definitely clocked lots of hours with this one on various platforms. But it's almost weird to put this one on a list with Tetris and Bust-A-Move. Maybe because it doesn't have any in-game music?
What are some of your favorite puzzle video games? And why?
