19. Puzzle & Action: Tant-R (Sega, Playstation 2), 2005)

Tant-R is a minigame collection that was originally released in arcades in 1993, but was ported to the PS2 for Sega's Sega Ages 2500 series of remakes of older arcade titles, which were then bundled into Sega Classics Collection, which was released in America and how I came to play this game that feels made for me.

Tant-R (I don't actually know why it's called that and I don't want to look it up because the mystery is part of the fun) is framed around a pair of detectives chasing a series of criminals. To catch them, you have to complete a series of 4 timed minigames, most of which are logic-based, but some of which are more action oriented.

That's right, this is basically Proto-Warioware from 8 years before Warioware debuted. The minigames here are both longer (3 rounds of about 30 sec each) and fewer in number (around 30 in the game), so playing through you might repeat some stages.

Certain stages are also much more difficult than others, so choosing wisely (and hoping for easy stages) is key. The game is at its best when the puzzles are oriented around quick thinking. It doesn't quite have the action chops of Warioware, so many action stages feel lacking compared to the more fun & clever logic / observation based games. In the later stages, certain minigames become extremely difficult and fast, whereas Warioware ramps up its difficulty much more slowly.

4/5, I hope the recent Sega Ages release of sequel Ichidant-R brings some more notability to this cool series.