Retro Look: Mendel Palace

Super Mario Bros. and the NES hooked me on games, and I've been hoooked on them since then. But I was never really a great player. I just cared about having fun. I could never finish Super Mario Bros though. (I thought I beat it when I bet the first castle, so imagine my surprise when I realized it was just the beginning) In fact, I couldn't finish many of the games I played (No save point back then)

Mendel Palace however, was the first game I beat, and I didn't have to fight my brother to see who would play, since it was co op.


Mendel Palace is one of the funnest, most original titles I've played ever, and has remained one of my favorites since then. It's also among the weirdest.

In this game, you must rescue your girl from an evil wizard, but to be able to reach him, you must face first his army of.... dolls. Yes. Dolls. As our purple clad hero, you must venture into each of the 8 doll houses, each featuring a specific enemy. Each room is divided by tiles (7X5) wish you can flip, and you must push the dolls against the wall by flipping these tiles to defeat them. By flipping tiles, you might reveal stars (get 100 for an extra life) a sun (that flips every tile) an arrow (it pushes you the direction it faces if you touch it), solid blocks, monsters generators, or the dreaded metal panel (which is unflippable)

But the dolls, as you would expect, fight back, The sumo dolls stomp the ground to flip a whole row, other dolls spin around bouncing against the walls, the draw on the tiles making them unflippable or creating doodles that come to life, the swimmers.. swim across the room, pushing the tiles behind them, and so on.

You can play by yourself, or with another player, and you can play co op if you choose the same doll house.. The music is also pretty varied, since each doll has it's own theme.

The control is as simple, only being able to move and flip, but it's enough to have a blast.
If you have the chance to play it, by all means, do it. You will probably not regret it.