TOURMALINE (SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis) is a free puzzle video game wherein you must collect crystals from treacherous locations. Developed by RetroSouls, this is the 16-bit SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis version of their previous 2016 “TOURMALINE” game—designed for the ZX Spectrum console.

Similar to GraviBots and AlterEgo—other games made by the same developer—TOURMALINE features 2D retro pixelated art, side-scrolling view, and maze puzzles as you attempt to collect crystals while dealing with falling boulders and roaming enemies. Take note, however, that this game doesn’t offer any in-game tutorial and can be confusing at the start.

Become the ultimate treasure hunter

In TOURMALINE (SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis), you play as a treasure hunter planning to grab some beautiful and pricey Tourmaline crystals that have formed inside the deep caves of the Earth. Here, anti-gravity suits are necessary and you’ll need to push your way through the bedrock with the help of dynamites. However, there will be aggressive ancient creatures roaming around so you need to be careful.

The gameplay here is similar to Boulder Dash’s. You can freely move in all four cardinal directions and doing so will clear a block of dirt automatically. You have to be careful as boulders will fall after you got past them. Use this to destroy yellow enemies for more crystals or push them around to navigate. Unfortunately, the controls can only be found in the included text file.

You can only clear a level after you collect all available crystals. From there, the levels will get increasingly harder—especially once you encounter the bubbles at the earlier stages. It makes for a good way to pass the time, though, and you can either play this on your preferred SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis emulator or burn the BIN file to a flash cart to play on the actual console.

Retro fun for all

All in all, TOURMALINE (SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis) is a great retro puzzle game to try out if you’re a fan of the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis games. It’s pretty much the same 2016 game designed for the ZX Spectrum console but only in beautiful 16-bit pixels. While the game doesn’t offer an in-game tutorial, these can easily be found inside the text file of the game’s folder.