Great NES Puzzle Games

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Lately I've been getting lotsa NES games I've never heard of and have no clue wat they are, not looking at any game footage just to be surprised, and been stumbling upon all these great puzzle games. Just wanted to make it known Klax is excellent, and one of the most unique and amusing games I've ever played. And weird.

Another one is Palamedes, where u hafta roll dice and shoot them into a falling column of dice, eliminating the dice when hit with a matching number. Lotsa these are Tetris-like games out there, and it appears this style of game is all but dead, but if u think about it, it's really alive and well with games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush.

I love these kindsa games, like Columns, Dr. Mario, Yoshi, Dr, Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, etc. cuz they're so simple to pick up and play, the gameplay is usually excellent, hard to mess up, and addicting.

And Klax is awesome.

[Scotterpop]

One of my favorite puzzlers for the NES is Pipe Dreams. Very fun and addictive game.

[Tanooki]

Tetris and Dr Mario are always the easy games to throw out there but they're so known. I know it's a known game too but grossly overlooked as it was the very last game released on the NES but had a SNES version that was mostly the one advertised since it came out in 1994 - Wario's Woods. It's a fantastic puzzle game but it's more frantic as you have some action to it moving Toad around to do the dirty work against the falling blocks. I've liked this game quite a bit, yet oddly I don't currently have one and while I've played both I think the NES version has more charm to it.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Agreed on all the above; though I will also add The Adventures of Lolo trilogy never seems to get the respect it deserves.
It differs from your usual sort-the-falling-things gameplay in that you walk around a room (the size of a single screen) and collect Heart boxes while avoiding enemies and traps. Collecting all the hearts opens a chest, and when you collect the pearl from the chest you proceed to the next room. Due to the various enemies and their attack behaviors, there is a pretty steady learning curve involved. Lolo 3 has some tutorials in it, though it's also the rarest of the three to find, by far.
I've finished parts 1 and 2, but have never been able to complete the third. It's so tough!

[Jorpho]

Kickle Cubicle? Lots of fans of that one, it seems.

Solomon's Key and its sequel, Fire & Ice, seem to come up pretty often too, though Solomon's Key apparently falls into the "hit every space on the screen until you find the secret" school of design.

[PizzaKat]

Would Krustys Super Fun House be considered a puzzle game? I played it on the Genesis didn't know what to expect and I got a Lemmings type game. It was really fun. Im assuming the NES port is the same with graphics being the only difference.

[MidnightRider]

Funny enough there's no mention of Arkanoid.

Mendel's Palace is often overlooked.

Would the Bomberman games count?

Lode Runner

Wrecking Crew

The Bubble Bobble games

Would Ice Climber count?

Puzznic. One of the variations without hentai.

Would Qix count?

Thunder & Lightning. Similar vibe to Arkanoid.

[SparTonberry]

Would Krustys Super Fun House be considered a puzzle game? I played it on the Genesis didn't know what to expect and I got a Lemmings type game. It was really fun. Im assuming the NES port is the same with graphics being the only difference.

From what I've heard the 8-bit versions (without "Super" in the title) are one version of the game and the 16-bit (with "Super" in the title) is another (different levels).
I've only played the SNES and the GB versions and can remember they do have different levels.

[Jorpho]

Funny enough there's no mention of Arkanoid.

Mendel's Palace is often overlooked.

Would the Bomberman games count?

Lode Runner

Wrecking Crew

The Bubble Bobble games

Would Ice Climber count?

Puzznic. One of the variations without hentai.

Would Qix count?

Thunder & Lightning. Similar vibe to Arkanoid.I'd say a lot of those are more "action puzzlers" than puzzle games.

[greedostick]

One game that really surprised me was Palamedes. It is surprisingly fun.

If we are talking about non Tetris style games too I am surprised the Lolo games have not been mentioned. They are all excellent.

Also Soloman's Key is a lot of fun, although frustrating. It could be argued this is not a puzzle game, but it is quite puzzle like.

[JeremiahJT]

Lately I've been getting lotsa NES games I've never heard of and have no clue wat they are, not looking at any game footage just to be surprised, and been stumbling upon all these great puzzle games. Just wanted to make it known Klax is excellent, and one of the most unique and amusing games I've ever played. And weird.

Another one is Palamedes, where u hafta roll dice and shoot them into a falling column of dice, eliminating the dice when hit with a matching number. Lotsa these are Tetris-like games out there, and it appears this style of game is all but dead, but if u think about it, it's really alive and well with games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush.

I love these kindsa games, like Columns, Dr. Mario, Yoshi, Dr, Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, etc. cuz they're so simple to pick up and play, the gameplay is usually excellent, hard to mess up, and addicting.

And Klax is awesome.

How have you never heard of Klax? It was a pretty huge game. It was in the arcades, almost every home system, and on computers. It was never as big as Tetris, but it was pretty darn big. I'm not trying to take a shot at you or anything, I am just really curious how you have never heard of the game before. Or maybe Klax is not as big as I think?

[SparTonberry]

Even if it is not the '90s anymore, there is still time for Klax! :D

Strange enough Palamedes got a sequel in Japan only, but they almost completely changed the rules.

[wizardofwor1975]

Funny enough there's no mention of Arkanoid.

The Bubble Bobble games

Great choice with Bubble Bobble! I recently introduced it to my 6 year old. Needless to say we never get tired of it. :)

Ditto on Arkanoid...

[davidbrit2]

Yoshi's Cookie is excellent, not to be confused with Yoshi, which is a boring turd.

Also, Lot Lot for Famicom is a really great, frantic game.

[FoxNtd]

Boulderdash is a neat one. It's tough though since you have to clear sets of levels within one credit at a time in order to advance.

[bb_hood]

Great choice with Bubble Bobble! I recently introduced it to my 6 year old. Needless to say we never get tired of it. :)

Ditto on Arkanoid...

I wouldnt consider Arkanoid or bubble bobble puzzle games.

Boulderdash is good, it gets really challenging in the later stages.

[wizardofwor1975]

I wouldnt consider Arkanoid or bubble bobble puzzle games.

Boulderdash is good, it gets really challenging in the later stages.

I see your point. Categorizing Bubble Bobble is a real enigma. Its currently listed on the games database as an action, arcade, platform, and a puzzle game. The version we play on the PS1 is classified as a puzzle game. But the PS1 version could easily be called a platformer and certainly an arcade game and I sorta of see the action game moniker as well.

http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=bubble%20bobble&searchtype=1

Arkanoid according to the games database is mostly categorized as an action/arcade game. So calling Arkanoid a puzzle game is kinda of a stretch. Kinda weird though that Arkanoid live for the Xbox is categorized as a puzzle game???

http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=arkanoid&searchtype=1

[bb_hood]

I see your point. Categorizing Bubble Bobble is a real enigma. Its currently listed on the games database as an action, arcade, platform, and a puzzle game. The version we play on the PS1 is classified as a puzzle game. But the PS1 version could easily be called a platformer and certainly an arcade game and I sorta of see the action game moniker as well.

http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=bubble%20bobble&searchtype=1

Arkanoid according to the games database is mostly categorized as an action/arcade game. So calling Arkanoid a puzzle game is kinda of a stretch. Kinda weird though that Arkanoid live for the Xbox is categorized as a puzzle game???

http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=arkanoid&searchtype=1


I think action, arcade, and platformer would be good terms to describe bubble bobble.

Lolo is probably my favorite puzzle series on the NES, and the third one gets really really hard in the later levels. Way harder than the previous 2.

[SparTonberry]

Yoshi's Cookie is excellent, not to be confused with Yoshi, which is a boring turd.

Also, Lot Lot for Famicom is a really great, frantic game.

Lot Lot is on the list games that have just plain BORED me. :P

Yoshi's Cookie's alright, but those "extra" stages are just frustrating. You have that one piece that can ONLY be removed if you EVENTUALLY get lucky to surround it with Yoshi cookies.

[Jorpho]

Aye, I can't imagine sitting through 89 of those Extra stages in Yoshi's Cookie. The multiplayer mode is kind of diverting, though, even against the CPU, but that might be because of the catchy music.

[greedostick]

I know you said NES puzzle games. But I personally feel the 2 best puzzle game ever created are Magical Drop 3 on Neo Geo and Intelligent Qube on PS1. You can get I.Q. Final on PS3 if you register for a jp PSN account. I do love the Lolo games, but those 2 games mentioned blow them out of the water.

Also there is a awesome N64 Bust a Move game. I wish I could remember the good one as there are 2, and the Dreamcast one, Bust a Move 4 is very competitive and addicting.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I never thought of Arkanoid as a puzzle game either, its basically a Breakout clone, but very fun. And has the coolest name ever.

Yeah I'd heard of Klax before, but I never ever hear people talk about it or anything. People discuss Dr. Mario and Tetris a lot, but I never hear any of the Youtube clowns talking about Klax, or anybody in forums or anything.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

As for Yoshi's Cookies, I can't figure out how the games played, I feel like a dumbass. Yoshi isn't bad tho, not as exciting as Palamedes or anything, but I found it way simpler to just turn on and play then Yoshi's Cookie. Theres a buncha games I can't figure out what I'm doing in, like Spot and Orb 3D, I just dont know wtf is going on.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Another underrated game, or maybe it's not underrated, is Zoop. Not on the NES, it's a fun puzzle game on the Genesis, SNES, a buncha other systems, on the PS1, and I think the Jaguar. I'd recommend that one

[SparTonberry]

The problem with Zoop is that I recall Viacom marketed it as "the next Tetris". It's an alright game but you can't really expect it to live up to that claim.
I think I might have played it once when, I remember, to market it they at one point used their corporate ownership of Blockbuster to make it a free rental.
(although I don't think Viacom published anymore games after that)

Yes, I recall they announced it for just about every system "alive" in 1995, though I'm not sure how many were actually released.