Help me understand Flipull

[Pantechnicon]

I've been playing this game for over a year in both its NES and GB incarnations. It's a fantastic puzzler. But I have to admit something :

I still don't really understand what conditions have to be met in order to move from one level to the next. There doesn't seem to be a clear rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it seems like you have to get the board to a point where there are no pairs of tiles left. Other times it seems like you have to get the number of tiles to a point equal or below the value listed in the "clear" field. There has to be a clear condition to achieve here but it's just not readily apparent to me. I looked on Gamefaqs but there was only one uninformative faq for this game. So does anyone here have some insights? Thanks.

[kainemaxwell]

I always thought it varied from lvel to level myself. I got hooked on this since its on my 191-1 NES cart. great puzzler, good music too!

[Jorpho]

Wasn't this called something else in the arcades (and presumably other platforms)? The name escapes me just now.

[slapdash]

Wasn't this called something else in the arcades (and presumably other platforms)? The name escapes me just now.

Puzznic, IIRC.

[Pantechnicon]

Alright. I've been trying to pay a little closer attention to what's happening near the end of each stage. As best I can describe it: When the number of blocks on the board becomes less than the number in the "Clear" field, one has to completely remove the remainder of any one of the remaining block types. This causes the stage to end and bonuses if any to be applied.

I hate the way I just worded that. But it's the best I can do right now.

[Jorpho]

I was thinking the arcade version (or at least its demo mode) might offer clarification.

[mikeetler]

The level advances when the number of remaining blocks in the play field is equal to or less then the number in the "clear" column and no more moves can be made.

A "miss" (loss of life) occurs when no move can be made and the number of playfield blocks is greater then the number in the "clear" column.