Thank you Sega for sending us a review code!

Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R originally released in 1994 for the Sega System C-2 and arcade systems. It was later ported to the Mega Drive, Game Gear and Saturn consoles. The Japanese Mega Drive version is playable from the main menu, but I don’t recommend playing it unless you can read Japanese!

Other modes include Arcade that supports up to two players and an online mode. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone to play against online. Upon launching the Arcade Mode, you can enable the Helper feature which gives you twenty lives and reduces the amount of required tasks. Since you have an infinite number of credits (arcade quarter equivalent) the number of lives doesn’t matter as much, but I’m all for less repetition! When using the Helper, online scores are listed in the “Freestyle Ranking” as opposed to the “Arcade Mode Ranking”.

The game begins with a princess being stolen and you’re tasked with rescuing her. I’m not sure why, but you’ll have to complete various mini-games in order to save her. There are ten stages that have four mini-games that need to be completed to progress to the next area. After completing the challenges, your knight will automatically dispatch any opponents blocking them from progressing. No blood is shown during this confrontation.

Between stages is a jumping mini-game where you have to collect as many sacks of gold as possible before reaching the end of the level. If you miss any you can’t go backwards to retrieve them. If you collect enough gold, you’ll unlock an additional life. Yay! No matter which mini-game you play, lives are lost universally if you run out of time or fail the task at hand.

When you begin a stage, four random mini-game icons will appear and you’ll have to chose one as they are highlighted in rotation. If you time it right, you may get the mini-game you want. As with many things, some mini-games are more fun than others. If you get the hang of the games you can play the Mega Drive mode, but the coffin mini-game is impossible unless you can read the Japanese clues to select the right coffin that matches the description.

Most of the other mini-games are visual and don’t require reading to complete them. Some of the games have you find matching items like dancing monkeys or rice crackers. One of the mini-games is a Western-themed shooter where you have to remember in what order things were shot and re-create the pattern. There’s a rocket mini-game where you have to select the pieces needed to finish the rocket that match in both color and connectors. There are some counting games where you have to select the correct number of passengers on a moving train or number of sea creatures swimming around in confusing patterns.

The majority of the mini-games are pretty tame and there isn’t anything to complain about morally. There’s one game where you have a building with many windows closed by shades. You’ll see the light turn on through random windows and a silhouette of a male bodybuilder or of a woman in a tight dress randomly. The goal of the game is to select the window where the silhouette of the lady last was.

Overall, Ichidant-R is an interesting bundle of mini-games. If you’re hoping for multiplayer action you’ll be disappointed. However, if you’re fine with solo or local play, you’ll be plenty entertained with the variety of mini-games provided.