Net Yaroze Month: Sam the Boulderman

In Net Yaroze Month, we are playing every Net Yaroze game featured on the UK Official Playstation Magazine, and ranking them all in the order we liked them. You may have other opinions as to the ranking, which is awesome.

To learn more about Net Yaroze, read our introductory article here.

Annoyingly for Sam the Boulderman that I reviewed Rocks ‘n’ Gems before I got to this.

Sam the Boulderman is another Boulderdash clone, but with enough differences from the aforementioned Rocks n Gems to make this worth a look.

The main differences between the two are that Sam is based on a single non-scrolling screen, so you can see the whole map and the challenge you are up against. There also appears to be no enemies. This is pure collect-the-things and-avoid-the-boulders.

What makes this less of a delight to play is the horrible sound effect when you collect a mushroom.

If you’re after a Boulderdash type Yaroze game then Rocks n Gems is definitely the better of the two, but this is worth a look if you are a big fan of the genre.

Game: Sam the Boulderman
By: James Hobden
Genre: Action / Puzzle (Boulderdash Clone)
Available on Euro Demos: 84

Net Yaroze Month rankings:​

Sam pushes in at No. 17

1. Time Slip
2. Blitter Boy
3. Rocks n Gems
4. Total Soccer Yaroze
5. Terra Incognita
6. Super Bub Contest
7. Robot Ron
8. Decaying Orbit
9. Psychon
10. INVS
11. Haunted Maze
12. Roller
13. Gravitation
14. Squeak
15. Adventure Game
16. Katapila
17. Sam the Boulderman
18. Pssst!
19. Game Involving Triangles
20. Yarozians
21. Tanx
22. PingPing
23. Opera of Destruction
24. Video Poker Simulator
25. Shroud
26. Between the Eyes
27. Bouncer 2
28. Yaroze Rally
29. Sphere
30. Blockz
31. Surf Game

Still to play:​

• Technical Demo
• Pushy IIb
• Pandora’s Box
• Down
• Snowball Fight
• Arena
• A Dog Tale
• Mah Jongg
• Samsaric Asymptotes
• Hover Car Racing
• Clone