One of my favorite puzzle games of all time is Super Columns on the Sega Game Gear.

Like Tetris, Super Columns featured a rectangular play field that had blocks falling from the top to the bottom. Instead of blocks, however, there were three colored gems, falling in a column. The idea was to shift the positions of the gems in each column to line up three gems either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The main difference between Super Columns and previous versions was that you could also rotate the column into a row while still shifting the gems’ positions. Gravity was also a factor. If any gem was left dangling over the tops of other gems, it would simply fall down, allowing you to set up and arrange chains of combinations for huge scores.


Setting up a big combo in Story mode

The one thing about Super Columns that kept me coming back over the years has been the “Story” mode. “Endless” mode is exactly what it sounds like — endlessly matching up blocks until they come at you so fast that you can’t progress any further. However, the Story mode starred you as a young boy who wanders into the Phoenician marketplace to get back the mysterious sacred amulet stolen by the evil Surhand who wishes to harness its powers to rule over the people of Phoenicia. You must play Columns against 4 of Surhand’s followers before facing Surhand and winning back the sacred amulet, returning it to its rightful place. At first, this is a little easier said than done.


Surhand and her gang.

For all intents and purposes, the Story mode was a single-player version of the versus mode. Of course, I didn’t know anyone else who had a Game Gear, so my chances of playing this game against anyone else were very, very low. That said, the CPU can put up a bit of a challenge. The versus mode featured 5 different “attacks” you could use to beat your opponent and ranged from locking their gems into place, speeding their columns to impossible levels or summoning an unmatchable column that they couldn’t eliminate. Also, the more combos you scored, the higher the floor would rise on your opponent’s field, eventually pushing them over the top and forcing a loss. Of course, you counter that by setting up combos on your screen, lowering the floor and evening the playing field a bit. Between two skilled players, this could go on for a while.


Your first opponent. All he does is throw these unmatchable columns at you. Not much of a challenge.

This little game kept me quite occupied during many a long car trip. Now, I know that there’s been a few dozen Columns variations over the years, but what I wouldn’t give for an Xbox Live Arcade version, or an updated, handheld version that takes advantage of the WiFi and internet connectivity of the Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable. Playing against live opponents online is just the kind of thing I could spend hours on. If only…

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