Quarth

"An underrated game, and it's from Konami!"

A CULT HIT FOR AN UNDERRATED GAME.

It's the late 1980s. The video gaming world enjoys the newest blockbuster gaming hit: Tetris. At that time the companies are suffering from the controversy and copyright violations of the game. Meanwhile, other companies created their own puzzles such as Columns, Klax and Dr. Mario. Konami has done its own puzzle and it is the most underrated game in its history: Quarth. While in Japan Quarth had a cult hit in the arcades, it suffered in the U.S. Oh sure, they lightened things a little bit, beginning with the name change from Quarth to Block Hole. That didn't help. That's probably why the home version, on the Famicom, was never released on the NES in America. I never knew why: it had great potential, good storyline, excellent music, simple controls, and various multiplayer options. Plus, Konami was wealthy, it founded Ultra Games, and even after seeing such hits as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Metal Gear, Contra and Blades of Steel, Quarth never saw the green light in sight.

STORY (*** OUT OF 5)

Sometime during the first half of the 20th Century, the Milky Way is the innocent victim of a deadly Black Hole. This ferocious phenomenon desires to have a gravity of its own, and everything it touches (planets, asteroids, etc)transforms into blocks. Those blocks has different shapes and has a destructive goal as well. In groups, those baddies are heading for Earth. The scientists had discovered the phenomenon and had prepared a way to defeat those blocks: Quarth. Quarth is the spaceship hero, guided by the Angels that God sent us, and it will be launched into space in order to destroy those villains. It is our only thing that can bring calm and peace on Earth. The entire Galaxy depends on it!

Unlike Tetris, there is a story and that means there is an ending. It's a sort of motivation for playing the game: he/she has to save the world. Plus, it's a space theme. Well, it was the 80s, and half of the entire game library has a space theme, so it's a good and popular theme. The big flaw is that after passing the game and seeing the ending, it's game over; so the replay value hurts deeply (see the replay section for details). But overall, it's nice to have a backup story for a puzzle game because not all the puzzles has one. But I guess other blockbuster puzzles don't need a story, they have great game play and that's all there is to it.

GAMEPLAY (****)

You control Quarth. You can move it from left to right. The playfield moves from top to bottom as the blocks go near you. You shoot blocks and you have to fill a square or rectangle in order to destroy the bad blocks. You have three lives, you have to destroy them all before it reaches the bottom line or you lose a life. Lose all three and it's game over for you. This is simple and fun: it's a merge of Arkanoid brick buster with the Tetris levels and tactics. You accumulate points by filling the blocks; however you score triple or more if you can fill up three blocks or more at the same time. What I mean is that you can fill up a block, connecting to another one, and so on. There are ten levels, each divided into ten areas, and the blocks go faster as you reach deeper stages. Mentioned earlier, there is an ending, but in order to see it you have to clear Level 9 and it is as fast as you can get; so it makes a great challenge.

There are certain blocks whose color's different from the other blocks. When you see one your target transforms into a letter representing what kind of block it is. If you clear the special block you either obtain one of these:

''B'' (Bonus) You get an extra 3,000 points.
''S'' (Stop) The blocks stop moving for a limited time.
''C'' (2xCount) The point value is doubled for a limited time.
''E'' (Erase) The whole area clears up.

These special blocks can be of a great help if you are in deep trouble.

The menus have a few options. You can choose your level to start, and there are two ships to select from. The first one is the original Quarth, the other one is a futuristic spaceship. Both have the same qualities, so choosing either one of them doesn't affect the game difficulty. The level selection goes from 0 to 9, and if you select Level 9, you will only play that level, see the ending if you clear it, and that's it.
The multiplayer option have many modes to choose from, and some of them are a lot of fun.

Change Play: You have to save the world, so does your opponent but he/she has to wait for his/her turn upon clearing up a Level or a ship crash. This mode only challenges the scoring point, but nonetheless, this makes the goal so easy to top the charts with the very same blocks on the same Levels.
Tag Match: Both players are on the same playfield and have to cooperate as partners in order to survive. If someone crashes, his/her partner crashes too. This can be fun, but it represents one flaw: although it isn't represented graphically, you can't go left/right surpassing your partner. You have to stay on your side. So even your partner is in trouble, you can do very little about it.
VS. Play: This is the best mode for great competition. You each play the same time on a separate playfield and you have to clear your own levels. However, if you make a combo of three or more blocks per completion, not only you get the value of the combo, but the limit line of your opponent gets higher and higher. This can be a tough job for your opponent since he/she can only see a portion of the blocks arriving as his/her spaceship is getting higher. You both have one life and you win if the other lose by crashing upon a block by his/her limit line, no matter how high it is. The goal here is not to save the world, but to see who the best is.

AUDIO/VIDEO (****)

Of course being on the Famicom the graphics aren't equal to the ones on the arcade version, but the looks and esthetics are faithfully represented and are somewhat connected to the old 1920s, the time period of the story. There is no star background (like in Galaga) and that is a shock, but the rest is well proportioned. Each Level has its own color pattern, except for the last Level, witch its has the same pattern as the first one. Some Level playfields are more wider than the others, but that doesn't make the game any harder. There is no bugs whatsoever and there is no slowing down, that means that there is no pixel overflow, and that is a very good point.

If one day Konami makes a concert soundtrack, I will send emails and letter to request the soundtrack of Quarth. Konami has always been well known for good music, and Quarth is no exception. The tunes are unforgettable, they have a great beat, excellent melody, so great that you forget that it is on the Famicom. So great that it shows improvement over the music of the arcade version! The music is associated with the areas you're in. When you reach area 8 of each Level, the music starts to get a little faster. No that puts you in a great deal of stress, especially if you are in Level 6 or later. The sounds effects, as always, are excellent. From Konami's trademark Pause tune to the crashing sequence, this is where the game suits for the best in its genre.

REPLAYABLILITY (**)

This is the section that has the most flaws. Playing this game for a while is fun, but the same blocks reappear and the combination of merging one to another is something that can be done by heart. You know when to make a combo and when to avoid one. When you know all the combo pattern in multiplayer mode, speed comes over strategy (as in TetriNET, for example). Level 9 is almost unbeatable but when you've done with this game it's time to move on. You want to play again when your friend challenges you to a game, but that's about just it. That's probably the main reason why this game never made it to the U.S.

TO BUY OR RENT?

That is a difficult question. There is no NES version of Quarth, and if you want to rent it you got to go to Japan. There is a way thought to own the actual game. Order a Famicom or a NES/FC converter and the cartridge that goes with it. But if the game was in the U.S., you may just rent it. Within a day or two, with practice and extensive play, the game can be beaten for sure.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/02, Updated 07/02/02