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Turnabout

Turnabout

Artdink, ZOO Digital Publishing, Natsume Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment

While the old adage that "turnabout is fair play" applies in many situations, Natsume's Turnabout is all about diabolical puzzles where players rotate the entire puzzle while the pieces move within its borders, sliding and rolling into mind-numbing configurations and patterns. The 100 puzzles provided are divided into two groups of 50: Begin Mode and Main Mode. The first 50 puzzles must be solved in order to open up the remaining 50, but the puzzles are numbered in five rows of ten each -- solving seven rounds in a row will open up the next row of ten, thus the puzzles needn't be solved sequentially. Puzzle pieces in Turnabout come in three types: colored balls, colored blocks, and sliding blocks. By rotating the puzzle board, balls and sliding blocks adhere to the forces of gravity and fall down into open slots. Manipulating the puzzle correctly takes skill and usually no more than ten to fifteen "steps," even at advanced levels. Learning to solve puzzles backward by picturing the flow of the pieces mentally can be an essential tool to success and none of the 100 puzzle board configurations are the same shape. For players looking for even more challenges, up to 50 custom-made puzzles can be devised, using five different colored balls and blocks and nine movable sliders (blocks) in Edit Mode.

Puzzle
Arctic

Arctic

Artdink, Pony Canyon

Arctic is an action puzzle game that describes itself as "active rail playing". Each of more than two-dozen stages consists of a set of rails in various arrangements, often looping around each other and splitting in various directions. Each stage contains a number of colored balls which begin in corresponding slots, and after launching them the goal is to return the balls to the matching-colored slots. The only interaction the player has with the board is switching two sets of splits; there are yellow and blue splits, which will redirect any balls moving through them, and the player can only turn all of one color as a group. Many stages also contain bumpers and gates which will affect the speed and direction of the balls. Completing a puzzle often requires strategic use of the stage's features to bounce balls onto the correct paths.

Puzzle
Lunatic Dawn FX

Lunatic Dawn FX

Artdink, NEC

A role-playing game in the Lunatic Dawn series from Artdink, released for PC-FX in 1995. In spite of its Japanese origin, Lunatic Dawn is in fact much more similar to very old-school Western RPGs than to its Japanese brethren. It has virtually no story and relies entirely on exploration and strategic combat. Set in a medieval world with little to no distinguishing characteristics, "Lunatic Dawn" throws the player immediately into the game world, which is open for him to explore. The player is able to choose the main character's gender, race (human, elf, etc.), class, and even age - older characters are more powerful, but have a more limited play time. Indeed, the entire gameplay process is timed. Traveling to a remote city or dungeon can take up to several game days. The player has to provide sufficient food for his party during this time. Player party consists of pre-generated characters, who have different names and belong to different races and classes, but have virtually no personality. Food and other supplies can be acquired in towns, through which the player moves in a Wizardry-like fashion - viewing locations from first-person perspective and selecting menu commands. When the party enters a dungeon, the view switches to isometric. The dungeons are large and maze-like, with enemies visible on screen. Upon contact with an enemy, a battle initiates. The battles are turn-based but fast-paced, reminding somewhat the Infinity Engine battles from Baldur's Gate series. The participants can freely move on the battle field. The player directly controls only the main characters, but can assign general commands to the party members.

Role-playing (RPG)
Lunatic Dawn

Lunatic Dawn

Artdink

The first title in the Lunatic Dawn series from Artdink, released in 1993 for PC-98 and FM-Towns. The game is dedicated to character creation, RPG-style character development, and exploration. In the beginning, the player creates the playable character, choosing age, gender, and even weaknesses - all of which affect the character's parameters such as stamina, weapon technique, charisma, etc. Afterwards, the player allocates points into the remaining parameters. The player starts in a city and is absolutely free to go wherever he/she wants. There is a day/night cycle in the game. It is necessary to keep an eye on the character's stamina and buy food rations - the character can die of exhaustion and hunger. Random enemies appear on the world map and in dungeons. Battle screen is isometric and allows free movement. It is not necessary to choose a command for each turn: the battles evolve automatically until the player interrupts them with a new command.

Role-playing (RPG)
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