Quarth, known as Block Hole outside Japan, is a hybrid puzzle/shoot 'em up game developed by Konami which was released in 1989 as an arcade game. Besides the arcade version, there were also ports of the game to the MSX2 (with a built-in SCC chip), Famicom,
Quarth (Game Boy)
and Game Boy—home releases used the Quarth name worldwide (with the exception of the Game Boy Color release in Europe of Konami GB Collection Vol. 2, where the game was renamed to the generic title Block Game for unknown reasons).
Quarth is a combination of Tetris-style gameplay and a fixed shooter in the Space Invaders tradition. The player's focus is on falling blocks, and the action is geometrical. Rather than arranging the blocks together to make a row of disappearing blocks, a spaceship positioned at the bottom of the screen shoots blocks upwards to make the falling block pattern into squares or rectangles. Once the blocks have been arranged properly, the shape is destroyed and the player is awarded points based on the shape's size. The blocks continue to drop from the top of the screen in various incomplete shapes. As each level progresses, the blocks drop at greater speed and frequency. There are also various power-ups which could be located to increase ship's speed, among other bonuses.
The game continues until the blocks reach the dotted line at the bottom of the screen, whereupon the player's ship is 'player's ship is 'quarthed', crushed flat.
The Arcade, MSX2, and Famicom versions had two different 2-player modes: a split-screen mode with Player 1 on the left and Player 2 on the right, and a cooperative mode where both players shared the same screen. For the Game Boy, multiplayer requires the Game Boy Link Cable with each player able to view only their fields on their own Game Boys.
Quarth is one of the video games featured in the manga titled Rock'n Game Boy, by Shigeto Ikehara and published by Comic BomBom from October 1989 to December 1991. In Japan, Game Machine listed Quarth on their December 1, 1989 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Block Hole was a hit overseas in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom and Italy.
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 Quarth 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 Quarth. 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 Quarth are summarized in the following table:
If you like Quarth 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 Quarth 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
