''Zenji'' is a puzzle game designed by Matthew Hubbard and published by Activision in 1984. It was released for the Atari 5200,

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

, ColecoVision,

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

, and ZX Spectrum. Hubbard previously wrote '' Dolphin'' for the Atari 2600.

Gameplay

Zenji is a maze-based game, wherein the player controls a "disembodied, Mandarin-style head". The challenge is to connect a series of randomly rotated maze-segments in an attempt to align them with a glowing artifact, known as "the source", which acts as each maze's focal point. The player moves to each segment of the maze and attempts to rotate that portion so that the source's green light can shine into that region, signifying a correct alignment. If all portions of the maze are connected successfully before the end of a timer, the player is awarded points, and moves on to the next stage. Successive mazes introduce greater complexity and hazards to the player's survival.

Reception

In the conclusion of the review for the ''

'' edition of ''Zenji'', the author in Compute! Gazette stated, "Although final understanding of the source remains elusive, Zenji is an undeniably enjoyable game". Of note, the last paragraph of the review also stated that, "Zenji appears to be a multiplayer game...up to 8 acolytes at a time...There's no documentation concerning this, however." Gregg Williams reviewed the game for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'', and stated that "If you like geometric puzzles and games like Othello, you should like Zenji. It is a potential classic and gives exceptional value for the money." ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' rated the ColecoVision version 90% in 1989.

References

External links

*{{MobyGames, id=/zenji Activision games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games ColecoVision games Commodore 64 games MSX games Puzzle video games ZX Spectrum games 1984 video games Video games developed in the United States