Daedalian Opus
Encyclopedia
was a puzzle game for the Game Boy
released in June of 1990. It was one of the few games produced by the little-known software company Vic Tokai
.
Cover illustration by Lawrence Fletcher.
puzzles with Tetris
-like pieces known as pentomino
s that must be assembled into a specific shape. The puzzles start off with rectangular shapes and simple solutions, but the puzzles quickly grow more complex, with odder shapes like a rocket ship, a gun, and even enlarged versions of some of the pentominoes themselves. Each level is timed, and once the timer is started it cannot be stopped until the level is finished. One starts off the game with only three pentomino pieces, and at the completion of each early level, a new piece is awarded to the player. At the final level, the player is given the 2x2 square O tetromino
and must complete an 8x8 square puzzle.
After completing each level, the player was given a password to access that level at a later time. Interestingly, each password was a common English four-letter word, so that by guessing common four-letter words, players could potentially access levels they had not actually reached by playing the game.
, the mythical character of Greek legend who created the labyrinth
.
A faithful fan version was later coded for the MSX
computer system by Karoshi Corporation in 2006 for the game development contest MSXdev'06.
The game has been ported to different platforms, such as PC
and GP2X
.
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
released in June of 1990. It was one of the few games produced by the little-known software company Vic Tokai
Vic Tokai
is a telecommunications company in Japan providing cable and DSL services as well as network solutions. The "Vic" in Vic Tokai's name stands for Valuable Information & Communication while the "Tokai" is simply the name of its parent company TOKAI, a Japanese natural gas utility founded in 1950...
.
Cover illustration by Lawrence Fletcher.
Gameplay
The game is essentially a series of 36 jigsawJigsaw
Jigsaw may refer to:* Jigsaw , a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces- Film and television :* Jigsaw , a 1949 film noir...
puzzles with Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
-like pieces known as pentomino
Pentomino
A pentomino is a polyomino composed of five congruent squares, connected along their edges ....
s that must be assembled into a specific shape. The puzzles start off with rectangular shapes and simple solutions, but the puzzles quickly grow more complex, with odder shapes like a rocket ship, a gun, and even enlarged versions of some of the pentominoes themselves. Each level is timed, and once the timer is started it cannot be stopped until the level is finished. One starts off the game with only three pentomino pieces, and at the completion of each early level, a new piece is awarded to the player. At the final level, the player is given the 2x2 square O tetromino
Tetromino
A tetromino is a geometric shape composed of four squares, connected orthogonally. This, like dominoes and pentominoes, is a particular type of polyomino...
and must complete an 8x8 square puzzle.
After completing each level, the player was given a password to access that level at a later time. Interestingly, each password was a common English four-letter word, so that by guessing common four-letter words, players could potentially access levels they had not actually reached by playing the game.
Development and ports
The name of the game was inspired by DaedalusDaedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
, the mythical character of Greek legend who created the labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
.
A faithful fan version was later coded for the MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
computer system by Karoshi Corporation in 2006 for the game development contest MSXdev'06.
The game has been ported to different platforms, such as PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and GP2X
GP2X
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
.