Nintendo's really getting into it now. They had Tetris in 1989, Dr. Mario in 1990 and Yoshi in 1992. Now it's 1993. The Super NES has been released and is in full swing, and the Game Boy is still going strong, but Nintendo is still supporting the NES. However, it is obvious that the Super NES is where all their apples will have to go before long. Thus, the falling block puzzle entry for 1993 is the first to be released on all three platforms. Once again, it is a piece of the Mario universe, but this time, it has been created by some old friends: Bullet Proof Software, the people behind Tetris. Thus, we give you Yoshi's Cookie. THE GAME So now Mario is a baker. In Yoshi's Cookie, like Yoshi, you once again control where the blocks land rather than how they fall. This time, however, the elimination of the blocks depends not on the careful placing of newly-fallen blocks, but on the careful manipulation of blocks once they've landed. Each level gives you a cluster of differently-shaped cookies, and you can move a cursor around within this cluster. You can then move the row or column that your cursor is in, shifting all the cookies up or down, left or right. When they go off the edge of the cluster, they cycle through to the other side. The object is to make a complete row or column of two or more matching cookies, which then file out of the playing area. As you do this, more cookies are coming from the top and side of the screen, so as to add another layer on all sides. If the cookies reach the edge of the screen, you lose. However, because this game requires a lot more post-landing work that other falling block puzzles, the new cookies come more slowly than normal, giving you a few seconds between waves. Addictionally, each time you complete a row or column, the forthcoming wave is pushed back a little. Completing lots of rows at once gives you much more time to work. Each round has ten stages, in the tried and true X-Y format, and there are ten rounds. So there are 100 stages total. Or are there...? You complete a stage by clearing the screen. There are five shapes of cookie, which are displayed at the bottom right of the screen, each with its own five-bar meter. Every time you complete a row or column, it fills one bar of that cookie type's meter. When the meter is full, it is cleared, and your next wave of new cookies will contain a yoshi-shaped cookie. Yoshi cookies are wild, and count as whatever cookie type is necessary to complete the row or column they're in. There is a two-player mode, which has the same basic gameplay, but which has slightly different rules. It's one of the more interesting two-player games of any NES puzzle game, really. Each player gets a five-by-five cluster of cookies to work with, and a timer. The timer fills, and when it's full, that player loses. But it can be set back by completing rows or columns. Each player also gets a meter, to which one point is added for each match he or she makes, and when the meter is full, that player wins. Each game is best three of seven. Now, what makes this mode interesting is that it has an attack system which goes far beyond your standard garbage dumping. So interesting, in fact, that I'm going to devote a whole new paragraph to it. As you play, a message appears above each player's field, randomly changing. These are attacks. Every time you complete a row or column, it is replaced by a new one, and that new one will have a yoshi cookie in it. These are not wild cookies, like they are in the one-player game. Instead, making a row or column of five yoshi cookies activates whatever attack is currently listed above your playing field. There are attacks that increase your meter, decrease the opponent's, gives you control of their cursor, scrambles their cookies, or puts a big black patch in the middle of their field. But, warning, the attacks will always list the player they affect. Most of the time, that player will be the opponent, but sometimes it'll be the activating player instead. So it is very possible to waste your yoshi cookies unleashing an attack on yourself, which is not good. For completeness's sake, I will mention that the Super NES version of Yoshi's Cookie also has a puzzle mode, in which you are given a screen full of cookies, and are challenged to clear it in a set number of moves. THE GOOD The two-player mode is great. THE BAD The two-player mode is so neat, it's a shame there is no way to play against the computer. TIPS & TRICKS This game has a code! In the one-player mode, set the round to 10, the speed to high and the music to off. Then highlight the round select option, hold up and press select. The round will change to 11, and you will now be able to set the round to anything from 1 to 99 (note that you can also lower the speed and change the music, if you desire). So the game actually contains 990 stages. Rounds 11 and up are different from the first ten rounds, though. Instead of brown cookies, you will now be dealing with full-colour Super Mario Bros. sprites: piranha plants, goombas, boos, bloopers and mushrooms. Additionally, each level will contain in its starting cluster one koopa shell... and no further koopa shells will be provided. To clear the shell, and thus pave the way to completing the stage, you have to put it in a row or column with yoshi "cookies," which are now full-colour green yoshi sprites. FINAL ANALYSIS Though I said before that I don't like falling block puzzles with set goals as much as those with "endless" modes, Yoshi's Cookie escapes this to some extent by making you feel like you're actually progressing through a game which can eventually be completed, not just one that grows harder until you die. And the two-player mode is great. Thumbs up for Yoshi's Cookie. SCREENSHOTS It begins! It ends.