Puzzle Boy Flash
You know if your parents name you Puzzle Boy, you're not going to be captain of the football team. No, you'll be eating a lot of dodgeballs in gym class, and taking abuse from the likes of Bully Guy and Pretty Girl. You will hide behind the pages of your crossword collection, your Sudoku, your mazes; intense and lonely as the rest of them live their vibrant wild lives, unimpressed by your passion for logical solutions.
But one day justice will be served. Somehow, miraculously, everybody in the world will find themselves trapped in a warehouse. The only exit will be blockaded by a complicated network of crates and revolving doors. And you, the one with the pudgy tum and the unflattering ball cap, you will be the only one with the skills to escape. The only one left alive. Who's laughing now, Pretty Girl? Who's laughing now?
Give yourself a pat on the back if you've already guessed that Puzzle Boy Flash is some kind of puzzle game, you genius you. It is indeed, of the block-pushing Sokoban variety. Your goal in each level is to get Puzzle Boy to the exit stairs, using only the [arrow keys] to direct him. Push blocks and rotate turnstiles by walking into them. Bridge gaps by plugging them with boxes. On some levels, Puzzle Boy will be accompanied by a little clone, and you can switch control between them by pressing [shift]. Restart a level with [space], and exit back to the menu screen with [esc].
30 levels await you, split into Easy, Medium, and Hard. That may not seem like many, but the level designs are intricate and fiendish. If you are the easily frustrated type, you may need some sort of calming agent, like a cup of Chamomile, or a purring cat. Or a punching bag. Whatever keeps you from destroying your monitor with a hammer.
Analysis: Puzzle Boy Flash is a remake of an obscure Gameboy game published in Japan in 1989 by Atlus, and re-released in the USA as Kwirk. Kwirk was the sort of tragic shades-wearing, in-your-face hyper-cool mascot that was all the rage in early 90s video games (today he would have a skateboard and tribal tattoos), but this remake features the original Puzzle Boy, a charismatic little yellow blob with only a sideways-turned hat to indicate his hipness.
The puzzles are some of the best I've seen. You can't just fiddle around, hoping to stumble upon the solution by chance. You'll need to be clever to finish even the very first level, and the Hard puzzles will test your very soul.
But programmer Blawars can't take credit for the design of the game, only for his/her good taste in choosing it to translate into Flash. Unfortunately, the interface is too faithful to its console roots. You must click the mouse once to get past the opening logo screen, but after that, it's keyboard control only. Clicking anywhere after that may actually mess up your game. It feels clunky using [space] to select levels, when clicking on them would do. It would be nice, in fact, to have a mouse control option for the puzzles themselves, since it's in a browser and all. This is a faithful remake, and nothing more.
On the other hand, Puzzle Boy is a gem that you probably haven't played in its original form, and the chunky pixel graphics are a nice dose of nostalgia. If your brain likes to be teased, tickled, maybe slapped around a little, give this one a try.
I used to have this game on my old B&W Gameboy. It was called Kwirk, then.
This is hard! I just finished level 8 of the easy set. On almost every level so far, I've hit a point where I said to myself, "Ok, there must be some mistake - this level is unwinnable." But I think part of the appeal of the game is that there is more to each level than meets the eye.
Level design is good with this one. I'm stuck on a medium level, but I'm not at all frustrated at the mechanics or design or anything.
That was one of the most amusing reviews I've read in a long time.
I guess Shostie didn't read the review. xD
And I agree with Scarybug. Excellent review, Psychotronic! :D
This is a great puzzle game, very nicely implemented, that should appeal to fans of Chip's Challenge, DROD and Sokoban. One of the best!
I had Kwirk. I LOVED Kwirk. Even when it was absolutely freaking impossible to move the eggplant man from the bottom right corner to the top left without the pepper/carrot man getting stuck.
SO frustrating. So good. My second gameboy game after Tetris, and, I think, my third video game period.
I can't get the thing to load. It keeps getting stuck at a page that has a big blawars logo, and it says "Transferring data from x.mochiads.com..." in the status bar.
Just click on the Blawars logo. :p
(another one who didn't read the review) ;)
I'm stuck on an easy level. And while every level so far I've been able to see that there should be a solution, this one just looks impossible. I've tried to 'think it backwards' but keep hitting the same problem - in order to solve this level my guy has to teleport through walls!
It's the sort of car-shaped one with the sliding vertical bricks. And as far as I can tell, there's only one way you can go for a little while... by the time you have a choice of which brick to push, you've blocked off the exit irretrivably!
Oops....it might have helped if I had read the whole review. LOL.
*facepalm* I solved it. Ever notice you usually do that right after you complain about it?
There's actually a psychological explanation for why that is so:
When problem solving, sometimes we narrow our mindset to exclude essential information that would lead us to a solution.
Therefore, it is helpful to get our minds off the matter for a few moments. This pause can act as a mindset 'reset' and allow use to approach the problem from a different perspective again.
Going through the motions of posting a comment helps to get your mind off the matter for a moment or two. :)
(So does playing a game or two!) :D
I got stuck on...um..level 2... EASY! And now I just get a black screen when I try to play..(get the adverts round the side, and a full orange bar at the bottom, but no logo comes up)
I think I'm being told to get off the computer for the night !
Wow, these are really tough.
Medium, Floor 3 took me FOREVER....eventually got it :)
I need a break, fun but challenging game.
smileyriley - try emptying your browser cache and reload.
I am so stuck! I think I'm on floor 7 on easy. It's the one with all the yellow block things. Anyone have any tips?
gcg2004: I think you mean easy level 8, as that's where I'm stuck too! Taking it as a reminder that I get some sleep, will try again in tomorrow :-)
@gcg2004: There's a block near the beginning of the level that you need to move backwards.
Level 8 Walkthrough
--Label blocks in your head from 1 to 8 from right to left, top to bottom.
--Push Block #1 left.
--Go to bottom of screen and push Block #1 UP ONE space.
--Go to top of screen and push Block #1 RIGHT.
--Push Block #3 DOWN TWO spaces.
--Push Block #2 Right and move on down to the bottom.
--See Block #6? It's to the left of the two stacked blocks. Move that baby up one.
--Push Block #4 (which is the top stacked block) to the RIGHT as far as you want.
--Walk your little baby to the bottom left of the screen and push the last block up to exit the maze.
Cheers.
Alright, whomever's following me around correcting my mistakes needs to come live with me. ;)
[Edit: that would be me. ;) -Jay]
help with floor five of easy!
Thanks for the walkthrough. That's where I got stuck as well. I thought I wouldn't be able to play the rest.
Easy Floor 5 solution:
-Move the yellow block one space upward.
-Rotate the turnstile so that it's horizontal. (Stand at the lower left and push rightward on the end of it.)
-Move the yellow block left to the wall, then down one space, placing it in front of the pit. Rotate the turnstile again and fill the pit.
help for level 4 of easy! it makes no sense to me... i feel like i've tried every possible configuration but i get nowhere!
Level 4, nested spoiler/hint style:
The black areas are NOT pits, just places you can't walk.
The yellow blocks turn into places to walk...
...if they fit fully into a black space.
Could you push the yellow block farther...
...if there was more blue somewhere? Final walkthrough next:
Push the yellow block up or down one, then go all the way to the respective top or bottom edge and push the yellow block to screen left until it drops into the black hole.
Everyone seems to be stuck on Easy, but I got past all those and now Im stuck on Medium Level 9. This one actually appears to be unsolvable. I can see what needs to be done, but it impossible to do. Has anyone else gotten this far? Is there a way to beat it?
Hah, nevermind. I haven't solved it just yet, but I figured out how to do the impossible (and that makes me mighty).
@ cosmonk: do tell! I can't figure that level out.
I liked it a lot... it really is a fickle puzzler. I'm used to playing Flash games that rely heavily on a single mechanic, but I like that this game has several different mechanics that all play off each other, such as the revolving doors and the sliding blocks. Each works perfectly alone, but together they work harmoniously.
As Psychotronic mentioned, the controls confused me a bit. I had trouble figuring out which button was the "switch to other guy" button, and I ended up doing the whole "hitting every button on the keyboard" maneuver, and eventually figured it out. But beyond that, a solid game. I'm a sucker for Sokoban games :).
-jmtb
can anyone help with level 2 on medium, i can seem to make sense of it
Medium level 2 is a big level, but here's a few hints:
Push four blocks into the pit. In order, they are: the 2-high block on the left, the 3-wide block on the left, the singleton behind the spinning T, and the 3 high block on the right. The 5-high block need not move at all.
Push the blocks into the pit with their right edge aligned on the third column from the left. They can overhang without falling as long as they have at least one support.
I hope those hints help. It's a long level, with pushing blocks out of the way and into places where you can walk around them.
Thanks, Jay. Silly me.
After a night's sleep I managed level 2 as well!
I am a "bear of very little brain" I fear...
Like John, I wondered how to change from one guy to the other...but first thing in the morning my brain is working better!!
Another word for change?
SHIFT!!
...and I too should have read the review more thoroughly..
Just too keen to start playing I guess!!
What a cracking game!
Have managed to get to medium level 3 and just can't work it out. Can anyone help?
I too was stuck on level 3 of medium. I just managed it though, it turns out I was making it much harder than it needed to be.
you simply need a straight bridge from right to left, across the middle of the chasm
So get the single blocks over to the right somehow (in the storage spots top and bottom to be safe), then use those 2 plus the horizontal block to form the bridge.
After that toughy of medium 3 it was straight onto 9, which I haven't tried yet. I think the brain must have just clicked into the right mode :)
I'm stuck on medium level 6. help anyone?
is it wrong that i remember the solutions to many of the levels 10 years after playing it on the Gameboy.
I need help with Level 9 Easy!!
Any advice on Medium level 9? I can't figure it out for the life of me. A few others have been tough, but I eventually get through them. This level is just beyond my mental faculties (that's not saying much).
I've been playing with level 10 easy for a while and can't seem to get it. Help, anyone?!
I'd been going so well. Finished all of easy and all of medium. But I can't even do the *first* hard level! It looks so simple too.
Having just done medium level 9 again to help out Annonymous, I have realised the serious flaw of this game - it's nigh on impossible to do a walkthrough ;)
Broadly speaking for that level you have to use the central and right mini-mes to clear the right side of the board. Bring in the left mini-me to help out with one of the moves which leads to you being able to push that big block down and open up access to the exit.
Am now well and truly stuck on hard level 1!
Ren, some observations on medium level 6. If you want specific directions, let me know :
The upper four-height block can't move forward or you will never be able to move it from blocking two spaces (because of the central hole). Therefore, the lower four-height block must move forward where it will remain permanently, blocking any potential use of the three-height block. So the only way to bridge the gap is with a combination of the two-height block and the single block. The two height block can only pass on the lower side due to the two-height hole on the upper side. The single block must pass through the middle, but you have to maneuver around it on the top side to position it correctly.
Like Matteo I am stuck on Level 9 easy... Can anyone help me? Other then that an amazing game!
Easy level 9
Push top and bottom yellow squares in one.
Move centre yellow square down one.
Push top yellow square up to top, then push bottom yellow square down to bottom.
Flick top blue thing upwards and bottom blue thing downwards.
You can then get to the exit
Hope this works, haven't done a spoiler on here before!
To elaborate a little more on what Joolz has posted about Medim Level 9
I'm going to describe the bloocks in widthxheight form. The key to moving the 3x2 block is first getting at the 1x2, 3x1, and 2x1 blocks. But lets try a full walkthrough.
First, move the middle guy directly below the 1x1 block by him.
Then use the right guy to push the 1x2 block next to the middle guy down as far as possible. Continuing to use right guy, move the lowest of the 2x1 blocks to the right two spaces. Then move the 1x1 block thats above that all the way to the right, thus getting it out of the way. Leave right guy here for now.
Switch back to middle guy. Push the 1x1 block up two spaces, then move around it and push it all the way down. Then go to the left rotating L block, and move up with it, leaving middle guy snug in the corner of the L up against a 2x1 block.
Switch to right guy. Move the right side 2x1 block down one space.
Switch back to middle guy. Right guy moving that block should have given you room to push the 2x1 block next to middle guy. So push it to the right one space.
Switch to right guy. Move the 2x1 block that he moved last time to the left two spaces.
Switch to middle guy. Push the lower 2x1 (that right guy just moved) down two spaces, right one space, then down one more space. Move middle guy back into the nook of the rotating L block.
Switch to right guy. Have him move the 2x1 block that is below the right rotating L block right, down, left two, down two, then right, so it sits directly above the last block you were moving.
Make sure the left rotating L block is in L position. Switch to left guy. Have him push the 1x1 block up to get out, then push the 1x1 block above that first one to the right three. Go back and push the first 1x1 block down as far as it can do. Make sure you have someone in the crook of the L! Push the 1x1 up two spaces. It should now be to the right of the crook in the L.
Switch to middle guy. Push the 1x1 block all the way to the right, then down one. Now all three guys are together and it doesnt matter who does what.
Have someone go up to the right L block, and push it to the right, so it looks like an r. Then push the left L block down so it also looks like an r. Now move one of your guys next to the 1x2 block at the top. We will call him top guy.
Have top guy push the 1x2 to the left one space.
Have someone else push the uppermost 2x1 (2 squares below top guy) to the right one space. Move all three guys over the the right of the right L block.
Have top guy push the 2x1 down three spaces.
Have someone push the 3x1 down one space, then push the 2x3 down three spaces, push the leftmost 1x1 up one space, then the leftmost 2x1 up one space, and you should be done.
Hint for level 9, easy :
If you push the top and bottom blocks forward, you can then push the central block up or down.
Oops, too slow. Sorry to repeat, Joolz.
Playing with a Mac, OSX 10.4.9, and the Shift key only makes the little guys hop, i can't select between people, so naturally i am stuck on level six of the easy stage. is there something i'm missing here?
medium level 7? help anyone...i know what i have to do just dont know how to do it...
Still having troubles with Level 3 Medium. Gary suggested
building a bridge across the middle from right to left. but how do you get that 3 vertical block out of the way?
Never mind. Got it.
No probs hopbitters!
Cosmonk, I salute your patience and attention to detail in coming up with that walkthrough for medium level 9! I hadn't got a clue where to start when trying to explain that one.
Am now pulling my hair out over the hard levels.
I've been at medium level 10 for a while now, I've spent all my time trying to reverse engineer my path and I'm only coming to the conclusion that it's impossible. But I know it can't be, anyone?
Never mind, all it took was me posting that level 10 medium was impossible and within 2 minutes I solved it. On to the hard levels now.
hey username how did you do 10 med.?
Has anyone managed hard level 1 yet. I tried for aaages and still can't get it. I'm sure I've tried every move possible :)
For those of you like me who are beginning to waste serious time on this... I found a full walkthrough (at least for the medium puzzles) at http://faqs.ign.com/articles/539/539220p1.html
enjoy!
i am having trouble with level 10 on easy. can someone please help???
For level 10 medium you need to notice two things:
First of all, see how the symmetry is off at the bottom of the screen? Secondly, you will need to move the blocks upwards, not laterally, in order to complete this one. I'm not inclined to write a how-to on this as it was complicated, and if you've made it to level 10 then you should have the basic skills needed to complete it with those two hints.
For level 1 hard:
It is doable, but it took me a long time to figure it out. You'll need to move each piece several times to make room, and at one point you'll block yourself from getting back to the top, but if you align the blocks right you can do it. Don't forget you can move the 3X1 blocks down almost to the door.
I think that level 2 hard was a LOT easier than level one, and level 3 was pretty easy too. I'm on level 4 now, looks complicated but we'll see.
could someone just write full walkthrough?instead of just certain lvls,cuz im kinda stuck,but i probably also will be in other levels,and im just saying that it might be a little easier with a walkthrough!lol
Could someone tell me how to do medium 3? Even with the hints so far I can't get it. Gah.
@Darfir -
For Level 3 medium, the first thing you need to do is
Move the two single blocks over to the right side. You'll need to be able to move those two blocks later because
they form half the bridge you need to cross the gap.
The other thing you need to do is
move the top and bottom vertical blocks to the left. That lets you finally get
the middle vertical block out of the way.
Medium Level 8 anyone?
medium level 8 :
top 1x1 left 2
right 1x1 down
1x3 left down left
middle right 1x1 left 2 down
1x1 below you down
2x1 left up 2
2x1 right 1
1x1 above you up 1
1x1 above one you just moved up 2 left 2 down left
bridge gap with 2 of the remaining 1x1s
1x2 all the down
1x1 fills gap above it
remaining 1x1s bridge top gap left to right
ugh, forgot about the formatting getting stripped. If it's impossible to follow, I'll repost with breaks.
Still can't figure out medium level 3.
First thing I HAVE to do is to use the middle 3 vertical to block one of the holes and I can never move it out.
HOW DO YOU DO IT?
I've just finished the whole puzzles and can have a breath now. 2 days to complete all of them !
For me , the hardest is Hard Course #4. Here is my advice : play directly #5 after #4, and then go on until #10. When complete, come back to #4... and have fun !
Good luck !
@+ Farlen, french player
wow. finished hard. that took some mental power. the last level is tough. basically taking apart the puzzle in a very limited space and then put it together in an extremely limited space to make a "plank" towards the stair. I'll give a few hints on laying the plank for the second half of the puzzle cause just getting to it is a pain...
The planks to go left and up use mostly two kinds of blocks of the 1s, 2s, and 3s (regardless if they are laying down or standing)
The plank to head down to the stair are all the same kind of block
1s & 3s then use the 2s.
There may be more than one way to do it, but this is the gist of how I got there. Whew!
(thanks for the fix, editor elves)
medium, floor 3
mid 1x3 left down
2x1 down
top 1x1 down right 3 down right 2 up
mid 1x3 up 2
2x1 up 2
bot 1x1 up right 3 up right 2
top 1x3 left
mid 1x3 right down 3 left
bot 1x1 up left 3
mid 1x3 down
2x1 left down left 3
1x1 down 2 left 6
Level 7 Medium - anyone?
cosmonk,
Awesome walk-through of medium 9. Thank you so much!
There's a complete walkthrough at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gameboy/file/585783/28328
Very nice puzzle game. It's a shame the copied all the original levels and didn't add any new levels to Puzzle Boy
Has anyone discovered a way of turning off the sound? I'd prefer to listen to music while playing and have the game sound muted. Sorry if I've missed something obvious (again)!
I, too am trying to play this on a Mac. But like simon peters, am stuck on level 6. When I press [shift], all that happens is the guys jump, but I can't switch between them. I'd love to continue with this game, if someone has a solution to this.
Hey, for MAC users figuring out how to switch between players, use the BACKSPACE (DELETE) key. Play onward!
i need some friggen help on med 2!! im so frustrated and i can never get it right
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