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Best puzzler games on GamesNostalgia

Puzzler video games have always been popular among gamers, challenging their minds with problem-solving activities. From guessing numbers or words, and simplistic block arranging to mind-bending physics puzzles, puzzler games have evolved over the years to provide increasingly complex challenges and innovative gameplay mechanics.

Simple mechanics and addictive gameplay characterized early games; versions of Mastermind or Hangman were probably the first examples. In 1984, Lode Runner and Impossible Mission launched the genre of the puzzle-platformers, mixing platform games exploration with puzzle solving. In Impossible Mission, you have 6 hours to collect the required pieces. Every death takes away 10 minutes. And there are many ways to die, from robots to electric obstructions.

In 1985, one of the most popular computer games ever was released: Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. It was a mix of educational, detective investigation, and puzzler. The series continued for many years, have a look at Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego? or Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (Deluxe Edition) released in 1992.

The Sentinel (aka The Sentry) by Geoff Crammond, released in 1986, was one of the first puzzle games in 3D, like the brilliant Tower of Babel by Pete Coke, where you need to solve puzzles using three different robots.

Moving to something more colorful, Jumpin' Jackson for the Amiga and Atari ST mixed puzzle solving with cute pixel art and a top-down perspective.

The genre of puzzle games was changed forever when DMA released Lemmings in 1991, one of the most popular games ever. The success of the funny little characters trying to survive across the different levels demonstrated that puzzlers could be real hits. This influenced many other game studios, so we had Pushover and Troddlers in 1992, not clones, but games inspired by Lemmings.

We cannot avoid mentioning the arcade hit Tetris, ported and converted many times, like Tetris Pro in 1992, but also the many versions of MineSweeper in 1991, a game that every Windows 3.1 owner played at least once.

The mechanics of puzzle games, where you need to combine the skills of different characters to reach a goal, were perfected by Blizzard with their first success, The Lost Vikings, in 1993. The same year we had a great example of Rube Goldberg machine games, with The Incredible Machine.

You can find all sorts of puzzler games out there. Still, sometimes it's challenging to define puzzle games since problem-solving elements can be present in all sorts of video games, including graphic adventures, platformers, and action games. Let us know if you think some of your favorite puzzlers must be included!

Twintris amiga

Twintris is a Tetris clone developed by Svein Berge for the Amiga in 1990 and published by Digital Marketing. The following year, it was also released under the name Super Twintri...

Year: 1990 Genre: Puzzler

2 players amiga original game coverdisk falling block puzzle puzzler shape combination single screen tetris variant

MineSweeper dos

MineSweeper (also known as Flower Field) is one of the most popular video games ever created. The game we all know today was written by Robert Donner and Curt Johnson and was included for free in Windows 3.

Year: 1991 Genre: Puzzler

board game freeware logic public domain puzzler

Tetris Pro amiga

Tetris Pro is a Tetris variant created by Logic System for Amiga and released for free in the public domain in 1993. Apparently, it's a simple Tetris "clone", but in reality, Tetri...

Year: 1993 Genre: Puzzler

amiga original game falling block puzzle freeware puzzler shape combination single screen tetris variant tile matching puzzle

Bill's Tomato Game amiga

Bill's Tomato Game is a puzzler created by Bill Pullan for the Amiga and published by Psygnosis in 1992. The game belongs to the so-called Rube Goldberg machine puzzle games, where...

Year: 1992 Genre: Puzzler

amiga original game puzzle strategy puzzler rube goldberg machine single screen

Chip's Challenge amiga

Chip's Challenge is an arcade puzzler created by Epyx, with a team lead by Chuck Sommerville, originally for the Atari Lynx console. The game released in 1989 was one of the launch titles.

Year: 1990 Genre: Puzzler

multi-directional puzzler sokoban top-down

Spherical amiga

Spherical is a puzzler arcade created by Rainbow Arts in 1989, initially for the Atari ST, then ported to Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. The German studio, famo...

Year: 1989 Genre: Puzzler

2 players atari st flip-screen platformer puzzler

Dimo's Quest amiga

Dimo's Quest is an arcade puzzler created by Infernal Bytes originally for the Amiga in 1993, then ported to MS-DOS and CD-i. The game, designed by Tobias Prinz and Thomas B. Schul...

Year: 1993 Genre: Puzzler

amiga original game puzzler top-down

The Humans amiga

The Humans is a strategy/puzzler created by Imagitec Design and published by GameTek in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, and many other platforms, including Mega Drive/Genesis and Game Boy.

Year: 1992 Genre: Puzzler

humour lemmings variants multi-directional platformer prehistoric puzzler

Archipelagos amiga

Archipelagos is a puzzler/strategy game created by Astral Software initially for the Atari ST in 1989 then ported to Amiga and MS-DOS. Inspired, at least in part, by The Sentinel...

Year: 1989 Genre: Puzzler

3d atari st coverdisk first-person puzzler real-time science fiction

Diggers amiga

Diggers is a sci-fi puzzler created by Millennium Interactive originally for Amiga in 1993 and later ported to MS-DOS and Acorn 32-bit. The game, designed and programmed by Toby Si...

Year: 1993 Genre: Puzzler

aga amiga original game lemmings variants puzzler science fiction

Bombuzal amiga

Bombuzal is a cute puzzler released by Image Works in 1988 for the Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST. Later it was ported to MS-DOS, SNES, and other platforms. The Amiga version was distributed as a cover disk of the Amiga Power magazine.

Year: 1988 Genre: Puzzler

coverdisk isometric logic puzzler

Spindizzy amstrad-cpccommodore-64

Spindizzy is a puzzle arcade game released by Electric Dreams Software in 1986 for 8-bit platforms. The game was designed and programmed by Paul Shirley, who developed it for the A...

Year: 1986 Genre: Puzzler

isometric puzzler rolling ball split-screen

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? doscommodore-64

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is the first game of the famous series of educational games produced by Brøderbund Software, starring the renowned thief with a red fedora and trenchcoat.

Year: 1985 Genre: Puzzler

apple 2 original game detective educational geography puzzler

One Step Beyond amiga

One Step Beyond is the sequel to Pushover, a puzzle-platformer created by Red Rat Software and published by Ocean. It was released in 1993, one year after the first game. The main ...

Year: 1993 Genre: Puzzler

advergames cartoon puzzle strategy puzzler