Puzzle & Action: Tant-R -- All In One.

SEGA released the arcade game Puzzle & Action: Tant-R in 1992, in Japan. I never played this game as I never saw a unit in the USA. This game was a total surprise, in what it actually is, and in how much I actually like it. It is an arcade version of Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$. Only that Tant-R came out eleven years before Wario Ware. It's a collection of forty minigames. Each one mere seconds long. It plays out a little like a board game. For each level there will be four choices for which minigame to play. The selector auto scrolls over the choices and you time the button press to stop it on the selection you want. In the two player mode, the winner of the minigame earns the right to select the next one. After you complete a game, it's removed from the selection screen and a random new minigame is added. Every once in a while a "Lucky" space will appear in the selection. Choosing that one earns you the chance at earning an extra man. It's one of the minigames, you just won't know which.  Failing at any of the minigames results in losing a life. The minigames are varied, fast, and fun. It's all the sort of things you'd expect. Count how many fish are swimming around, take a picture of a fast moving animal, stop the car in the zone, pop the yellow balloons without hitting any birds, which hat is the flower under, play the notes of music in time, and the like. Tant-R had twenty minigames, and this version has forty because they've included the sequel's minigames. This version has combined Tant-R with Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R. The game uses the Bonanza Bros. characters and themes. I was surprised to see this is where some of the inspiration for the characters used in Samba De Amigo originated from. There are sombrero wearing monkeys yelling "Samba!" The game was released in Japan on the PlayStation 2 under the title of SEGA Ages 2500 Series Volume 6 ~ Puzzle & Action: Tant-R and Bonanza Bros. The game features three modes. The story mode is the arcade game where you play as the Bonanza Bros. who are dressed up as Sherlock Holmes and Watson as they try to capture crooks. You capture the crook of the level by completing all the minigames for that level. You have to complete the minigame three times, each one a litter harder than the first. If you complete all forty minigames, you'll unlock a bonus game. I have no idea what it is as I haven't been able to do it given the number oflives you're allowed. The other mode is a two-player mode where you compete for a set number of rounds head to head against someone else. You can just select whichever minigame you want. The last mode is for four player games. I really like this game. It's creative and fun. As a multiplayer game it has to be a blast. I'm going to give Puzzle & Action: Tant-R an 8.5.  

Next up is the final game, Virtua Racing.