Gunpey

Gunpey
Platform:	Wonderswan
# of Players:	1-2 (Linkable)
Developer:	Bandai
Publisher:	Bandai
Features:
Ratings:	Rating Pending
Memory Req.:
Info:	http://www.bandai.com

Gunpey for Wonder Swan is all a great game should be - easy to learn, intuitive to use, addictive and yet impossible to master. Gunpey is a puzzle game offered in homage to Gunpei Yomoto, creator of the Nintendo Game and Watch, Game Boy, Virtual Boy and Wonders Swan, who was killed when hit by a car on October 4, 1997.

Gunpey is a puzzle game, somewhat reminiscent of Pipe Dreams and Loopz, but a bit more complex. The player must make a path from left to right by combining pieces in five columns. The pieces, each of which stays in its column, appear at the bottom of the screen, and slowly move up the screen. The player moves a control bar, which occupies two rows of a single column, either from column to column or up and down a column, and by hitting a button can swap one piece with the piece (or empty space) above or below it. The object is to manipulate the pieces so as to complete a line across the screen, but there are bonus points (sort of like a cluster in Puzzle Bobble) available if you can get the line to snake back and forth before it connects from one side of the screen to the other.

This is a unique puzzle game - and not simply another Tetris knock-off. If this game was designed in homage to Gunpei Yomoto, the designers can be sure they did something that would make this man proud. This game is all things a puzzle game should be - simple in appearance, easy to understand rules of play, good control, and is highly addictive.

There are a few versions of the game on this cartridge, but they basically boil down to the same game: Endless, Stage (same as in Tetris - clear a certain number of lines), One-Move Puzzle (figure out the right move), Story (each character has a different effect on your board), Free (practice) and 2 Player (using a cable and second Wonder Swan).

If you enjoy puzzle games, do not pass this by, but be warned, this one is very addictive. If you suffered from Tetris dreams, you will also suffer from Gunpey dreams where you will fall asleep with a keen understanding of how to maneuver the blocks to make the correct play. If you are a hardcore puzzle fan, this game is reason alone to own the Wonder Swan.

Ron Kimberly

No screenshots available for this title.