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.
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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.
______________
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