Guru Logi Champ
Encyclopedia
is a puzzle game by the Japan
ese developer Compile
. The game was released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance
handheld game system. "Guru Logi" is an abbreviation of "Guru-guru Logic", "guru-guru" (ぐるぐる) being Japanese
onomatopoeia for a rotating motion.
The game's story mode sees the Champs, small yellow bird
-like creatures who attempt to help the inhabitants of their neighbourhood out of various troubles. To do so, they must complete a series of logic
puzzles.
Each stage requires the player to complete an image by placing and removing blocks on the board. The puzzles are set up so that there is no simple solution; often the player is blocked by other immovable areas and so must improvise a solution by constantly constructing and deconstructing their own barriers. The board itself may be rotated so that the player can construct the solution from all four sides. An additional Battle Mode exists in which two players must race to finish puzzles in the fastest time. Battle mode requires a Game Link Cable and only one game pak cartridge.
The game itself is best compared to Picross and Magical Drop
. Similar to Picross, a board consisting of a set of blocks creates an image. Similar to Magical Drop, gameplay involves throwing blocks vertically into the play area and sucking them back off again.
There are a number of unofficial remakes of the game:
According to late-2001 Gamespot
ads, the game was scheduled to be released in the United States on December 22, 2001, but this was scrapped due to a poor Japanese-to-English translation. In various screenshots of a Beta for the English-language "Guru Logic Champ" (the official North American title), many language errors are present.
A reworking of the game concept was released by D4 Enterprise
for DSiWare under the name , known as Snapdots outside of Japan.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese developer Compile
Compile (software company)
Compile Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game company established on April 7, 1982, under the name Programmers-3. Founded by Masamitsu Niitani , they were famed for developing shooters and puzzle games such as Aleste and Puyo Puyo.Compile filed for bankruptcy and disbanded in 2003, but the franchise...
. The game was released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
handheld game system. "Guru Logi" is an abbreviation of "Guru-guru Logic", "guru-guru" (ぐるぐる) being Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
onomatopoeia for a rotating motion.
The game's story mode sees the Champs, small yellow bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
-like creatures who attempt to help the inhabitants of their neighbourhood out of various troubles. To do so, they must complete a series of logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
puzzles.
Each stage requires the player to complete an image by placing and removing blocks on the board. The puzzles are set up so that there is no simple solution; often the player is blocked by other immovable areas and so must improvise a solution by constantly constructing and deconstructing their own barriers. The board itself may be rotated so that the player can construct the solution from all four sides. An additional Battle Mode exists in which two players must race to finish puzzles in the fastest time. Battle mode requires a Game Link Cable and only one game pak cartridge.
The game itself is best compared to Picross and Magical Drop
Magical Drop
, sometimes referred to by native Japanese users as , is a series of puzzle games originally released in the arcade, and later primarily released for several platforms such as the Neo Geo, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn and Neo Geo Pocket Color developed by Data East...
. Similar to Picross, a board consisting of a set of blocks creates an image. Similar to Magical Drop, gameplay involves throwing blocks vertically into the play area and sucking them back off again.
There are a number of unofficial remakes of the game:
- A port to the MSX2MSXMSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
is currently under development by TNI. - An English 80-level remake available for the PC. This is still a work in progress and has no sound.
- A remake for the GP2X WizGP2X WizThe GP2X Wiz is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on May 12, 2009, and was also the first console from both Game Park and Game Park Holdings to be also released outside South Korea...
by the same programmer as the PC remake
According to late-2001 Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
ads, the game was scheduled to be released in the United States on December 22, 2001, but this was scrapped due to a poor Japanese-to-English translation. In various screenshots of a Beta for the English-language "Guru Logic Champ" (the official North American title), many language errors are present.
A reworking of the game concept was released by D4 Enterprise
D4 Enterprise
D4 Enterprise is a Japanese video game publisher currently specializing in content delivery services like Project EGG over the Internet. The company has also provided Neo Geo and MSX titles to the Virtual Console for the Nintendo Wii.-See also:...
for DSiWare under the name , known as Snapdots outside of Japan.