Palamedes (NES)

Today's review is based on revenge from my childhood. Yes, i have personal grudge to this puzzle arcade-y game: Hot·B's Palamedes (1990).

Why baby blue color for background? Everyone's favorite color on NES games that's why. Word 'Palamedes' is arranged with some kind of toy blocks. A boy acts as menu cursor. Let's call him Palamedes boy. He's cheerful and spirited . I'm also spirited but i'm fueled by vengeance unlike that jolly lad. Because this is my personal problem, i play the 1 player mode. But actually, what my young me played is the gameboy version not this ones. But love revenge is blind, you see.   

 

Here's the game. This screen should be quite self explanatory. You control Palamedes boy. Pressing left or right d-pad will move him left or right. 'A' button to throw block that he carries. If the thrown block is matched with block that it hit, the block will disappears. 'B' button to change block what currently he carry. The change cycle is: 1-dot block to 6-dot block then return to 1-dot block again. Clear all block line in the stage and you will proceed to next stage. 'Line' indicator on right HUD, indicate remaining block line that isn't in screen. If the block touch the line where Palamedes boy is, the game will be over. Easy and simple, right?

 

Matching the blocks alone isn't enough. Line of blocks will come faster than you can anticipate. That's what young me experienced. Turns out by pressing down d-pad, some of block line (counting from the most bottom) will be erased but there's specific rule for this method otherwise it won't work at all. Everytime you match a block, it will fills the special row that's located below the deadline from right to left. If you manage to fully fill it and there's 2 of the same blocks consecutively/side-by-side, you will erase 1 block line if you press down d-pad. The more of the same block, the greater the effect of this erasing method. Between using 'singular block destroy' method and 'block line erase' method, their ratio to clear the stage is 3 : 7. At least that's what i feel. 

 

And i clear first stage. My revenge is fulfilled and there's nothing left to tell you. Wait! Come back! I'm not done with the game yet. Let's see how far can i go and maybe there's something more to tell you.

 

There's also other configuration besides the same blocks set, series of blocks in chronological order in ascending manner. For example 2-3-4-5 or 4-5-6. This configuration is definitely harder to make but can clear 1 line more than what the same block configuration can do in same amount of block with the order. But i still prefer the same block method because it's easier/faster to plan and do.

 

This is the only occasion, i can manage to arrange blocks from 1 to 6. But the effect is astounding. That arrangement cause 5 line to disappear, which is the maximum line you can erase in 1-player mode!     

 

Besides stars comes out from Palamedes boy as stage clear celebration, there's  also series of firework decorate black sky above him. Whichever the celebration type that happen, he constantly doing pimp fist while blinking (constantly too). He likes over-celebrating is what i mean.    

 

My strategy: get rid of the blocks that aren't the boxes of type on the largest number that i can reach at the moment. Then i pick them all and immediately use the line clearing method. As the line that will be erased start from the lowest, there's chance that the first line only contains 1 or 2 blocks that you can get rid easily with manual means. So watch out for that!

 

On stage 5, I notice that the tiles are Yashici but in blue color. Maybe because i play quite many Capcom's arcade games that i can see such detail. Anyway, this stage gives me so many blocks with same type. Don't be fooled by this generosity! The stage wants to trick you to make mistake on the block arrangement. If you put too many of blocks with same various type, the line clearing method won't work efficiently or even not working at all.

 

And this is the case that i meant. I think, the game will registers block with most amount that's within the arrangement as the line clearing method's input. If i push 'down' d-pad, the line that will be erased only 1 or more accurately only those 2 4-dots blocks. That's barely good. Moreover, every stage will drops block line faster than in previous stage. So any bit of inefficiency isn't tolerable. Also the tiles here are irritating to see that probably can cause severe eye damage if you stare them too long.

Now the tiles are more like it: solid bricks which reminds me Super Mario Bros or Battle City '92. I recently notice that in this moment: 7 lines remaining, in stage 7! Pardon my keen perception toward unimportant detail.

 

Stage 8 almost got me. Almost. Maybe, i can push my luck harder to stage 10?    

 

Yes, i can but i can't clear it. As that 2 blocks touch the deadline, Palamedes boy is break down and weeping. He's really...emotional. I'm also disappointed with this loss but i'm not immediately crying like some kid that got bullied by the seniors like that. Anyway, i'm done for now and i feel satisfied.

 

Hot·B's Palamedes (1990) is another puzzle game that deploy color matching, but there's distinct and solid core gameplay. The gameplay is difficult even at the 1st stage if you don't know how to do 'line erasing' method. But once you know it, the difficulty is in relaxing pace. Palamedes Boy's control is precise and responsive. The music is very good. The graphic is okay. The color of the tiles are "piercing", some are friendly to retina and some aren't. 

Conclusion:  Palamedes (1990) is very good puzzle game that maybe is quite obscured. The combination of the gameplay and music makes the game addicting to me even though i'm weak at puzzle games that involves quick reflex. I definitely prefer this game than Columns. I wholeheartedly recommend you to play Palamedes either NES version or gameboy ones. You probably think that due to gameboy's color limitation, gameboy version will be more difficult than NES ones. But someone on internet said the otherwise. Maybe the block lines drops slower in there but i can't confirm that as it's like 20 years that i last played gameboy.