Block Puzzle: Difference between revisions

[[File:strength.jpg|link=Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|frame|"Where's '[[Statistically Speaking|Strength]]' when you need it most?" <ref>In the bottom row of three, push the left and right stones upwards, then push the middle stone to the side. Then move up two rows and push the middle stone in that row upwards, then the two stones beside it to the walls. The top row will by then have five stones; push the second and fourth stones up, then push the middle stone to the side, and you can pass.</ref>]]

 

 

So you're storming the [[Temple of Doom]] in search of the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Cosmic Keystone]] that is the lynchpin to [[The Empire]]'s [[World Domination]] plans. And the mightiest force that the [[Precursors|Ancient Precursors]] and [[The Legions of Hell]] can produce to stop you is... blocks.

That's right. Blocks.

 

 

Sometimes you can pretty much push them wherever you want, in which case the puzzle is how to get the blocks to their goal without other blocks getting in the way. Other times, the floors are covered with [[Frictionless Ice]] or some other slippery substance and whenever you push the block, it keeps moving until it hits a wall. In those cases, you have to bounce the block in a convoluted path around the room, hitting various pillars set up in the middle to get the block to its goal. If they really want to be nasty with these, they'll have more than one block in the puzzle, only one of which actually needs to get to the end; the rest have to be pushed to create additional walls for other blocks to hit. There are also dark rumors of block puzzles so fiendish that they actually require ALL blocks to get to the end, ''while using each other as walls to get there'' and [[Bottomless Pits]] that eat the blocks and/or you, forcing you to start over.

 

 

* Blocks with different properties, such as Destroyable blocks, [[Frictionless Ice]] Blocks, [[Light and Mirrors Puzzle|Mirror or Prism]] blocks, or blocks that interact or react with each other

 

 

 

 

Named after the infamous block puzzle mechanic in ''[[Vagrant Story]]''.

 

 

** And in the Tower of the Gods, you could control 3 of the blocks, just in case the point wasn't clear enough.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' has sliding block puzzles and rolling block puzzles.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' cuts down on these considerably, but they're still there in some form.

* ''[[Legacy of the Wizard]]'': Xemn and Meyna have to deal with these in their areas. Lyll can just break blocks once she finds the [[Powerful Pick|Mattock]].

 

* ''Sanity: Aiken's Artifact'' is half action game, and half block puzzle. To its credit, most puzzles are more complex than just pushing rocks around. Still, it's perhaps the best example of [[Guide Dang It]] game, as finishing it without external help is a real test of patience.

* One of these shows up in the Japanese freeware game ''Guardian of Paradise'', with a slight twist in that it's the blocks that are ice instead of the floor. It makes no conceptual difference in the puzzle, though.

* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' had a few of them. One was basically an [[Escort Mission]] where the escort was inanimate (and respawned if destroyed), one was a [[Timed Mission]] to get it into the right spot before the floor killed you, and one was a genuine "complete the wall" puzzle.

 

* ''[[Broken Sword]] 3'' had an unreasonable number of these popping up in all sorts of disparate locales. Glastonbury Sokoban puzzle, enemy base Sokoban puzzle, ancient temple Sokoban puzzle, Paris "what, ''another'' Sokoban puzzle?".

* ''[[Zork]] III'' contained a very early example; also noteworthy as most of the challenge was realizing that there ''was'' a block puzzle present (all the more so due to the rarity of the puzzle when the game came out).

* This is the real point behind ''Dawn's Light''. ''A Christmas Tale'', one of the games in this series consists almost entirely of these.

 

* ''[[Half-Life]]'' is chock-full of puzzles with the traditional non-descript metal blocks. Its sequel, ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', gives the block puzzles a more modern look, with a gravity gun and physics objects replacing the old-school blocks. In other words, first game: block puzzle, second game: block puzzle [[Recycled in Space|WITH PHYSICS]].

* Some of the last few levels in ''[[Star Wars: Dark Forces|Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight]]'', taking place in the Valley of the Jedi have a few of these, but these are implied to be part of what the ancient Jedi set behind themselves.

* ''[[Nitemare 3D]]'' required you to push blocks and tombstones around occasionally to clear a path... or block one.

 

* ''[[Star Fox Adventures]]'' has a few:

** In Cape Claw, one room locks you in and some blocks move, releasing poison gas in. The "challenge" is to move the blocks back before the gauge empties, or you start losing health. Once you do it, the door opens, and the air becomes breathable again. (And the point of that exercise? {{spoiler|It also releases the Queen Cloudrunner, who is needed to forward the plot.}})

* To complete Flower Tower in ''[[Something|Something Else]]'', Luigi has to push giant pots around obstacle-filled rooms in order to reach the end of the level.

 

* The [[Puzzle Game]] ''[[Sokoban]]'' (some versions of which have been released as ''Boxxle'' or ''Boxyboy'') consists entirely of this sort of puzzle; gameplay consists entirely of self-contained box puzzle levels, where a warehouse worker had to move shipping crates into specific places to complete each level.

** As does the now-forgotten [[Game Boy]] game ''Kwirk''.

* In ''Flappy'', the player is immune to gravity, but blocks aren't. Each level has a blue block which has to be shifted onto the goal pedestal. There are also brown blocks for other blocks to be pushed over, which can also be destroyed if they get in the way.

 

** Well, a wand of digging can destroy the blocks for you, but you get penalised for that. Cheater-pants.

*** A wand of digging has no effect on boulders (wand of striking works on the boulders, or any method of digging DOWN) , but yes, in Nethack, they try to make any attempt to 'think outside the Sokoban box' get a luck penalty

*** Also, you cannot fly over the holes in Sokoban, or move diagonally (unlike in the rest of the game), so if you destroy to many boulders, you cannot get to the end of the side quest and its juicy reward. Well, you can, by using scrolls to create more boulders, but then you have extra boulders in you path on the way back, and you may need to destroy them, thus getting another penalty.

 

* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' is notorious for the prevalence of its block puzzles, in which nearly every other room has some block-pushing that needs to be done to traverse it. It even keeps records of how fast you can clear each room. To their credit, the developers pushed the block puzzles to their limits, with blocks ranging from boxes you can pick up and chuck around to heavier crates you can only push, rocks you can only roll, and more complex versions like magnetic and frictionless blocks. One's [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|suspension of disbelief]] wavers a bit here: A world that probably doesn't have toilet paper has frictionless blocks. Another editor assumes this must be something to do with the ''city of magic'' that said blocks inhabit.

** As an aside, this troper had a friend who adored the game, but nonetheless nicknamed it "Crate Story".

* ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' had a few: On Yoshi Island, in order to clear a boulder, you had to push blocks around to cover holes that sprayed water until the pressure under the rock was big enough to force it out of the way. Some places within Mt. Lavalava had you push blocks around to form bridges over [[Convection, Schmonvection|lava]]. One has you make a partial bridge, and then you have to be flown the rest of the way.

* Pretty much every dungeon in ''[[Golden Sun]]'' has at least one of these, though the game is less bad at this than in others. In fact, there's more than one spell in-game dedicated to aiding one in solving block puzzles.

* ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' employed what has to be [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|the most epic block puzzle in the history of the galaxy]]. [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] and everything.

* ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]'' has a few of these - which, since most ''Final Fantasy'' dungeons are [[No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom|straightforward get-to-the-end kill-the-boss areas]], was rather innovative for the series.

** At least in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' the four most egregious were optional, albeit rewarded with one of the most useful titles in the game.

* In ''[[Dragon Quest III]]'', the Dry Vase item needed to reach an underwater location is held in the basement of a castle in a room locked behind a rolling boulder puzzle. While the king informs you that "no one has ever solved it", the puzzle is remarkably easy, thus proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that everyone in that castle suffers from a terminal case of the Stupids.

* ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'' had a series of increasingly difficult ones of these in one optional dungeon. The catch? The blocks moved along set paths (traced out in their color), and of course occasionally you needed to block one of those paths with, you guessed it, another block. Also, there tended to be several exits from one block puzzle, and often also treasure chests within the puzzle that you might have wanted to get to.

 

* ''[[Bangai-O]] Spirits'' has the "False Treasure" stage, found in the Puzzle Stages set. You need to fit a bunch of Boxes into Box Frames. If you push one into a corner, trap yourself, or otherwise render a Box unable to be moved into a remaining Box Frame, [[Unwinnable by Design|it's restart time]].

** Later in that set you encounter a different kind of Block Puzzle, where you must bounce your shots in a maze to get it to a target. You use the boxes to alter the shots' trajectory.

 

 

* ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'' has one statue-moving puzzle with no logical reason to do it and another, more reasonable section where some crates must be moved to make a bridge to cross some water. Swimming might be out of the question if that water is sewage.

 

 

* ''[[Perplex City]]'' manages to have a block puzzle card.

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than the NES]]

[[Category:Stock Puzzle]]