Blast Annual


Block Dude

Author: Richard Yaxley
Publisher: Mitch3a
Machine: Nintendo (EU Version)

 
Published in Blast Annual 2020 Volume 1

Block Dude

Block Dude is a wee little black and white puzzler with a very frustrating control scheme. The goal of the game is to access the exit of each level by taking 'Block Dude' and get him to cleverly move blocks in order to make an escape route to the door.

Each level has four elements, black 'immovable' blocks, white 'moveable' blocks, empty spaces and an exit door to the next level. 'Block Dude' can only move in single block increments, so the idea is to build staircases in a specific order to find a way out. Upon first reaction I thought "this feels like an old LCD game" and after some digging I found out that this game was developed by Brandon Sterner in 2007 and began life on a calculator; the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus to be exact.

As a calculator game, I can see why Block Dude garnered praise as it's perfect for the limited control set and memory of a calculator or even a mobile phone (Would have loved it on my Nokia 3310) but does it make a good NES game? In short, no! This is a straight port of a calculator game and in my humble opinion it would be far better suited to the Game Boy, for obvious reasons.

If someone gave Block Dude a facelift, as a concept it could be a great game on any system but a straight port of the original calculator game just doesn't cut it.

Richard Yaxley

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