Puzznic is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and released by Taito for arcades in 1989. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, PC Engine, Sharp X68000, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and ZX Spectrum between 1990 and 1991. The arcade and FM Towns versions had adult content, showing a naked woman at the end of the level; this was removed in the international arcade release (but not the US one) and other home ports. A completed Apple IIGS version was cancelled after Taito America shut down.
The challenge in each level of Puzznic is to manoeuvre a selection of blocks into place so as to clear them all, by making them make contact with blocks of the same design. You control a cross-hair, which can move a block left or right, which can cause it to fall if there is no block under the space it would occupy.
There are many complications in terms of solving the levels. Moving platforms meaning that you need to move a block at a particular time, or in particular order, to prevent them being blockaded. In some situations there are an odd number of a certain type of block - solving these requires positioning two of the blocks one space apart, such that a move will result in a piece making contact with two others, and immediately removing all three. You will also encounter blocks positioned on platforms suspended in space and gaps in level arrangements meaning that a certain number of blocks must be in place to make a certain move possible (by forming a stack, for example).
The game structure is slightly unusual, as after you complete each batch of four levels you get a choice of two sets of levels - you are progressing through an expanding matrix of levels, which means there are two sets on level 2, three on level 3, four on level 4, and so on. This means that there are a total of 220 screens in the game. Each screen is played against a time limit, and losing a level (either by running out of time, or by making a poor move and leaving an impossible position) loses one of your three lives.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Puzznic was designed for the Game Boy console, which was an 8-bit handheld video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1989 - 2003. It was the first ever handheld video game console with exchangeable game cartridges, but it only supported black and
white screen. The Game Boy console has been extremely commercially successful and has sold more than 118 million units (including its successors Game
Boy Pocket and Color). Its unit price on US market was $ 90. More information about the Game Boy console can be found
here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
6 different online emulators are available for Puzznic. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Puzznic are summarized in the following table:
If you like Puzznic you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
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This version of Puzznic was designed for the Game Boy console, which was an 8-bit handheld video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1989 - 2003. It was the first ever handheld video game console with exchangeable game cartridges, but it only supported black and
white screen. The Game Boy console has been extremely commercially successful and has sold more than 118 million units (including its successors Game
Boy Pocket and Color). Its unit price on US market was $ 90. More information about the Game Boy console can be found
