#467 – Palamedes

You won’t find any Greek philosophy here.

PLAYERS: 1-2 simultaneous

PUBLISHER: Hot-B

DEVELOPER: Natsume

GENRE: Puzzle

RELEASE DATE: November 1990

From what forgotten pit of gaming are these bizarre NES games emerging from? Palamedes?! You mean, the son of Nauplius from Greek mythology? One of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round? No, it’s a Japanese puzzle game with dice and a cute Astro Boy-look alike! Palamedes may be a forgotten relic of the ages, much like the mythological characters which bear the same name, but it can easily stand with the B-tier puzzle titles in the NES library: not quite Tetris-grade (what is?), but far better than that overrated diva Dr. Mario. Goals? We all have ’em and so does Palamedes. Rows of different-colored and numbered dice descend on Astrix Boy. Astrix Boy can throw like-numbered/colored dice at the row to make said dice disappear. A die typically only has six sides (unless you’re rockin’ a D&D match), and so it goes with Palamedes. You change the die number with ‘B’ and shoot it with ‘A,’ and unfortunately, you can only go forward with the die numbers, never backwards. This means if you meant to shoot a three at a three, and you accidentally go over to four, you have to circle all the way back around to three. The rows of dice come quickly and mercilessly. At first, it seems Palamedes will have the last laugh, but behold! There is more to this tale of myths and gambling! As you get rid of dice, they will appear on the bottom of your screen. Get more than three dice of the same number and color, press ‘Down’ on the D-pad, and obliterate a full line of dice. The more dice you get of the same number and color in your “reserve bar,” the more lines you’ll be able to destroy. This opens up the game and makes it the enjoyable experience it is. Two-player mode is available, as are five gradually more intense levels of play. Palamedes is waiting: will you heed the call?!

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