Klax

Klax

Overview & History

Released by Tengen in 1990 and subsequently ported to the TurboGrafx-16 by Hudson Soft, Klax is an abstract puzzle masterpiece that famously adopted the marketing tagline, "It is the 90s and there is time for Klax." Eschewing traditional platforming, the game presents players with a dystopian, high-tech industrial conveyor belt stretching toward a mystic abyss. The overarching narrative is delightfully surreal: you are a futuristic tile-wrangler tasked with catching colored plastic slabs tumbling from a mysterious infinite chute. As the manual establishes, your ultimate goal is to arrange these cascading tiles into specific patterns before they plummet off the edge. While Atari spearheaded the arcade original, the TurboGrafx-16 version captures the frenetic tile-sliding essence with vibrant color palettes, crystal-clear audio synthesis, and a punishingly addictive difficulty curve that tests spatial awareness and lightning-fast reflexes across dozens of escalating waves.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

The core mechanic of Klax revolves around a five-slot paddle positioned at the bottom of the screen. As tiles of various neon hues cascade down the conveyor belt toward you, your avatar must catch them in the paddle. The paddle can hold a maximum of five tiles at once. Once caught, you must drop these tiles into a 5x5 grid situated beneath the paddle. To clear tiles and score points, you must arrange them into horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows of three matching colors—known as a "Klax." More advanced formations yield higher bonuses, such as diagonals ("Diags"), vertical towers ("Towers"), and full board clears. Throughout the game's 100 waves, special win conditions are introduced, ranging from catching a specific number of tiles to surviving without dropping a single piece. If your paddle fills to capacity and you attempt to catch one more tile, you suffer a "Drop" penalty. Lose too many tiles, and the game is abruptly over, accompanied by a mocking digital voice reminding you that you haven't got time for Klax.

Keyboard Controls

• Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move paddle left and right across the conveyor belt, or shift tiles up and down within the grid.
• Action Keys: Drop tiles into the grid (Button I) and flip/reverse tiles held in the paddle (Button II).
• Enter: Start / Pause