Top 10 puzzle games

One of my favourite genres is puzzle games. There have been some great ones over the years, with a couple of the very best starting in the arcade. Here's my list of my 10 favourite arcade puzzle games.

Check Man

My introduction to this little known game was actually via a clone on the BBC Micro B called Danger UXB; it's thanks to MAME that I got to play the original. The whole point is to collect the bombs before their timers run out. The catch, and with it the puzzle element, is that you can only walk on the tiles, which disappear after you step on them. It sounds simple, but it's pure pleasure.

Klax

This match three game sets itself apart from the pack by allowing the player to stack up tiles on the collector and drop them at will. However, take too long and tiles will somersault down the play field and off the screen. This is Klax's risk-reward system, whereby the ability to catch tiles before placing them can become a burden that makes you lose the game.

Magical Drop series

The first Magical Drop was released with barely anybody noticing. When the sequel was released on SNK's Neo Geo MVS machine, its popularity soared. I was introducted to the series via a clone, Astro Pop on Xbox Live Arcade, but having since played the second and third games, I prefer the original series.

Columns series

Another matching game, based on grouping coloured gems that cascade down the screen. The play can move the gems and also cycle their positions, always keeping them in a "column".  Columns may not be the most addictive puzzle game around, but it is as close as Sega came to having a Tetris of its own.

Puzz Loop

While you may never have heard of Puzz Loop, you will probably have played its biggest copy cat, Pop Cap's Zuma series. Swap the Mayan frog for a marble launching cannon and you have exactly the same match-three action.

Q*Bert

I'm not 100% certain, but Q*Bert may have been the first puzzle game I ever played. You can get into an almost zen-like state as you hop from cube to cube to change their colour. Gameplay-wise, Q*Bert is similar to Amidar, but Q*Bert was better looking and more elegant. In the world of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, Q*Bert may be an abandoned game that nobody remembers, but not here on Arcade Throwback!

Dr Mario

One of my favourite puzzle games of all time is technically not an arcade game, because it came out on the Nintendo NES console, however, Nintendo released a cabinet based on the NES called Play Choice 10 and so Dr Mario was available in the arcade in certain versions of that unit. Phew. Not only is Dr Mario a brilliant puzzler, it's also incredibly challenging.

Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move

Can you believe there are people out there who have played several Puzzle Bobble games, with no clue about the platform game that gave birth to it? It would be sad if Puzzle Bobble — AKA Bust-A-Move — wasn't such a brilliant and adorable game. This is the grand daddy of all match three games and few have bettered it.

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo

I said competitive puzzle action doesn't get much better than Bomber Man, but if any game could threaten that claim it's this from Capcom. I have no idea why it's part of the Street Fighter series, because in some ways it overshadows how brilliant a puzzle game this is. 

Tetris

Tetris is up there with Pac-Man and Space Invaders as one of those games that everybody has played, but in the case of Alexey Pajitnov's classic puzzle game, most people will have played it on a home machine or portable device of some kind. However, there were several arcade versions of this perfect puzzle game, my favourite of which is Atari's, which had a great two-player head to head mode and multiple difficulties.

MTW