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Cool Game Elements #1: Puzzle League’s Hint Arrow

Personally, however, I feel it's one of these brilliant little game elements that take an existing game mechanic to greater heights.

I like the Puzzle League games (especially the SNES version with the colourful graphics and hypnotising music) and consider myself to be a rather decent player. But I don't even come close to recognising all the chain possibilities on screen. For me, the hint arrow actually adds an extra layer of challenge, where I have to hit the hint arrow chain in the available time frame.

The second advantage is that it's a built-in tutorial for beginning and advanced players alike. Like me, most players won't see all (or even most) of the chain possibilities - the hint arrow will help them understand the internal logic of the chain system in Puzzle League and similar puzzle games (or, as I like to say, abstract action games).

The great thing is, even after players have learned to recognise all the hint arrow scenario chain possibilities themselves, there's still lots of tactics to be learnt - from creating chains by moving multiple blocks to consciously re-arranging blocks to make future chains easier to start.