Spin Pair(Turbografx-16) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0
by Andrew Schultz schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS
3. STORY MODE
4. OTHER TIPS
5. VERSIONS
6. CREDITS
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1. INTRODUCTION
Spin Pair is a cute little block-drop puzzle game more memorable for its
graphics than for the challenges. Two blocks that touch at the side drop.
When one hits the structure in place, you can tinker with the other one. You
can rotate the blocks or flip them. Blocks disappear when you match the
filler of one block with the opposite filler of another block. The game wipes
out all other blocks on the same line, then if there were 3 on the same line
it drills down. Anything of the same color it touches knocks out stuff to the
side.
Spin Pair has three modes, battle(can't get to work on an emulator,)
normal(endless, piling levels) and story. It's most interesting in story
mode, where you have to go through all eight sub-worlds before facing off
with the wizerd(sic). Along the way you will have more blocks to juggle and
the fast intervals will become longer. So this FAQ will cover story mode and
peel off some general strategies for normal.
While it's fun and the graphics produced by a match(and in general) are cute,
there's very little incentive for chain reactions and only marginal need to
plan what to drop. So the game gets tedious by about the time you solve it
story mode, and normal mode gets unfair at the later levels(not that you want
to play forever,) but it's still sort of fun to rol through.
2. CONTROLS
Run pauses the game, leaving only your score and matching-points needed for
the next story level.
Button 1 rotates the filler for both shapes clockwise.
Button 2 flips both shapes. They only swap--the filling in them is not
rotated.
Down pushes blocks down faster. You get no additional points for this.
Left/right moves your block(s) left and right.
You can break the pair apart and continue to work. In fact once half of a
block-pair meets its mate you can move the other around. Example:
+----+----+
|xxxx|xxxx|
|xxxx|xxxx|
| | |
| | |
+----+----+
+----+
| |
| |
|xxxx|
|xxxx|
+----+----+
|xx |
|xx |
|xx |
|xx |
+----+
When the right block slips into the DR one you can rotate immediately, and
the left will rotate while the right won't. This is a useful strategy not to
get stuck with things. I know I get confused as to clockwise/counterclockwise
but in worst case remember
1) 2 button pushes flip.
2) 1 button push, then see if you need 2, for if you don't need to flip.
3) sit still if you need to do nothing.
You can also pull to the left or right if something falls, but if the blocks
above were on the same row, there's no way to do last minute rotation. You
can rotate as you move, too. It may take some time to get comfortable with
rotation, and you need to watch panic moves before something falls. Still,
you should have plenty of time to rotate/move a block as you want it once the
other is locked in to wipe out a block in the playfield. Moving is another
matter but you rarely need to swerve across the board. Even a single block
cannot swerve into an occupied square.
Annoying music starts, even if you turned it off, when your playfield has a
shape 2 units below the line. The playfield is 6x12 but when pieces start to
drop they can be above the line. You can rotate/move them when you just
barely see them.
Points are scored as follows: 100 for the first pair matched, then 200 then
400 then 800 then 1600/3200. But that is only for guys on one side. If you to
the following:
rg
v
rrr
You only get 100+200+200. Points don't matter in story mode.
You get 200/400/etc for what's below and then they strike out to the L/R for
the same sort of doubling. So it can get lucrative. And it can also be worth
it to make a 3-wide to dig out stuff under as well.
There is however no bonus for something like this.
ob
v
g
oooo
g
The g's only give 100 if they are matched. But it is good policy to link them
together for when you zap the oranges.
There is also no time bonus, so if something is falling, or a piece breaks
off to go down a pipe, use that time to make sure 1) it is the correct
orientation and 2) you have an idea what to do with the next piece.
When blocks are built up, plan/move ahead when your block is offscreen. You
should be able to rotate it in the right position. Also be prepared to change
your plans if a bunch of the same color come at you.
3. STORY MODE
You have 8 levels before the top one. They differ only in frequency of fast
patches and how many of each pair you need to make. Well--not precisely a
pair. Let's say you have a reaction that gets rid of X blocks. Then you get
X-1 credits for it.
PHASE 1:
red sun, orange house, yellow pentagon>star, grey triangle>helmet
lt blue diamond, green tree, brown barrel, dk blu smiley, pink heart, tan
mushroom>boy
Needed: 2 points for each of 4 shapes
This should not be hard. Given that you have four different icons and 6
spaces you should be able to make matches easier. Try to pick off something
on the side with each pair you match up, as practice for later. Obviously you
don't need big combos although they are easiest here.
PHASE 2:
white heart>turnip, orange triangle>carrot, green circle>melon, grape, red
appe, pink strawberry, lt purp beaker>eggplant, yellow square>pineapple
Needed: 4 points for each of 5 shapes
A bit trickier but again you have more columns than shape types, meaning you
should always be able to clear one. Multiple blocks in one swoop are always
good. Be sure to look at the "next" for possibilities. It's worth it to place
2-3 blocks by their side here just waiting for another one, because it should
come along quickly to cash them out--or you will get other pairs to match it.
You can leave a 2-fer on the bottom too to get one of a color(the last one
you see) all at once. Pile other stuff up elsewhere.
PHASE 3:
red ladybug, purple butterfly, blue dragonfly, brown snail, green
triangle>frog, pink heart>tulip, orange upsidedown house>bee, yellow sun,
white flytrap, dk orange flower
Needed: 6 points for each of 6 shapes
Again you should have at least 3 colors in the 6 columns(if not, you really
intentionally goofed things up) and that combined with seeing your next piece
should force a combo somewhere. You can still line up 3- or 4-tricks to get
through the level quickly, though it is probably easy enough to keep things
low.
PHASE 4:
white jellyfish, blue whale, purple starfish, red kraken, dk purple
shellfish, lt blue octopus, yellow porcupine, pink crab, lt yellow blowfish,
green algae
Needed: 8 points for each of 7 shapes
It gets a bit trickier here. You may just get a bad streak of shapes but if
you keep your mind on just chipping away and trying to establish shapes in
general on the same row, you should be able to get enough combos to keep this
relatively easy.
PHASE 5:
grey crow, white chicken, green parrot, orange woodpecker(=(, white goose,
dark brown vulture, yellow baby chick, lt green gull, lt brown owl, blue
bluebird
Needed: 12-8-12-8-12-8-12-8 points for 8 shapes
I found it was too hard to concentrate on what to put through a combo with
the staggered #'s. I just did what I could and noticed if anything needed
particular attention, then I tried to line that up. In the early going it
should again be easy to place a few blocks by each other's side. While you
can go in for combinations, concentrate on ones that arise naturally ie if
you get two yellows to put by a third, do so if they don't take too much
space. Otherwise just make a match.
PHASE 6:
yellow circle>lamb, green triangle>snake white box>dog, orange monkey, tan
U>cat, purple rabbit face, grey bear, brown horse, purple mouse, lt grey
panda
Needed: 12 points for each of 8 shapes
PHASE 7:
lt yellow bulb, blue TV, lt blue shutle, pink car, yellow copter, white
satellite dish, grey spaceship, orange trolley, green capitol, grey fountain
Needed: 16-12-16-12-16-12-16-12 points for 8 shapes
PHASE 8:
Lt grn planet, white robot, lt blue octagon gem, purple cross space station,
purple saucer, yellow hourglass, green x>robot, orange walk robot, yellow
pincer robot, grey robot
Needed: 16 points for each of 4 shapes
PHASE 9:
Needed: 4 points for each of 4 shapes
This is really no different from phase 8 except for that it gets fast near
the end and the colors aren't always clear--at least how they relate to
what's on the side of the board. Discriminating between orange and pink can
be a nuisance too.
grey green
red orange
yellow lt blu
purple dk pur
Keep an eye on which color you need. Invariably one will lag behind the
others, which is annoying, but you need to keep track of what you need. Once
you get all of one color, be prepared to match it up ASAP so it doesn't clog
things up. At the start when it is slow you can afford to take out multiple
blocks but as time goes on you should be relatively happy with 2 or 3.
However, if you get a few in a row of the same color, by all means make it
easier for yourself. Crowd control is the main goal here as the stretch run
will be fast. Remember to work the sides if a pipe builds up.
4. OTHER TIPS
The big general observation is that if you match one of your blocks each time
down, that holds things constant. Also if you can get a 2-match or match both
blocks, that is good too. The corollary here is that knocking out 3 blocks
with a 2-block gains ground.
The other one is that, at higher levels where you have 12 blocks, there is a
real possibility of getting stuck. You have 10 blocks you can know, meaning
that no matter what you put down, the block-after-next may force you to build
the pile up even more. So normal mode will, eventually, lead you to a forced
loss. No use feeling stupid trying to play forever.
Note in story mode if you match two pairs you get 2 points towards the next
level, but for 4 at once you get 3.
Same color blocks are the trickiest to place but can be rewarding down the
line.
When blocks speed up, just concentrate on matching things.
If something seems too tricky to do in your head it probably is.
Try not to start/maintain two sets of long verticals unless they are on top
of each other.
If you must make a pipe make it down the side.
If you don't know where to put a block, look for one of its color below and
pretend there are no blocks between the two. How will you rotate it? Then see
if you can chip at the blocks below from the side.
Blocks in a pit are much lower priority to match than those at the top. You
want to keep the playing field as even as possible, with the only gaps being
places to make a combo of more than 2 blocks. Note that even if you match a
block in a pit, the top side of the pit at least grows. So you must chip at
the pit's side. But if you have it and can place a few combos down it, do so.
Use the "next" to work out possible combos. If you have 3 of 4 blocks the
same color it can be pretty easy. Place:
a < now the a's fit
b
Or if it is reversed, place the aa on a flat surface if you can. You need to
rely on luck and hope(in story mode) that the right color will appear. It
should.
Chances it'll appear after 1 block = 1-(7/8)^2 = 23.5%
2 blocks = 41.4%
3 blocks = 55.1%
4 blocks = 65.6%
5 blocks = 73.7%
6 blocks = 79.9%
Don't hold out for combos of colors already completed in story mode. Also
remember that you can always make a row of 1 color and cover it and drop
something to the side later to lengthen the row. Remember one mistake can be
big--not spotting that you have an easy drop means that you only have 5
colors to match instead of 4 with the next drop. So when in doubt, go with
the basics, and if the one square you have left over fits next to one of the
same color, bonus!
Also remember squares don't have to fit next to each other, and if you have a
row, see if there are any squares of the same color below a square in the
row. The chain reaction also gives valuable time on later levels.
If you have, say, a g-b block and see a g below and g is in the "next" you
can usually 2-step to place the 3 greens for an extra point and one extra
square.
End of FAQ Proper
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5. VERSIONS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQS 9/3/2007, complete
6. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog,
honestgamer and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-
banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him
to be part of mine.
Thanks to the old TG16 reviewers who made enough noise about this system that
I decided to look into it. I probably choose the wussiest games for the
system, but oh well. I can see why they like it.
