POWER SOKŌBAN
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パワー 倉庫番
©1999 Nintendo
©1982,1998 Thinking Rabbit Inc.
Release: 1999-06-25 (¥4200)
Cartridge SHVC-BPSJ
Puzzle/Action game


Power Sōkoban is a cute action/puzzle game published by Nintendo and based on the popular 'block pusher' Sōkoban. This 'powered' version builds upon previous features from the original classic and adds multiple innovations of its own. The players takes control of a cute red demon who wonders around vast networks of rooms scattered around four different worlds. Each room is a puzzle that needs to be solved to free hidden items. They include magical drops (used to increase the character's attributes) or special weapons (such as hammers or swords) that can later be used to weaken the area's boss. Each room has a given numbers of magic holes that keep spitting out monsters. Sacred rocks with Shimenawa ropes and Gohei paper strips around them must be pushed inside these holes in order to seal them. But these rocks can't be pulled and this is where the meat of the game lies - the player must find the right combination of moves to fill-up all the holes and clean a room. However, Power Sōkoban offers an unique twist to the classic gameplay - our hero can fire small fireballs at his enemies and also charge up a Supershot that can push rocks. This technique can also be 'remote controlled' and the fireball can be moved around the room with the direction pad - this features does add a lot of strategy to a game that already scores relatively high in this field. Finally, Power Sōkoban allows the player to save his progress at anytime during the game.
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Sōkoban was originally created by Hiroyuki Imabayashi around 1980 and won the first prize at a software contest. Two years later, in 1982, Sōkoban was published by Thinking Rabbit (also founded by Hiroyuki Imabayashi) for the Fujitsu FM7, NEC PC8801 and NEC PC-8001mk2. Countless other versions followed and the game we all know today was actually released in 1984. It was later licensed to Ascii and Spectrum Holobyte in the west. The title of the game translates as "The Warehouse Keeper" and the original game features a human character pushing crates around an empty warehouse. Sōkoban is also known in the west as Boxyboy and Boxxle.


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Power Sōkoban is a little known gem released back in 1999 which, if you think about it, happens to be three years after the official release of the Nintendo 64 system in Japan... The game most certainly reminds of the rooms seen in Zelda's dungeons in which the player moves blocks around to unlock doors and other things. This update of the good old Sōkoban is undoubtedly refreshing, I must say, and the game features an interesting "free form" gameplay with plenty of hidden goodies to discover. At the end you don't even have to unlock all the puzzles and most of them are just there to power-up the little demon character, the main protagonist of the game. Some rooms can also be accessed in a variety of ways and this sometimes plays a big role in winning the puzzles. The only catch is the obvious repetitiveness of the puzzles - some use nice twists like dropping rocks from elevated platforms or avoiding unpleasant hazards. So, all in all, Power Sōkoban manages to move the Sōkoban's concept into new and refreshing territories, a game not to be missed if you happen to be a fan of the original title.




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