Polarium Advance
Encyclopedia
Polarium Advance is the sequel
to the Nintendo DS
puzzle game Polarium
. Polarium Advance was developed by Mitchell Corporation
for the Game Boy Advance
. The object of the game is similar to that of Polarium. Black and white tiles fill a grid, and by drawing a single line in the grid, tiles can be flipped from black to white (or vice versa). Solid, horizontal lines of all black or all white tiles are erased, and the goal is to erase the entire grid in this manner.
Unlike its predecessor, Polarium Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance
, with some significant changes. The unpopular Challenge Mode was removed, and the game focuses more on the Puzzle Mode, which features 365 puzzles - nearly four times as many as Polarium. Each puzzle stage can be played in Stage Mode, with no time limit, or Time Mode, where the player aims to complete a puzzle as fast as possible. Edit Mode for creating custom puzzles makes a return in Polarium Advance as well.
The color scheme is changeable from black and white, to add a bit of customization and color to the game.
for controlling where Polarium used the DS stylus, and the A button (or L, for playing single-handed) for starting or ending a stroke. Selected tiles will flip from black to white or vice versa, and the puzzle is completed if each horizontal line consists of a single color afterwards. Surrounding the main puzzle area are gray "neutral" tiles that have no effect on the puzzle but can be used to flip disconnected groups of tiles in a single pass.
, in Europe
on April 14, 2006, and Atlus
has published it in North America
during the month of November 2006.
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
puzzle game Polarium
Polarium
is a puzzle game developed by Mitchell Corporation for the Nintendo DS. In the game, players use a stylus to draw lines on the DS's touch screen, flipping black and white tiles to clear puzzles.-Gameplay:...
. Polarium Advance was developed by Mitchell Corporation
Mitchell Corporation
Mitchell Corporation is a Japanese video game developer based in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. Roy Ozaki serves as president, and Koichi Niida serves as vice-president. The company was originally established on February 1, 1960 as an import/export business by the father of Roy Ozaki...
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...
. The object of the game is similar to that of Polarium. Black and white tiles fill a grid, and by drawing a single line in the grid, tiles can be flipped from black to white (or vice versa). Solid, horizontal lines of all black or all white tiles are erased, and the goal is to erase the entire grid in this manner.
Game modes
- Stage
- Daily Polarium: This mode consists of 365 puzzles - one puzzle for each day in a year - and your goal is to solve one puzzle per day.
- Polarium Reference: Here you can play groups of puzzles you have already cleared in Daily Polarium.
- Edit and Custom: In these modes you can create and play, respectively, your own puzzles (up to 100). Initially, the only Special Tiles that can be used in your own puzzles are Hurdle tiles, but the other Special tiles can be unlocked during the regular game. You can also input puzzles by password, and the game is backwards compatible with passwords for Polarium.
- Time Attack: In this mode, you're given either 5 hard or 10 easy randomly generated puzzles, and have to solve them as fast as possible.
Unlike its predecessor, Polarium Advance was released 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...
, with some significant changes. The unpopular Challenge Mode was removed, and the game focuses more on the Puzzle Mode, which features 365 puzzles - nearly four times as many as Polarium. Each puzzle stage can be played in Stage Mode, with no time limit, or Time Mode, where the player aims to complete a puzzle as fast as possible. Edit Mode for creating custom puzzles makes a return in Polarium Advance as well.
The color scheme is changeable from black and white, to add a bit of customization and color to the game.
How to play
As in the predecessor, the goal is to select tiles by drawing a line over them with one, continuous stroke. Polarium Advance uses the D-padD-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...
for controlling where Polarium used the DS stylus, and the A button (or L, for playing single-handed) for starting or ending a stroke. Selected tiles will flip from black to white or vice versa, and the puzzle is completed if each horizontal line consists of a single color afterwards. Surrounding the main puzzle area are gray "neutral" tiles that have no effect on the puzzle but can be used to flip disconnected groups of tiles in a single pass.
Special Tiles
In order to add some variety to the gameplay, three new tiles have been added in addition to the standard black and white ones. Solid tiles cause all tiles above them to fall when erased, Hurdle tiles cannot have lines drawn over them, and Multi-tiles are "wild cards" in that they function as white or black panels.Release dates
The game was released on October 13, 2005 in JapanJapan
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...
, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on April 14, 2006, and Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
has published it in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
during the month of November 2006.