Block pusher
A block pusher is a video game genre which primarily focuses on the block pushing mechanic. The player is expected to push around blocks, or similar objects, in order to accomplish a goal. Block pushers can be divided into active games, where the player is pressed for time, or must maneuver around dangerous obstacles, or passive games, where the player can process the block pushing at their leisure.
Contents
Personal
I think the first block-pushing game I played was a shareware DOS knock-off of Sokoban in the mid-1990s. While I initially found the game intriguing, I quickly got bored and assumed it was the type game of fully-determined game where, once you figure all the tricks, it would just be a matter of figuring out which ones, and, in which order they would need to be applied to beat each level. This put me off block-pushing games, and had little interest in any others for a long while, although I still enjoyed the occasional block-pushing puzzle that cropped up in non-puzzle games. It wasn't until 2015, when I played Ittle Dew, that I discovered the mechanic could be very enjoyable when used to accent good game play. I gained more appreciation for them in 2021 after playing the very clever Baba Is You. Then, in 2022, I wanted to beat more older games, so I played and beat Adventures of Lolo and its sequel. I've since grown more of an appreciation for the mechanic, although I still don't care much for games which use it as their primary theme.
History
The first popular block-pushing game was Sokoban, first developed in 1981. Sokoban became quite popular in its native Japan, and eventually spread throughout the world. Its popularity gave rise to plenty of imitations, but the game also had a strong influence on the entire genre of puzzle video games for years to come, and the mechanic even started to show up in non-puzzle games. For example, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance both contain a handful of them.
Games
These are block pushers games that are important to me. For all games, see the category.
| Title | Released |
|---|---|
| 2048 | 2014-03-09 |
| Adventures of Lolo | 1989-04-20 |
| Adventures of Lolo 2 | 1990-03-20 |
| Baba Is You | 2019-03-13 |
| Helltaker | 2020-05-11 |
| Yoshi's Cookie | 1992-11-21 |
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