A legendary puzzle game from the series developed for NEC computers by Hiroyuki Imabayashi in 1981. In Soko-ban, we play as storeman, whose task is to bring order to a series of warehouse rooms by relocating boxes into their respective places. Each box can be moved by standing behind it and pressing direction keys.
Soko-ban is a puzzle game in which the player will play the role of a warehouse keeper. His task is by definition very simple: he has to order the rooms on the next floors of a huge skyscraper, pushing the scattered boxes to the indicated places.
The player controls the main hero with the cursor keys. The boxes are pushed automatically: just stand behind any of them and press in the right direction. The whole difficulty is that the walls of the warehouse have an irregular shape. Carefully plan the next movements so as not to block the marked path in any way. When all the boxes are in the right places, we move on to the next stage.
The standard game consists of fifty boards. The program allows you to create forty-nine more using an easy-to-use editor. In Soko-ban there is also a multiplayer mode, which allows you to play with up to four people at once. In this case, each participant tries to complete the stage in the shortest possible time. The rivalry is won by the one who arranges the boxes faster and more efficiently (fewer moves).
The graphics are very simple, but easy to read. However, it is difficult to expect visual fireworks from a product from 1984. The game is very addictive and requires the intensive use of grey cells almost from the very beginning of the struggle. The idea contained in Soko-ban turned out to be so successful that the game has seen many clones.
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Last updated on August 14, 2015
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Soko-ban Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows
Developer: ASCii Corporation
Publisher: Spectrum Holobyte
Age restrictions: none
