Known as "Moguranya" in Japanese (a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "mole" and the English word "mania", and also oddly enough the name of the main character in the Japanese version), this is a game that's been recommended to me for years, but I only just got around to finally giving it a go. I recently picked up a GameCube and a GameBoy Player, so I finally have a way to play GameBoy games again. I also found a copy of this for 300 whole yen at the resale place where I picked up my GameCube and such, so it was an easy choice to pick it up. Unfortunately, the save battery was dead, so I had to beat it in one sitting, but I probably would've beaten it in one sitting anyway because of how addicting it is X3. I 100%'d the Japanese version of the game over the course of a little over 6 hours.

The game stars the main character Moguranya in a quest to save his family. The game opens with the cabbage farmer Jinbe angry that the moles keep stealing his cabbages, so he takes things into his own hands and kidnaps Moguranya's whole heckin' family, all seven children and his wife, and leaves Moguranya a taunting note daring him to try to get them back. Being a loving father, Moguranya of course immediately sets out on a quest to rescue his family and teach Jinbe a lesson. It's a fairly light story, but there's quite a bit of fun, silly dialogue given to you via signs in each level written by both the bosses of that world as well as from the elderly mole who serves as your tutorial giver as well as checkpoint bearer. There are also fun little vignettes of Moguranya and his rescued kids every time you beat a world (very much like older Kirby games have), which add to the silly fun of it all.

But the real meat here is the gameplay, and the gameplay that's here is basically a Sokoban game (warehouse block pushing), but probably the most fun version of that I've ever played (especially granted it's a genre I don't generally enjoy). The game has seven worlds (with world 8 just being a boss rush) of many rooms each, and the goal of each room is to get a boulder to the rock wall at the end to break it and allow you to progress to the next room. There are also 20 cabbages in each level to collect by rolling them into a hole, as well as a map, radar, and time trial mini-game against Jinbe which also add to the score you get at the end of each stage (although 100%-ing the game doesn't actually do anything, so far as I can tell).

What sets this apart from other Sokoban games isn't just the very forgiving difficulty, but the fact that it not only auto-saves after every room you complete (probably why the save battery in mine is dead ^^;), but it also has unlimited lives and you respawn at the start of a room just as you entered it. While there are enemies and tough, well-designed bosses, getting killed at the action parts will never send you way-way back, and they're just as much a part of the puzzles as the walls and boulders are. You also have a large degree of control as to how you manipulate the boulders, cabbages, and other obstacles you'll encounter. You can push them, pull them, and also launch them forward and behind you by flipping them over yourself. This means that while it may be possible to make a room unsolveable so you need to backtrack a room to reset it, you'll never get stuck or have to redo large swaths of content like so many other Sokoban games. You're also a mole, so naturally you can dig too, giving every room two layers to consider in your goal to solve the puzzle therein. The level design is really well done, and although the difficulty curve is a bit up and down in a weird way at times, it always feels so satisfying when you finally solve the room.

That difficulty curve issue, if you can even call it that, is really the only major issue the game has, if you can really call it that. There's a weird feeling to having one room that takes you some 15 minutes to finally wrap your head around and complete, and then have it followed by several that you almost instantly figure out, but it's not really a bad thing. Though this game does suffer from that Lemmings-style of "okay, I know what to do, now I just gotta DO it" that many action-puzzle games suffer from. The game should also really heal you whenever you complete a room, as there are heal rooms run by the elderly mole, so you can just backtrack through safe, completed rooms to get healed when you're really hurt, and it doesn't really make much sense not to just heal you every time you win a room. But again, these are really small complaints.

The presentation is also really what you'd expect from a first-party Nintendo game. It may only be a GameBoy game, but the sprite work is really excellent, as are the animations. It looked really nice even on a big TV~. The music is also very good, and has a very Kirby-like feel to it (despite not being a game made by HAL).

Verdict: Highly Recommended. I'm definitely not the first person to recommend people play Mole Mania, and I highly doubt I'll be the last. It's an excellent puzzle game with a super addictive "just one more room!" feel to it that is never consistently soul-crushingly hard. It's not a super hard physical game to find, and it's also on the 3DS Virtual Console, so this is a pretty easy game to pick up legit too. If you're a fan of puzzle games, this is absolutely not a game to sleep on~

I love me some puzzles. Especially ones you can get in and out of quickly and enjoy in your spare minutes. Mole Mania is about as good as it gets in that department. Especially when it comes to Game Boy.

The big flaw that keeps this from being a perfect game is the lull/plateau of the puzzles that happens through a large swath of Worlds 6 and 7. You've seen it all at that point. They don't bring in any new folds. And the World maps are too big for their own good at that point. I'll also note that the bonus events are more annoying than anything else but obviously are just there for the 100%.

Other than that the game is amazing. The puzzle build up and variety before the plateau is great. The game being compartmentalized into single screens means you can play for 2mins or 2hrs at a time and walk away feeling like progress was made. The bosses are actually really fun action as opposed to the bonus stages. And the little story told and tiny cutscenes are funny n' cute.

Mole Mania is exactly what I want out of a handheld game on my handheld emulator. Loved it.

[Emulated/played on Miyoo Mini v2]

This is a hot, unique Game Boy puzzle gem.

You play as a mole who can "win" each level by throwing bowling balls at the exits.

Each level contains a bunch of screens, each serving as a mini-puzzle. These puzzles are solved by digging holes, navigating the underground and surface, and hitting the exit with your bowling ball.

The scoring system is very satisfying: if you fully complete a level (clear all screens and get all items) you get 100 points. This feels good.

I did this (got all 100 points) for the first four levels and then sort of lost interest. While I was loving the gameplay I felt pretty satisfied after four levels and things were starting to become just a little bit tedious. There is no rewind feature so if you dig a hole in the wrong place or throw a ball in the wrong spot you potentially need to start over the screen, which does get pretty tiresome.

Overall, this thing is a real good time and I love that it has its own special Super Game Boy border.

Pros: Fun top-down puzzler that has the player navigating two planes, the surface, and the underground, as you tunnel down and pop out from the other, to solve puzzles, push and throw big ass bowling balls into holes, nab cabbages, and open doors. Really fun stages, really polished design, and plenty of personality and charming characters (Grandpa mole is a favorite of mine). Gotta mention the art/character design, which was made by Yoichi Kotabe, the man behind the 2D art of Mario, as well as Pikachu (also I believe this game was backed by Miyamoto himself, so there's a lot of Nintendo vibes here). Plays great on Super Game Boy as well!

Cons: There's not a whole lot of cons here, other than, and this may not even qualify as a con, but that this is a game that would've benefitted greatly from two screens, like, if it were on a DS. It'd be useful to always see both the underground and surface at the same time. As is, you can always pop your head up to check whats happening on the surface without fully committing, but, if you were always seeing what was up there, it could help with some puzzles quite a bit, like moving enemies or obstacles. Eh, not really a complaint so much as a desire to get a DS version that we never got...

What it means to me: Pretty sure I saw this game featured in Nintendo Power, didn't think much of it at the time, but many years later I saw it used at a Gamestop, gave it a purchase, and gave it a play, and kinda loved it. It's a great game!

Genre: Puzzle Action Adventure

Released: July 21, 1996

Platform: Gameboy, 3DS

Developer: Pax Softnica

Publisher: Nintendo

Language: English, but available in Japanese with first party translations. There are also a few fan translation, such as Spanish.

Length: 8-10, but can be 15+ for completeness. I rolled credits after 12 hours, and may go back for a few extras.

Difficulty: Medium, most puzzles are fair and there is an item that let’s you skip a level if you are really stuck (I never ended up needing it). However, the lost boss is action heavy and tedious.

Do I Need To Play Anything First: No

Accessibility Options: None. Most of the game does not require fast reflexes, however bosses do require fast inputs. You need complete sight to play this game. There is no hint system. You may need a co-player to finish this game during the boss fights and a few puzzles, however a majority of the game can be played with limited mobility.

How Did You Play It: On an analogue pocket.

Is It Good: Yeah, I thought so. It’s charming and worth a look at.

Mole Mania is the first Game Boy game I’ve finished this year. My Game Boy is used nearly every day, for 15 minutes just to refresh my mind. As such Mole Mania is a perfect game boy game for what I am looking for. It’s simple to play, easy to put down, and designed for small play sessions. It has a charming art style, forgettable but toe tapping tunes, and enough challenge to require thought without being frustrating.

You play as a Mole trying to save his children from an evil famer. To succeed, our hero must smash a mettle ball into a concrete block. No, it doesn’t make much sense, but it makes for a fun and compelling gameplay loop.

Each level starts with the ball on one end of the stage, and you are challenged to find a way to transport the ball by rolling it around obstacles, hazards, and enemies. Mole Mania is more a puzzle game than an action game, as the game starts laying rules and twists to make the task engaging and different throughout the entire game. There are boss battles, but they rely more on planning than reflexes.

The unique mechanic the ability to dig underground, digging a maze of tunnels beneath the stage that you can use to bypass hazards. But each new place you pop out, you create a hole and thus an opportunity for the ball to fall into the earth and restarting the stage. Digging, where to dig, where to exit, and where to throw the ball all blend into an attractive loop that I enjoyed playing every day.

However, the game never grows into anything else. The ball becomes harder and harder to get to the other end, but ultimately you are performing the same task over and over again. I had a lot of fun with each level, but by the final world I was getting a little restless and ready to move on.

Being one of the last games released on the Game Boy, the graphics are clean with a strong art style, and it’s clear Nintendo was hopping to turn the titular mole into a longer lasting series. There are animated shorts at the end of each level, the bosses are well designed with great animation flair. There are secrets and bonus levels strewn about, time trials, and other secrets for those who are interested.

I had a few issues with controls. They are excellent and specific for the puzzle portions, but for the few times the game asks for quick inputs during the boss battles I felt I was fighting against them and resulted in some frustrating deaths. This is mitigated by the fact dying has no real effect. However, the vast majority of the game the controls are great for the puzzle stages.

My only real complaint is the final boss, which is part of a boss rush compilation where you fight every boss in a row. Given that combat is the worst aspect of the game, I found this overly punishing and more annoying then difficult. The final boss is unique, and thus you will die a few times before learning his patterns. It feels overly punishing to have to go through old bosses again for another chance, especially as the rest of the game is not about fighting at all.

Mole Mania is has no mean tricks, each stage takes up the Gameboy screen and the goal is always clear: move the ball. There is a great deal of delight in the trial and error required as you make plans, test them, and tweak them as you progress bit by bit.

Mole Mania is a confident game, with a great art style, short bite sized puzzles, charming characters, and fun music. I loved many of the puzzles, and the middle stages contain some clever twists and challenges. If you are looking for an often-overlooked gem, Mole Mania is an easy recommendation.

I enjoyed mulling over potential solutions throughout the day, and often found what was difficult the day before was breezed through after a good sleep. It is not a perfect game, or even an exceptional game.

But it is a perfect game boy game.

Follow me at The Pile for more reviews (including books and films)

https://thepile.substack.com/

Unfortunately, Mole Mania is not the hidden Miyamoto gem I had hoped for. This really is a shame, because the puzzles themselves are good, sometimes even brilliant. The game manages to constantly get more difficult without overwhelming the player by introducing too many variables at once. It is quite impressive how many different problems the designers managed to construct within the unchanging confinements of two layers with eight times seven tiles each. Every screen poses the same simple question: How to maneuver the ball into the wall? The different answers to this question soon become so complex that you need to spend most of your time just planning your movement in advance before being able to execute your solution. Here lies the central conflict of the gameplay loop: On the one hand, solving the puzzles in your head often requires you to mentally reconstruct the critical path backwards, from the goal to the starting position of the ball. On the other hands, carrying out the solution is, like in almost every game, a forward moving process, working your way from start to finish one step at a time. This dynamic is by no means unique to this game. In fact, it applies to many of the greatest puzzle games. The challenge is to keep the experience engaging both mentally and mechanically at the same. However, I’d argue that Mole Mania mostly struggles to find and maintain this balance, and as a result often feels more tedious than fun.

There are several different possibilities of how the interplay between planning and executing the solution of a puzzle can work out. Since the whole setup is visible in its entirety, it is possible to figure out everything before interacting with the world at all (except for a quick glance at the layout underground). In this case, putting your plan into motion can either be satisfying or arduous, depending on how long it takes to execute it and how engaging the interaction with the world is. Sadly, most of the challenging puzzles also involve way too many steps that you have to perform, and since every movement is restricted to the four directions and limited tiles of the map, it often feels slower and less exciting than shuffling around pieces on a board game.

Another possibility is that you try but fail to find the solution and instead start experimenting. This can also be satisfying, especially when you stumble upon the missing link between your previous assumptions and the current game state along the way. Except that Mole Mania actually discourages experimentation because of how easy it is to completely block off the solution by making a single wrong move. As the game progresses, the puzzles leave less and less room for error, yet the game keeps introducing more and more elements that can irreversibly alter its state. All it takes is to slip up once and heavy objects get stuck in corners, barrels block up holes and underground pathways, or enemies get locked in the wrong place. This even affects the central mechanic of digging holes. I stopped counting how often I accidently placed a hole in the wrong spot just before the end or realized too late that I had misplaced one at the beginning. In any case, there is nothing else to do than to exit the screen, reset the puzzle and do everything all over again.

Finally, there is the third option of not thinking ahead at all and instead just trying to figure things out as you go along. This approach works best for puzzle games with an emphasis on a sense of discovery, where not every element is revealed at first sight, and you are encouraged to explore without too much risk of unforeseen and unwanted consequences. Both aspects run contrary to Mole Mania’s design, and if that is not enough to keep you from trying this playstyle, then the enemies will surely break your spirit. Not only do most of them look surprisingly awful and completely detached from the rest of the game’s aesthetic, they also are easily the most annoying part of the experience. Very rarely are they part of the puzzle itself, instead their primary function is to hinder you from executing the solution. You can defeat them, but this is discouraged by the fact that they always respawn when you reset the puzzle and are automatically eliminated when you solve it. They don't pose a serious thread either since they move on predetermined paths, and you can easily dodge most of them by hiding underground. Simply put, the enemies are nothing but a waste of time. All you need to do is wait until they are out of the way. Even if they hit you, the only punishment usually is that you have to backtrack to the last save zone where you can infinitely replenish your health, which wastes even more time. They add nothing substantial to the experience, yet the game inexplicably turns them into the main attraction in the final levels.

I think a good comparison to illustrate Mole Mania shortcomings is Eagle’s Tower from Link’s Awakening. Not only were both game released on the same platform by the same publisher three years prior; Eagle's Tower also has the same core idea of using a heavy object to break certain structures, while moving said object also restricts your own mobility. This leads to the same basic dynamic between careful planning and precise execution. However, the traversal and moment-to-moment gameplay in Link’s Awakening are challenging and engaging on their own. The complex layout of the dungeon forces you to alternate between curious exploration and critical thinking, simultaneously uncovering new parts of the puzzle while trying to maintain an overview of its structure as a whole. Mole Mania never reaches the quality of this dungeon. The game’s levels may share Zelda's maze-like structure with winding paths and hidden areas, even directly borrowing some elements from the series like the map and compass. Yet none of these additions change the nature of the puzzles themselves, which are still confined to a single screen each. And despite the quality of some of these puzzles, they mostly remain isolated highlights. If Mole Mania demonstrated one thing, then that good puzzle design itself is only good in theory as long as there are no interesting ways to interact with it in practice.

______________
More puzzle game reviews
Cocoon
Chants of Sennaar

More Game Boy reviews
Super Mario Land

It kills me that I'm just not feeling this, especially since it's such a cute and pleasant game to look at and listen to. I've also not played a puzzle game that has quite the same quirks that it possesses, so it's novel to me. I just know that I hate the feeling of looking at a puzzle room and sort of sighing to myself, and I'm already doing it three worlds in, because executing the puzzle solutions just isn't very exciting. I might return to it but I don't feel motivated to play it anymore in the near future.

Completed with 100 points on all 7 levels. I became aware of Mole Mania via a My Nintendo offer, and after finding from a brief investigation that Shigeru Miyamoto was involved in its development, decided to give the game a try - well, this was a very pleasant surprise! This is a thoroughly charming top-down puzzle game, tasking Monty Mole with navigating through seven levels, each made up of a series of single-room block-pushing and navigation puzzles, but made all the more interesting by the availability of both surface and underground areas to each room. There's a decent but not excessive variety of mechanics at work, and a few secrets scattered around each level to reward exploration. Being a GameBoy game, graphics are simple, but crisp, and there's a catchy soundtrack throughout - overall, a very impressive package!

It's neat, often overlooked, but while it's impressive how much it does with very few concepts, by the end, it feels like it's overstayed its welcome, and every concept it's used has been stretched too thin. The bonus stages (and final boss) also feel very much at odds with the pace and playstyle of the rest of the game, requiring a speed and precision that the control scheme does not do much to accommodate. I would recommend against 100% completion (there's no bonus for it anyway). It would've been neat to see the idea explored again on the DS or 3DS, where the second screen could be used to see both aboveground and belowground simultaneously (a limitation that becomes an issue in a few stages with underground enemies), but it's too late for that now.

I would like to shine a spotlight on the villain of this game, a Nintendo villain that has escaped the public eye for far too long, Jinbei the Farmer. Moles are devouring the cabbages in his garden so what does this bastard do? He kidnaps the wife and children of the lead mole, has various random monsters like a kangaroo and a sentient snowman hold them hostage, and then constructs a giant amusement park filled with spike pits and dinosaurs, all while writing a bunch of signposts that taunt the mole.
Buddy. Just go to the local Home Depot and buy yourself some Gopher Gassers. Save yourself the trouble.

Those little burrowing hedgehogs can all go straight to hell, by the way.