The Adventures of Lolo
System: NES
Release Date: April 1989
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: HAL America
Genre: Puzzle
So I get to April 1989 and look at my list of games and see The Adventures of Lolo. I remember playing and enjoying this puzzle game as a child, so I say, “Yep, this is what I’ll play tonight, shouldn’t take too incredibly long.” Fast forward four hours and it’s 3 AM and I’ve just finished the final puzzle. What a ride! You are Prince Lolo and you need to save Princess Lala from the Great Devil. In order to do this, you need to climb ten floors of the Great Devil’s castle. It’s not going to be easy, though, as each room is a puzzle that needs to be conquered. Heart containers must be collected in order to open a treasure chest that opens the door to the next room or reveals the staircase to the next floor. Collecting heart containers? That sounds easy, you say, but this isn’t always the case.
For instance, there are enemy guards that are out to kill Lolo and will do so if they have a clear line of sight to the blue ball. The easiest of the enemy bunch are Snakeys. They can’t hurt you and just sit there looking silly. More often than not, you’ll need to shoot them with a magic shot to turn them into an egg and then push them to a more useful spot. The most dangerous enemies are the stationary Medusa and moving Don Medusa. If Lolo comes into line of sight with these enemies, they will instantly kill him and cause you to cringe with frustration. Most of the game revolves around finding ways to block their line of sight, which can be done in many ways. They can shoot through trees, but not rocks. They also can’t shoot through heart containers, other enemies, or emerald framers.
There are also other moving enemies that seek you out. They range from harmless, the Rocky, who tries to pin Lolo against walls, but can’t kill him outright; to useful, Leeper, who will fall asleep when they touch Lolo, making them a very useful helper for blocking Medusas; to the dangerous, Alma, who chases Lolo around the level and will kill him if they meet. Other enemies awake when you collect the last heart container. They are Gol, who shoots flames at Lolo as he passes in front of them; and Skull, who awakens and then charges Lolo as he tries to collect the final treasure.
Early levels have you trying to find the correct path from one heart container to the next and use simple puzzles to block enemies. These will be completed rather simply and quickly and serve to teach you the mechanics of the game. The later levels get quite complex. There were a few levels that had me stopping and really thinking about what I needed to do to complete the level. Some levels have powerups that you collect from flashing heart containers. These are a hammer to destroy a rock on the level. A bridge to permanently move over a river square. And an arrow switch, which changes the direction of a one way arrow. You also get magic shots from specific heart containers as well.
Out of the ten floors of five rooms each, the one-two punch of levels 8-5 and 9-2 took me over thirty minutes to figure out. I would put 9-2 as the most difficult puzzle in the game. It may have been me being tired or the whiskey, but I tried a dozen times before I stumbled into the right solution. I made heavy use of the Select Button to commit suicide and try again during this stretch. Conquering the final level puts you face to face with the Great Devil, which plays out in a little cinematic.
Graphics: 2.0
The graphics are cute. Very much what I would expect from HAL. They aren’t especially good, though.
Sound: 1.5
I really like the song that plays on loop through the entire game, but it has to fall below average seeing that there is no other music. Sound effects are fine.
Gameplay: 3.5
Where Lolo shines is the simple puzzle gameplay that gets more complex as you move along.
Difficulty: 2.5
There are a couple of levels that will test your puzzle-solving abilities, but it’s mostly easy. Add that to unlimited continues and you can brute force your way through.
Fun Factor: 3.5
This is a great time for a puzzle game. Four hours went by in the blink of an eye. I didn’t even refill my drink after I started playing!
Overall Grade: 2.6
The Adventures of Lolo earns a B-. It certainly deserves praise as a fun puzzle game. There’s room for growth in the sequels, which I have not played. I recommend giving it a shot.