Box art

Back when we were all growing up, or at least some of the older folks here, most of us would marvel at the latest brand-spankin’ new hot game that came out for the Nintendo. Most people can right off the bat, list the favorites: Megaman, Super Mario, Contra, it can go on. But I am here today to bring you a game that I always cherished since I first got it for Christmas when I was about eight or nine in 1990. At first, I looked at the box kinda strange, but I gave it a shot.

Well, I really wasn’t expecting this much pink and joy bundled in one title screen. At first, I was kind of turned off by the girly-styled title screen, but I had to push forward. Here’s a little back-story on what happens during the game.

• You play as Kickle, the white guy with red ear muffs. What happens is the evil Wicked Wizard King turns all of the Fantasy Kingdom (your home) into bags. These people also turn out to be a lot of different types of fruits and vegetables, the stages usually taking the form of a shape, like a heart.

The developers were mostly high when they made it, but then again, this came from Japan. So, what do you do in this game? As mentioned previously, you control Kickle! His main ability is to freeze people with his breath, which anyone can get after sucking on a whole box of spearmint Altoids. He uses his breath to freeze enemies into blocks, and then kick the block into a certain direction. If there’s a certain hole in the ice, you can make a bridge with these blocks, or kick them into enemies or their spawning points (little red orb). In order to get past each and every stage, you must collect all of the red Dream Bags. Also, one additional note, the music for every stage is the same tune. You’re going to hear it the entire game, with only sporadic song changes for beating a stage or beating a boss.

In each stage, there are usually several traps, like springs which automatically kick back your cubes. There’s also usually a 1-up located in differing stages. In addition to that, there’s usually fudge-covered ice cream which nets you ponts (hit them with a cube and you double that). For every 1 million points you get, you get an extra life. The world world map is unique, ala Super Mario 3, and after you knock out all the ice on a stage you usually go and fight a boss. The boss usually is a random boss, like a one-eyed Chicken or a Kappa. They always have predictable strategies which you can easily counter with your cubes. In general, the game itself is very cutesy and in a sense, uses every plot device known to humanity and in general, just beats the crap out of the damsel-in-distress thing. The game still remains one of my most favorite puzzle games to date. Here are some additional screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Yeah.

The first stage.

what

Another stage!

Talking corn with beards and glasses. Makes perfect sense to me!

Those 'P' orbs freeze all the enemies on the screen when you break them.

This game is a classic in my opinion, and the next time you see this, pick it up and give it a spin. It’s a good and original puzzle game that very few people have played, and I believe it deserves more recognition.Also, I just noticed that the the Kickle in the box art looks nothing like the actual Kickle. Kinda like Megaman 1’s box art, in essence.