Puzzle & Action: Treasure Hunt, known in Japan as Puzzle & Action: 2do Arukoto wa Sand-R (2度あることはサンドア〜ル) or simply Puzzle & Action: Sand-R (サンドアール), is a variety video game developed by CSK Research Institute (CRI) for the Sega Titan Video in 1995, and later ported to the Sega Saturn in 1996 exclusively in Japan, with a reissue under the Satakore branding in 1998. It is the third installment in the Puzzle & Action series, and the first to incorporate both pre-rendered sprites and polygonal graphics.
Plot[]
A pair of adventurers have discovered a large treasure chest, which is quickly stolen by a gang of bandits known as Skull, led by the fearsome King Shark. Determined to keep the duo away from the treasure, Skull spreads its members across the world and blocks the path of the adventurers by challenging them to a series of minigames.
Gameplay[]
Puzzle & Action: Treasure Hunt is a minigame collection in which the player must complete minigames to defeat enemies. There are a total of 22 minigames that test the player’s wits and reflexes, such as memorizing patterns or quickly tapping buttons. Each minigame has three rounds (with a select few having only one) that progressively increase in difficulty, and all rounds must be cleared to complete the minigame. The player begins with three lives (more can be acquired by landing on “Lucky!” marks and through bonus rounds), and a life is lost whenever a round is failed or a mistake is made. Minigames are chosen via a rapidly-moving cursor (represented by a flash of yellow) moving across four random minigame markers, and stopping the cursor begins the minigame it landed on. The game is spread across four stages, each with unique enemy characters that must be defeated by clearing a certain amount of minigames. As the game progresses, the amount of minigames needed to defeat each enemy increases, as does the difficulty of the minigames. New to the series is the addition of a boss battle at the end of every stage, where the player goes head-to-head with the three elite members of Skull (and eventually the King Shark himself) in an action-oriented minigame. Other revisions to the series formula are present, such as the maximum number of rounds in each minigame now being capped at three (though a few games only require one round before completion) and the addition of “EASY” and “?” markers sometimes appearing on the game selection roulette.
The Sega Saturn port of the game includes a new mode called Original Mode, which introduces many new elements that drastically alter the progression of play:
- Dollar bags can be earned through completing minigames (as well as performing special actions within, such as finishing a round quickly or performing a combo) and can be spent in shops that sell various beneficial items to the player (e.g. stopwatches that add extra seconds, weapons that reduce minigame difficulty, extra lives, etc.).
- In relation to above, the bonus rounds occurring after each stage now add to your total amount of money.
- New “Mini-Bonus” games will sometimes appear, allowing the player to earn extra dollar bags or win items; however, they do not count towards the number of minigames needed to defeat an enemy.
- Sub-Marks, icons randomly affixed to game markers that alter the minigames in various ways (e.g. increasing game difficulty, awarding an item upon completion, doubling the amount of gold earned, etc.)
- Enemies can interfere with the game selection process in various ways, such as speeding up or reversing the cursor.
Development[]
Puzzle & Action: Treasure Hunt was developed by CSK Research Institute (CRI), who had ported the previous two Puzzle & Action games to the Mega Drive and Game Gear. Unlike the first two titles, which were developed for arcades by Sega AM1, CRI handled both the arcade and Saturn ports as well as publishing both themselves. Sega AM1 did lend some degree of assistance, as they are credited under “Cooperation” in the Saturn port’s staff roll. In 1997, the game received a Korean localization by Deniam, a South Korean game developer/publisher that would eventually be absorbed by Amuse World Corp. in 1998. The English version of the game is a translation of the Korean version, as the character and location names are shared between the two. The translation and distribution of the English version was likely handled by Deniam themselves, as their logo appears on the operator’s manual,[1] and a flyer for this version lists “Amuse World Corp.” as the worldwide distributor. Despite this, Sega’s logo still appears on the English version’s title screen.
Trivia[]
- The game's Japanese title is a play on the proverb "what happens twice will happen thrice" (二度あることは三度ある Nidoarukotohasandoaru).
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