Gunpei Yokoi was the father of portable gaming. Having designed the Game & Watch, Game Boy, and Bandai's own Wonderswan, it's hard to debate that portables would have ever gotten out of the otherwise dismal gaming ghetto (blame Kaz Hirai for the quote) without his influence. His design mentality, which revolved around being entertaining, accessible, and modest make Gunpey's core gameplay as solid as any puzzle game's.

The concept is simple: link together blocks with lines on them so a continuous line goes from side to side on the playing field. When you get that put together, you can then quickly slide other blocks into place to connect to aforementioned playing field-spanning line. As is typical of puzzlers, once an object hits the top of the playing field the game is over. This makes for some tricky gameplay, but still simple and modest enough in design that it's easily recognizable as a Gunpei venture.

In the other corner, if you will, is Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Q Entertainment. A former Sega employee, Mizuguchi's games employ simple gameplay with a lot of flash. Simply put, he has a major pop star mentality only further fueled by his deep interest in aesthetics.

Gunpey also has Mizuguchi's fingerprints all over it. The control design is more than a little bit resemblant of Lumines and Meteos, mixing the two to mixed results. Blocks can only be moved on the playing field vertically, yet the movement is more like the d-pad controlled Lumines than the rather smooth stylus stylings of Meteos. Given that most players will use the stylus to try to ease gameplay, it comes off as disappointing that the controls are relatively janky.

Meanwhile, the background flashes all sorts of Lumines style graphics... Well, if Lumines had anime-inspired bits made of bright, primary colors. The music plays, the background churns around, and you're left with something that is definitely in the vein of Q Enertainment.

Herein lies the problem: the creator and producer of this rendition of the game are in essence polar opposites. An Odd Couple, if you will. Gunpey is a game meant to be played in monochrome--simple, accessible, modest. Instead, this collaboration with Q Entertainment throws the gameplay into the middle of an anime rave. It fits about as well as you'd expect, which is to say not too great.

I'm reminded, for the second time in as many months, an episode of Quincy M.E. where Jack Klugman steps in front of a crowd of punk rockers. His collared shirt and sweater stand in sharp contrast to the gaudy attire and looks of the audience. After trying to reason with the crowd and get information on a murder, Klugman realizes he can't get anywhere with this crowd and steps off-stage into the darkness.

I guess the same could be said of Gunpei Yokoi in this production, if he had not passed nine years ago. It's too bad, because the relatively mediocre DS version of his puzzler will most likely be the only exposure that most gamers will get to what feels like an amazing design.