The Adventures of Lolo Retro Review: The Blue Puffball On The NES

Written by Aurabolt | October 6, 2009

Back before HAL Laboratory brought us pink puffballs and giant king penguins with hammers, there was a tiny blue ball of puzzle goodness called Lolo. He once quested through fifty levels of puzzles on the NES back in 1989 in “The Adventures of Lolo,” a compilation of sorts that was never released in Japan, as most of its levels were duplicated from the “Eggerland” series.

“The Adventures of Lolo” is the game that most people credit as the foundation for block-shifting, action-puzzle games. In it, Lolo has to move blocks to protect itself from medusa heads looking to turn it into stone, or incoming enemies, as well as progress through the level. Collecting heart blocks (I assume, I’ve never been entirely sure what those blocks were, exactly) grants you items, and also opens the door to the next level through chests which contain a glass orb, and provides the ability to turn some monsters into eggs. Careful though; collecting every heart block must be done with caution, as enemies wake up when they are collected. One of the more impressive parts of this game is the amount of enemies present for a Nintendo title. “Lolo”’s bestiary includes blocking snakes and goblins which run around the map, Medusa statues which turn you into stone from all four directions unless their line of sight is blocked, and skulls which spring to life and want your squishy blue brains. This is useful in some puzzles, where stunning an opponent is essential to progress, but the other function involves pressing switches where no green block can reach.

The control scheme is pretty simple; you move in four directions and fire with the A-button, but the puzzles grow exponentially difficult as well as increase in actual level size, sometimes expanding over multiple rooms. You’re given five lives to start with the chance to get more, but you must be careful. If you manage to block yourself off, you’ll have to commit suicide, which also costs you a life just like normal death…such a novel concept, huh? The series does have a password system, and back in the days before saving at anytime, that was the only thing we had in order to continue. Luckily, the passwords are not as long as in other games from the era; four-letter words with only one line using symbols.

Adventures of Lolo

“The Adventures of Lolo”’s graphics are colorful, and easy to understand, yet, tend to be a little blotchy. While most newer gamers will likely complain about the lesser quality combined with the cuter sprites and simple means, my defense resides in that these are incredibly high-quality for the NES. Despite all those possible complaints, games during this era were known for their complex, yet simple-to-learn gameplay, especially puzzlers. The only reservation I have with the game, came after playing a couple floors, and it’s the extremely repetitive music. It doesn’t change from floor to floor, and only the end boss and ending offer anything different. For your sake, just get a radio or iPod and listen, muting the music. Puzzlers really don’t need music or audible cues anyway… at least, this one doesn’t.

“The Adventures of Lolo” really does hold up as the foundation for many puzzle games, while, at the same time, establishing that those games can also have elements similar to those of a a platformer, making it unique experience. A lesson promptly given and hopefully received.

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