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バベルの塔
©1986 Namco Ltd.
Release: 1986-07-18 (¥3900)
Cartdridge NBL-3900
Puzzle/action game
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Babel no Tō is an action puzzle game developed and published by Namco
in 1986. The player assumes the role of Indī Bōgunain,
an adventurer and archaeologist on a mission to explore the Tower of Babel in an attempt
to find the lost hanging gardens of Babylon. But to succeed, he must navigate through
64 treacherous rooms and solve all the mysteries of the tall tower. Although Indy can
start his journey from any stage, only 16 are available at first and all the others are password
protected. In a nutshell, the gameplay is rather simple - each level has an exit door that
Indy must reach in order to progress to the next round, and this is where the true essence
of the game lies. Our explorer must lift and move L-Shaped blocks around, and stack them
up to create stairs. Once he has picked up a block, he can orient it differently so it faces a
direction that is more suited to a particular situation. In typical puzzle game fashion, the gameplay
becomes a lot more complicated as the game progresses - removing a supporting block can make a whole
staircase momentarily tremble and collapse, or blocks can crush Indy if he falls while carrying
one. He also comes with a limited Power level which decreases as he moves blocks around, and
acts as a kind of time limit. Enemies also quickly appear on the playfield and add an element of
challenge to the mix - koumori bats simply fly around , priests of Uru are a lot smarter and
constantly hunt down Indy (and they keep regenerating), and the Baberuzu golems are made
out of stone and can create new blocks. Various items also occasionally appear - vases and
crowns are turned in for points, jewels make Indy temporary invincible,
lamps give him the ability to walk through blocks, crystal balls unlock exit doors
later in the game and the rare shooting stars increase Indy's speed. Interestingly,
every eight floors, Indy enters an odd looking room - there, he must find a way to reveal
one of the eight symbols later used to unlock the final level and to gain access to 64 extra floors.
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Babel no Tō was also ported to the Nintendo Vs. arcade series in 1986. It was later
included in the Namco Gallery Vol. 3 released for the Game Boy in 1997 (along with Sky Kid,
Family Tennis and Jantaku Boy), and also included in Namco Anthology 1 released for
the Playstation in 1998 (along with Powerball, Star Luster and San Goku Shi II)
- interestingly, this compilation features the original game as well as an enhanced remake. It also seems
that a cell phone version of the game was released in Japan in 2003. Finally, an enhanced port of
Babel no Tō was made for the Sharp X68000 Japanese computer in 1995 - however, it looks
like the game was an unofficial fan-made remake which featured enhanced graphics.
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G
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Phonecard
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Click on picture to enlarge |
S
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The eight symbols
Every eight floors, Indy enters an odd looking room that hides one
of the eight symbols necessary to unlock the last level (the 'Big Password'). But these symbols
are hidden from view, and revealing them is rather tricky (I honestly don't know
how you can figure this out without the aid of a guidebook).
Floor 8:
Press and hold up and right, and walk until the symbol appears.
Floor 16:
Press and hold right, and walk until the symbol appears.
Floor 24:
Take and hold one block, then hold right and walk until the symbol appears - watch
out not to get stuck to the right of the screen though, make sure you move the
blocks first.
Floor 32:
Press and hold up and left and walk until the symbol appears.
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Floor 40:
Press and hold up and right, and walk until the symbol appears - watch
out not to get stuck to the left of the screen though, make sure you move the
blocks first.
Floor 48:
Move the two-blocks staircase against the wall to the left, and then climb up
to the top.
Floor 56:
Take and hold the block, then hold down until the symbol appears.
Floor 64:
Take the block on the right and move it against the
right wall, then stand on it. Move the block back so you can access the left side of
the floor (you will have to move the middle block around so you can climb over).
Then take the left block and move it against the left wall (over the exit door), and
then stand on it.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Babel no Tō is another of those games that's considerably more than the sum
of its parts. I mean, the first time you play, you only see a couple of L-Shaped
blocks, hanging vines and an exit door. Then the more you progress through it, the more
you begin to appreciate the depth of gameplay Namco has put into this game.
Babel no Tō never gets boring , each level adds a new trick or twist for you
to solve (and some stages will get you to scratch your head for a while). Granted,
graphics and animation are simple and a bit of variation would have been welcome, but
they do alright considering the nature of the game. All in all, Babel no Tō is
a great puzzle game, packed with neat ideas and surprisingly large with a total of 128
levels to play through!
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