Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits!

[Aylmer]

Well, I finally found this title tonight, after looking for it all weekend, and have about 2 hours into it. I had Mr. Driller on the Dreamcast, and really liked it, and always thought it would be great on a handheld. Kind of like Dig Dug but with a deeper level of gameplay. Well, that dream has come true. This is not a port, but a total rework of the game. I have not tried wireless multiplayer (5 possible players total, it would be interesting...) but I can say this. It uses both screens as a playfield, and because of that, there is a whole new level of strategizing to the game. Having that super-vertical stack of blocks visible all at once is awesome. This game would not have been possible on a GBA. If you like puzzle/action games, grab it.

[Gadfly2317]

Well, I finally found this title tonight, after looking for it all weekend, and have about 2 hours into it. I had Mr. Driller on the Dreamcast, and really liked it, and always thought it would be great on a handheld. Kind of like Dig Dug but with a deeper level of gameplay. Well, that dream has come true. This is not a port, but a total rework of the game. I have not tried wireless multiplayer (5 possible players total, it would be interesting...) but I can say this. It uses both screens as a playfield, and because of that, there is a whole new level of strategizing to the game. Having that super-vertical stack of blocks visible all at once is awesome. This game would not have been possible on a GBA. If you like puzzle/action games, grab it.

Is it like tetris? I'm not too keen on variations of tetris. Is this a $29 game? For a puzzle game, how deep is it? How much replay?

I like puzzle games. . . if this is a good one, I'll pick it up. The DS has become my favorite system, or well, at least the one I game on the most right now.

[Aylmer]

It looks like Tetris, but definately does not play like Tetris. Mr. Driller was an arcade game in the late 90s. The DC version was a straight port.

In Mr. Driller, your character's purpose in life is to drill. The playfield looks something like a sticky Tetris playfield, except the layout of the blocks is pre-set. The objective is to drill downwards until you reach the bottom which clears that level. There are several levels per stage.

You can drill in the four directions under dpad control. The problem is, you consume oxygen as you drill, so, interspersed among the blocks are oxygen tanks that you must grab to keep going. The blocks are sticky, but when four or more touch, they collapse. So, your challenge is to drill to the bottom, not asphyxiate, and not get crushed by falling blocks, both of which will cost you a life. Lose all your lives, and it's game over.

There is a lot of strategy in the game. You can climb up and over blocks to try to manipulate the falls and get to Oxy tanks, and there are some types of blocks that take much more drilling to eliminate, which can get you killed.

Namco has really re-imagined the game for the DS, allowing for much more strategizing. For instance, between the two displays, there are 26 rows visible, as compared to 20 rows in Tetris Worlds on the full size consoles.

There are hidden powerups, and there are other characters you can unlock that can drill faster, use less oxygen, and so on.

The above pertains to only one of the three types of single player Mr. Driller that is on the game cart. There are two brand new variants that I have not played with much.

I find it very addicting. I was up past midnight playing it. It is very hard to put down. Worth the $30, IMO, and currently the best game on the DS.

[Gadfly2317]

The puzzle game I'm holding out for is Zoo Keeper which comes out in a couple weeks. I almost picked up Mr. Driller, but this one just seemed more my thing. I like Puzzle games for portable gaming, and puzzle games are another one of those types of games perfectly suited to the DS's unique feature set and interface.

http://www.nintendojo.com/previews/NDS/view_item.php?1103231195

The puzzling revolves around the bottom screen action, where there are rows and columns of various animal faces (at least 8 types) that fill up the screen. The goal is to connect three or more of the same animal’s face to “capture” the animal. To do so, you move around the faces by tapping two horizontally or vertically adjacent animals, which switches their places. You can only move pieces that will result in a capture however, and aren’t allowed to switch around uncapturable sections of the board.

As soon as you capture an animal, the connected faces disappear and more drop from the top of the screen to fill the void, simultaneously complicating things and opening up new possibilities. Combos will also come into play, and will undoubtedly add some hefty numbers to your score on the top screen should you pull some off.

Combo-making aside the main thing you have to worry about while playing is the overall time limit for the level. A level is completed when you capture a specified number of animals. The faces don’t keep piling up and building tension Tetris-style, rather the screen is always full and they stay put until you create a void with a capture.

The tension instead mounts while racing against the clock to scan the play area for possible combinations, which can be much more difficult than it sounds, I assure you. If you get entirely stumped, you can activate a hint. These are limited of course, and you can see how many you have left to the right of the puzzle space on the bottom screen.

The game also sports wireless two-player multiplayer with one cartridge, a welcome addition to be sure, although it remains to be seen what play modes will be available in multiplayer. Zoo Keeper even features a “highly-relevant” (go figure) single-player story mode to keep things interesting, and up the humor value of the title.

The humor in Zoo Keeper comes mostly from the amazing and quirky pixel-art visual style that has become the game’s signature. While it’s no graphical powerhouse, few puzzle games really are or need to be, and where it succeeds most is in adding a lot of personality and color to the gameplay. If the shareware version is any indication, the sound effects should be equally amusing and provide some good feedback to your screen-tapping action.

[Aylmer]

There's an older GBA sleeper that never got the attention it deserves. I pulled it out of the bag yesterday, and it's soooo much better on the DS! I'm talking about ZooCube, and it's a very unique puzzle title. It has a GC cousin, and is actually more fun to play than that version. ZooCube can still be found in the discount bin at Toys R Us and elsewhere.

[Pandarbock]

There's an older GBA sleeper that never got the attention it deserves. I pulled it out of the bag yesterday, and it's soooo much better on the DS! I'm talking about ZooCube, and it's a very unique puzzle title. It has a GC cousin, and is actually more fun to play than that version. ZooCube can still be found in the discount bin at Toys R Us and elsewhere.
Yeah I bought it from my work for $5, fun enough game yet gets very frustrating later in levels. It is the closest game to tetrisphere that I have ever played, man now there is a game that should grace handheld gaming... tetrisphere is pure puzzle type gaming bliss. Super monkey ball junior is a nice game to get as well if you happen upon it, maybe sega will release a DS version of SMB mmmmm imagine the SMB mini game bliss esp over the wireless connection.

[Gadfly2317]

There's an older GBA sleeper that never got the attention it deserves. I pulled it out of the bag yesterday, and it's soooo much better on the DS! I'm talking about ZooCube, and it's a very unique puzzle title. It has a GC cousin, and is actually more fun to play than that version. ZooCube can still be found in the discount bin at Toys R Us and elsewhere.

It is MORE fun than the GC version? I guess I just figured it looked liked the stripped the graphics down so far you couldn't tell what the animals where anymore.

I'm really looking forward to the stylus based puzzle games. . .just some extra gametime that gives my thumbs a break. I've been playing Alien Hominid on GC. . . .now that's a game to make the thumbs sore.

[Aylmer]

I like it better than the GC version because there is no break in gameplay after you finish a level, and the fluff is stripped out, making it more of an action puzzler. You complete one level and you go directly into the bonus game, complete that and you are right in the next level, and so on, with no displayed stats or 'continue' option. The animals are totally stripped out, as is the whole storyline-spaceship thing, and the animal sounds are replaced by strange electronic noises, which to my ear go along with the gameplay much better. Once you've matched shapes, they just collapse and disappear rather than go up into the sky. Overall, the gamplay flow is much more intuitive and smoother than the GC version.

[Aylmer]

I have Monkey Ball Junior and I like it a lot. Tho it makes me nuts to almost complete a field and then..."Falloff!"

Tell me more about Tetrisphere, it sounds intriguing.

The first online Dreamcast game I played was The Next Tetris. It was two player online, and there was no way to communicate, but I thought it was a blast to play. What was cool about it was that the tetris playfield and pieces were 3D. When you collapsed multiple lines it cause your opponents playfield to trip out. Two lines collapsed made the pieces change colors, three lines turned them all metal, four lines made the whole playfield rotate on one axis, five lines on two axes, and six lines made it rotate in three axes at once. It was a riot.

[Pandarbock]

I have Monkey Ball Junior and I like it a lot. Tho it makes me nuts to almost complete a field and then..."Falloff!"

Tell me more about Tetrisphere, it sounds intriguing.

The first online Dreamcast game I played was The Next Tetris. It was two player online, and there was no way to communicate, but I thought it was a blast to play. What was cool about it was that the tetris playfield and pieces were 3D. When you collapsed multiple lines it cause your opponents playfield to trip out. Two lines collapsed made the pieces change colors, three lines turned them all metal, four lines made the whole playfield rotate on one axis, five lines on two axes, and six lines made it rotate in three axes at once. It was a riot.

it was one of them hidden treasures of sorts over looked by many n64 owners no doubt. basically it was a 3d ball (one of which could never really exist as it consisted of i think 32x32 blocks around) which was as much as 8 layers deap. Basically you would match up the falling peice with one on the sphere and slam it down causing at times damned sweet chain reactions. The game was quite in depth one of those that was easy to pick up damned hard later on to master. You could move peices to make them set next too each other for combos, make power peices that help fill your score multiplier when you did combos starting with them. there where cool weapons you would get along the way that would remove sections of the sphere. it had 3 different play modes challenge, rescue and puzzle mode. In challenge there was like 5 alternating challenges that you would have to defeat where the peices and sphere layers differed as time went on. in rescue you basically had to burrow through the sphere to get the little critters out of the middle that were different sizes, and finally puzzle where you had a certain number of moves to remove all the peices from the sphere. If you have a n64 laying around I suggest looking at a used game shop for it if you like games like columns, puyo pop and magical drop that have them crazy ass chain reaction action. (magical drop would be another great portable game).

Forgot to mention, another chu chu rocket for the DS would be sweet, the gba one is quite fun and also if you see it denki blocks for gba is fun as well.

[Aylmer]

I had Chu Chu Rocket on the DC, the online gameplay was killer. Eight players at once if I remember right. It would truly rock on the DS, especially with WI-FI networked play.

I have Denki Blocks! That has to be one of the most awesome GBA sleepers ever. Slow, deliberate, and addictive. And hard. If you like that pace, then you may want to try Rampage Puzzle Attack, tho I would not rate it as high as Denki Blocks. With Rampage, the puzzles get truly difficult very soon.

I had a game on the GBC called Ballistic that was a lot of fun. I have the PSX version now, but like many puzzle games, the handheld version was more playable. Ballistic is a spiraling line of balls that you shoot with other balls to form patterns and make them collapse, thereby shortening the spiral. If the spiral gets too long it's game over.

I've always thought that with a higher resolution screen (or even two screens, heh) the spiral could be longer and that would make for an even better game.

Tetrisphere sounds great, I hope it makes it's way to the DS.

[Gadfly2317]

If you're going to make a trip to the used stores to find an old copy of Tetrisphere for the N64, pick up the other really killer puzzle game for the N64: Wetrix.

This may be my favorite puzzle game. It is played on a flat grid. Like tetris, things fall from above, but that's about where the similarity ends. The things falling are: Pieces of wall-like terrain, water, bombs, terrain-eroders, and a few other things I can remember. Your goal is to make "lakes". You've got a water-meter that keeps track of how much spilled water there is. Spill too much and you lose.

Score is multiplied by water collected and number of lakes and depth. Get a lake deep enough and you get a duck floating on it, which is another score multiplyer. Get enough total water in your lakes and a rainbow forms over your playing field (also a score multiplyer.) But land keeps falling, and get to much land height, and you get an earthquake causing massive water loss. Also there are falling bombs blowing holes in your terrain, so you have to be real strategic where to drop the bombs, and then hope you get a terrain piece really quick to patch it up before you lose too much water.

Totally addictive, and the sound effects are hypnotic (all those water sounds. . . ) Now that I think of it, I may dig my N64 out of storage just to play this one again.