Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum is a truly great game that unfortunately sneaked under the NES radar. It was as much fun and contained as much game play as any of the big titles of the day. It is one of the characteristic games of my youth and I will compare all other puzzle games to it forever. The game play was set up into two sections: the level rooms and the worlds. The main, and really only, character Dash Galaxy would start in the level rooms and advance through the worlds until each level was complete. The rooms are top down puzzles maps like Boulder Dash. You make your way through the maps from world to world and from level to level. If you push a box into the wrong spot you'll be stuck and you'll have to leave the level and start again. There are also lasers in various rooms to add an element of danger, and you'll only have a limited amount of time before your oxygen runs out in each room. Once you manage to maneuver into a target the game switches over to the worlds section. The worlds are side scrolling action levels where dash has to solve other puzzles and battle vampire bats to get to the exits. The puzzles here mostly consist of finding bombs, and detonators, and using them in the right places. There are also keys to find and trampolines to bounce on. The worlds consist of prison cells and outdoor terrain and are very repetitive, but always fun and challenging. The game has a good mix of the two puzzle types and has 99 levels to work through. Though it does get repetitive, it makes for hours of fun play. I would highly recommend it to any old school puzzle gamer.
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