Quarth (1989) was Konami’s entry into a puzzle game market rejuvenated by the popularity of Tetris. However, unlike Sega and Nintendo’s blatant cash-ins (Columns and Dr Mario), Konami dared to do something different: to blend the logical decision-making of Tetris with the mindless but brilliant shooters from their own back catalogue, such as Time Pilot and Salamander. A bizarre combination, but the end result proved that sometimes, opposites really do attract.

The Tetris connection is obvious right away with familiar block shapes descending towards your spacecraft at the bottom of the screen. This time though, your job is not to rotate the shapes, but to destroy them by shooting blocks that turn them into squares and rectangles, and the larger these newly formed shapes are, the bigger the points scored. That description might not exactly have you bursting with anticipation and excitement, but after a couple of goes, Quarth becomes a lot more fun than it sounds.