is a

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Face, with the assistance of Minato Giken, and originally published by

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

on May 25, 1994. It was the first game to be created by Face for the

Neo Geo Neo Geo is a family of video game hardware developed by SNK. On the market from 1990 to 2004, the brand originated with the release of an arcade system, the Neo Geo MVS and its home console counterpart, the Neo Geo AES. The Neo Geo MVS was su ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

and it was not released on the

Neo Geo AES The , stylised as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a cartridge-based arcade system board and the fourth generation home video game console released on April 26, 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was the first system in ...

(home). In the game, players must match 3

people A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

with their respective colored outfit, while rotating the playfield in order to rearrange them. Though it was initially only launched for the Neo Geo MVS (arcade), ''Gururin'' was later re-released by

HAMSTER Corporation is a Japanese video game publisher, with office located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The game division of Toshiba-EMI Limited spun off Hamster Corporation in November 1999. On the Japanese PlayStation Store, more than 200 titles are distrib ...

through download services for various

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

s in 2018. A

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

for the

Neo Geo CD The is the second home video game console of SNK, SNK Corporation's Neo Geo family, released on September 9, 1994, four years after its Neo Geo (console), cartridge-based equivalent. This is the same platform, converted to the cheaper CD format ...

was planned and even previewed but it did not receive an official release to the public. ''Gururin'' has garnered mixed critical reception since its original release in arcades from reviewers who felt mixed towards several aspects of the game such as the visuals, sound design and gameplay, while its difficulty and learning curve has been heavily criticized.

Gameplay

''Gururin'' is a

tile-matching A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...

puzzle game reminiscent of ''

Columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

'' and ''

Puyo Puyo ''Puyo Puyo'' (ぷよぷよ), previously known as ''Puyo Pop'' outside Japan, is a series of Tile-matching video game, tile-matching video games created by Compile (software company), Compile. Sega has owned the franchise since 1998, with games ...

'', where the player must match 3 people wearing the same color outfit vertically or horizontally in order to become

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

s as the main objective. In addition to the single-player mode, the game also features a competitive two-player mode where one human competes against either a computer-controlled opponents or against other human players in versus matches to become the winner. If a

memory card A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a so ...

is present, the players are allowed to save their high-score. A unique feature of the game is the rotation of people around the playfield; By pressing A or B, players rotate the arena either to the left or the right, changing the positioning of people. On occasions, an arrow appears indicating the correct way to match 3 people of the same color. However, people can also potentially grab their hands to not let themselves go, making puzzle solving more complex and later levels increase in difficulty as well. If the people manages to occupy the playfield, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Development and release

''Gururin'' served as the first project to be developed by Face for the Neo Geo platform and its creation was helmed by producer Kenichi Iwanaga. Iwanaga was also both its

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

along with Kaori Hijiya, Kingo Hiraku and Noriyuki Tabata.

Artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s Masako Araki, Michiyo Morohoshi and Kenichi Kumakura were responsible for the

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

, while Atsuko Iwanaga and Kenji Sugai were in charge of its sound design, among other people collaborating in its development. ''Gururin'' was initially only launched for the arcades by SNK on May 25, 1994. A

version was announced and even showcased for playing to the attendees at SNK's booth during the

Winter Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can show ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

but it was never released for unknown reasons. The game has since received a re-release in 2018 on various

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...

platforms such as the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

and

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

as part of the

ACA Neo Geo is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called is focused on rereleasing N ...

series by HAMSTER Corporation.

Reception

''Gururin'' has been met mixed reception from critics since its initial release. ''

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

s Kyle Knight criticized the visuals, sound design, difficulty and learning curve but praised the addictive gameplay and rotating mechanic. In a retrospective review, Gonçalo Lopes from ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

'' regarded the graphics and music for being surreal and psychedelic, despite being standard for the genre but criticized for being complicated for players, recommending other titles on the Neo Geo such as '' Puzzled'', ''

Magical Drop , sometimes referred to in Japanese as , is a series of computer puzzle game, puzzle games first released in the arcade, and later primarily for several platforms such as the Neo Geo (console), Neo Geo Arcade, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, ...

'' and ''

Puzzle Bobble internationally known as ''Bust-a-Move'', is a 1994 tile-matching puzzle arcade game developed and published by Taito. It is based on the 1986 arcade game ''Bubble Bobble'', featuring characters and themes from that game. Its characteristically ...

''. In another retrospective review, Gabriel Jones of ''Cubed3'' criticized its level of complexity and learning curve, stating that it was a stark contrast to the "pick up and play" philosophy of other arcade titles.

Notes

References

External links

''Gururin''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

''Gururin''
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

''Gururin''
at

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...

''Gururin''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gururin 1994 video games ACA Neo Geo games Arcade video games Cancelled Neo Geo CD games Face (company) games Minato Giken games Multiplayer and single-player video games Neo Geo games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation Network games PlayStation 4 games Puzzle video games SNK games Windows games Xbox One games Video games developed in Japan Hamster Corporation games