Original Release: Playmark, 1995, Arcade
A “falling blocks” title with the unique spin of dragging the blocks around rather than steering them into place … also gratuitous nekkid ladies on one side of the screen
Big Twin (Arcade, Playmark, 1995)
Where to Buy: ebay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: Master-B
An interesting variant on the Puyo Puyo/Columns branch of the “Shit Keeps Falling” genre, Big Twin asks the question: “What if instead of steering the spheres as they fall, you control a little grabby hand that moves them around during and after the fact instead?”
You take control of the perverted Master Hand as he manipulates the falling spheres to earn a peep show; believe me it’s far from the weirdest fetish around. You have no control over where each sphere will fall, but you can grab them in the midst of falling and either drop them or precision-guide them to your desired destination.
Now, if we were actually in Puyo Puyo or Columns or one of those, this would be a game-breaking power. So Big Twin makes some tweaks to restore the challenge level. The main one is that the spheres fall at an absolutely torrid pace right from the beginning and never let up. The other is that the sphere you’re holding must be guided around obstacles, e.g. piled-up other spheres. And if spheres you need get locked up under a pile of stuff you have to do a lot of time-consuming excavating while the relentless onslaught of new pieces continues apace.
As it turns out, it doesn’t get the balance right at all. The spheres simply fall too fast to keep up with right from the first level, really giving you almost no time to think and strategize. The end result ends up feeling like more luck than skill. You also cannot buy your way through for the most part, as every new quarter restarts the current level.
Of course, the point wasn’t to make a compelling puzzle game; it was to siphon the quarters out of the pockets of 90s kids looking for a cheap thrill. To that purpose it’s quite well-made, but the actual concept probably could have been shaped up into an interesting game with a little more thought and care.
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