''Magnetica'' (known in Japan as and in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

as ''Actionloop'') is a

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. H ...

for the Nintendo DS, released as part of the Touch! Generations series. The game was developed by

Mitchell Corporation Mitchell Corporation (株式会社ミッチェル) was a Japanese video game developer based in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. Roy Ozaki served as president, and Koichi Niida served as vice-president. Some employees were former Capcom and TAD Corpora ...

and published by Nintendo, and is based on Mitchell's 1998 arcade game ''

Puzz Loop ''Puzz Loop'' is an arcade tile-matching puzzle game developed by Mitchell Corporation and released in 1998 for Japan and North America and 1999 for Europe. It was later ported to the Game Boy Color, PlayStation and Samsung Nuon DVD players und ...

''. The game was first revealed at Nintendo Japan's 2006 Conference. The European version came packaged with the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak. A version for

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii ...

, titled in Japan, ''Magnetica Twist'' in North America and ''Actionloop Twist'' in PAL regions, was released in Japan on April 22, 2008, June 6, 2008 in Europe, and on June 30, 2008 in North America.

Gameplay

In the game, marbles roll down a twisted path toward the goal and the player must stop them by launching new marbles into the oncoming ones. The DS touchscreen is used to 'flick' the marbles from their launch point to their destination with the stylus. The marbles disappear if player matches three or more marbles of the same type; marbles of the same color are magnetically attracted to each other over any length of wide open space, and allowing for chains of disappearances to occur. The game is over if any marble reaches a specific point, usually near the center of each level, but using the magnetic properties of the marbles can allow one to pull marbles away from this point. Bonus items attached to marbles can, for example, temporarily slow down the rate the marbles advance or cause all marbles of a color to disappear. In addition to the main survival mode of play, the player can take part in a quest mode, where they must clear boards under certain conditions, and a puzzle mode, where a fixed arrangement of marbles around the board must be cleared using only the few marbles made available to the player.

WiiWare version

The WiiWare version of ''Magnetica'' supports up to four players simultaneously in either co-operative or competitive multiplayer modes, in addition to the ability to use the player's own

Mii A Mii ( ) is a customizable avatar used on several Nintendo video game consoles and mobile apps. Miis were first introduced on the Wii console in 2006 and later appeared on the 3DS, Wii U, the Switch, and various apps for smart devices. Miis c ...

s in the game. Control is done by twisting the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...

left or right to turn the marble cannon, and an ability to lob marbles over others has been added. The game features the challenge and quest modes of the DS version, but omits the puzzle mode. Extensive statistics are also kept for each player.

Reception

''Magnetica'' and ''Magnetica Twist'' received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. ''

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 oth ...

'' said that although the DS version fails to impress with its visuals and audio, it is an excellent addition to anyone's Nintendo DS library whether a gamer is casual or hardcore. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' criticized the same console version's $35 price tag, which it said was a bit too much for a game that has nothing new to add. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' gave the same DS version a score of two eights, one seven, and one eight for a total of 31 out of 40.

References

External links

Official US Magnetica websiteShunkan PuzzLoop Translation Page: Courtesy of DualScreenRadioInsert Credit interview with Mitchell
* *{{moby game, id=/wii/magnetica-twist, name=''Magnetica Twist'' 2006 video games Touch! Generations Nintendo DS games WiiWare games Marble games Nintendo games Puzzle video games Video games developed in Japan