24: Gem'X

Number 24
(175.8 points)
Gem'X
1992: 30 (14.2)
1993: 16 (34.0)
1994: 12 (53.4)
1995: 77 (19.2)
1996: 46 (55.0)

They tried this fake Japanese thing with Apidya, I don't know who they were fooling.

It's a puzzle game with a surprisingly unique concept: you are given an arrangement of gems, with the task of converting them to look the same as an arrangement on the other side of the screen. Clicking on a gem takes it through a series of transformations before disappearing - clicking directly on one puts it through two stages, and the four gems touching it go through one. Once you understand how to play, the game draws you in, and there are many levels to get through.

The game is covered in Japanese text that was obviously drawn by someone who doesn't know Japanese, including katakana on the title screen that sort of says "Pyramid Magic!!" for some reason. Anyway, when I started playing the game, I said out loud "I hate this", until I read about how the transformation actually works, then it became fun. The only problem is that once you know the solution to a puzzle, you'll get it every time, but you can say that about a lot of puzzles, and there are so many levels that you'll likely get frustrated before you get bored.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Gem'X (1991)(DMI)[cr SSP][t +2 SSP]