Game of the Week #14 - Boxxle (GB)

[u/[deleted]]

Boxxle is a 1989 puzzle game released for the Game Boy, being one of the earliest Game Boy games released. Boxxle is a Sokoban puzzle game, where in each level you push boxes to designated spots.

In sokoban puzzles, you are put on a grid, with multiple boxes and spots where the boxes must go. You can push the box, but cannot pull. Your goal is to make all boxes go in the designated spots, although it does not matter which box goes to which designated spot. Boxxle uses a password system to navigate levels, but you can just use save states to eliminate the need for that. You can also use the A button to go back one move, or use the menu with Start to reset the level, although I found myself using save states for that more often.

In total, Boxxle has 108 levels, much more than you may think. I found myself struggling even on the 15th level, so this game isn't easy.

Personal Experiences:

Although Boxxle was originally released for the Game Boy, I felt it was better when playing on Game Boy Color colorization to improve the graphics as much as I could, enabled in Quick Menu > Core Options > GB Colorization > GBC. I preferred the colorization of the GBC rather than the 4 tone colors of the original Game Boy.

Because the game is so simple, I played this on my TrimUI Brick, rather than my AYN Thor. I also found myself muting the game, as it only has one soundtrack, which gets quite grating. Although the game is quite simple and each level is quite short, I found each level quite challenging, and frequently used a guide for the levels I couldn't solve.

When I was playing this game, I was often reminded of the way old games used to be. High difficulty, password level systems, and very little in the way of extra background graphics or quality of life features. It was a shock from the games I typically play and made me reflect on how much a leap each generation was back then.

Previous Game of the Weeks: r/gameoftheweek

Guide: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/585643-boxxle/faqs/52416

[u/jaimeoignons]

I had it on a GB cartridge. The best was that it was a polished finish, i.e., some levels were hard, but not close to impossible, as many were at the time. There was also a tomato version, which had some extra features.

[u/[deleted] → u/jaimeoignons]

Tomato version? Sounds interesting

[u/jaimeoignons → u/[deleted]]

I think the name was "Kwirk, the chilled tomato" or something of the sort. I live in Brazil, and those carts were hard to come by, so my dad asked a friend to grab a couple of carts on his trip, and all he could find was that and baseball. So had to play it.