70. Moai-kun (Konami, Famicom, 1990)

Moai-kun is a puzzle-platformer from Konami starring a cute version of the moai (those big stone Easter Island sculptures) made famous in Gradius. You direct your moai character around single-screen puzzle / action challenges, rescuing all of your moai buddies at which point you are able to exit through a door.

The gameplay is reminiscent of the various logic puzzle games of the time; your Adventures of Lolo or Soukoban where you are sliding tiles around a grid-based level. Moai-kun is thankfully less challenging than these other titles I mentioned, as we generally see 8-bit games mellowing out in their difficulty for titles released in the 90s. While I would often get stuck or miss a jump, the puzzles were not maddeningly difficult like they can be in other tile sliding games, so I was able to stick with the game for 10 of its 56 stages (in comparison, I can't usually play more than a couple Lolo levels in one sitting, even with save states).

I just wish the platforming was a fun and breezy as the puzzle solving. The jumping is very strict, requiring pixel perfect precision especially when jumping to higher platforms across gaps. I suppose this thematically makes sense given that you're controlling a little guy made out of stone, though practically it makes the game s bit more challenging, as you don't feel as in control of your character. The characters don't really look much like Moai, more like cartoon faces with small feet. There is also a timer, but each level is generally takes less than 30 seconds if you have an idea of what you should be doing, so the timer is not much of an issue.

3/5, with some better platforming this would have been a standout Famicom puzzle game