Chip’s Challenge reloaded

Things are moving ridiculously fast in the app store—I hardly can keep up with all the new puzzles becoming available every day! You might have noted that I keep adding updates to previous post when new apps arrive that simply replicate other puzzles (see for example my post on Rush Hour or Lights Out), or when previously criticized omission are added in updates (see for example my posts on Mouse House or Blocked). However, sometimes I will write a new post, when there is too much significantly new that has become available.  

In this post I will revisit the topic of puzzles games that are similar in gameplay to one of those dinosaurs of computer games: Chip’s Challenge (for background, see my previous post on such games).

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Chip’s Challenge: a Sokoban Laboratory

For those of you who like the idea of Sokoban, but find it a bit abstract, Chip’s Challenge is probably a good alternative. The original game was designed in 1989 by Chuck Sommerville for the Atari Lynx (in a sense an iPhone predecessor). In Chip’s Challenge, you guide around Chip McCallahan through a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. Many of the puzzles have Sokoban parts in them, but there are many other additions, like ice for sliding, conveyor belts, floors that only be passed once, and bouncing balls that ask for precise timing.

There are various games in the app store that take more or less direct cues from Chip’s Challenge, although I have no idea whether there are any direct links. None of the games even mention Chip’s Challenge. Only one of the games (Loopy Laboratory) cites Chip’s Challenge so directly that it is clearly inspired by it.