======== TESSERAE ======== Table of Contents: 01 - Introduction 02 - General gameplay 03 - Legal Moves 04 - Strategies 05 - Helpful tips 06 - Other junk ============================================================================== Version History: ============================================================================== 1.0 - April 2018 - First whack. ============================================================================== 01 - Introduction ============================================================================== Tesserae is a puzzle game for Game Boy (and other systems). It was originally a very colorful game, but the Game Boy version is still very playable, and it's even pretty enjoyable once you get the hang of things. I first played Tesserae on DOS when I was a kid. It seemed like the kind of game I would enjoy, but I didn't understand how it all worked, and I gave up on it pretty quickly. As an adult, I came back to it, determined to figure the game mechanics out, and now I hope to remove the mystery and confusion for anyone who still reads FAQs for obscure Game Boy games. ============================================================================== 02 - General gameplay ============================================================================== There are three basic tiles, called Primary tiles. A Primary tile shows one of three shapes: circle, square, or cross. These tiles can be combined to create Secondary tiles, which show combinations of primary shapes: circle/square, square/cross, and cross/circle. (two Primary tiles of the same type do not combine to create a Secondary tile.) All three Primary tiles can be combined to form a Tertiary tile, which shows all three shapes. Generally speaking, you want to clear the board of all tiles except one Primary tile. It doesn't matter where the last tile is, and it doesn't matter which Primary tile it is, there just has to be one left. Tiles are eliminated when one tile "jumps" over another tile. The middle "jumped" tile may be eliminated according to the rules below, and if a tile lands on a tile identical to itself, then the two tiles merge into one tile of that same type, effectively eliminating another tile. ============================================================================== 03 - Legal moves ============================================================================== I have never found this moveset to be very intuitive. Even now that I'm decently used to this game, I can't really see how anyone came up with these rules. So don't get discouraged if you don't "get it," because I didn't (and don't) either. But I kept checking the manual for the list of legal moves, and after a while I didn't have to check anymore. And I went from thinking "this game is broken and impossible" to "oh, I actually cleared that board. Let's try another one." Selecting a tile will show all legal jumps that can be made with that tile, if any. For a tile to be able to jump, there just be another tile adjacent to it. This includes diagonals, for 8 possible directions. There are rules dictating what kind of tile can be jumped, and what kind of tile can be landed on, depending on what kind of tile is jumping. If a move is not allowed, it may be because of the adjacent tile or the destination tile, since each has its own rules. It's a little wonky, but I'll try to explain: Any Primary tile can jump over any other Primary tile, and land on any Primary tile (or empty square). The adjacent tile will disappear. - If the destination square is empty, the original tile will land there, showing the same shape as before the jump. - If the destination tile matches the Primary tile, they will combine, and show the same shape as before the jump. - If the destination tile shows a different shape than the original tile, the two Primary tiles will combine to form a Secondary tile. When dealing with Secondary and Tertiary tiles, jumps can only be made if the adjacent tile "contains" the shapes shown on the jumping tile. Whatever shape or shapes are shown on the jumping tile will be removed from the adjacent tile. - A Primary tile may jump over a Secondary tile only if one of its elements matches the Primary tile. A "cross" Primary cannot jump over a 'circle/square' Secondary. The shape of the Primary will be removed from the Secondary, leaving a Primary. If a 'square' Primary jumps over a 'circle/square' Secondary, the Secondary will be reduced to a 'circle' Primary. - A Secondary can only jump over an adjacent Secondary if it is of the exact same type. The adjacent Secondary will be removed completely. A Secondary cannot jump over any Primary. - Secondary tiles can only land on blank squares, identical Secondary tiles, or a Primary tile whose shape is not already shown on the Secondary. In the latter case, you will be combining all three shapes into a Tertiary tile. - Tertiary tiles can only jump over other Tertiary tiles, and they can only land on Tertiary tiles and blank squares. Anything can jump over Tertiary tiles, and when they do, they remove their respective shape or shapes from the Tertiary, leaving whatever is left. Think of it as "peeling" those shapes off. So, to put it another way: EVERY TILE - can jump over a copy of itself, which will disappear - can land on a copy of itself, leaving only 1 copy - can land in an empty square PRIMARY TILES - can jump over any Primary tile, regardless of symbol - that tile will diappear - can jump over Secondary tiles that contain the Primary tile's symbol - that symbol will be "peeled" off the Secondary, leaving a Primary - can jump over Tertiary tiles - the Primary tile's symbol will be "peeled" off the Tertiary, leaving a Secondary - can land on different Primary tiles - the tiles will combine to create a Secondary tile SECONDARY TILES - can jump over Tertiary tiles - the symbols shown in the Secondary tile will be "peeled" off the Tertiary, leaving a Primary THINGS YOU CANNOT DO - A Primary tile cannot jump over a Secondary that does not contain its symbol: e.g., a cross cannot jump a circle/square Secondary - A Secondary cannot jump over any Primary at all - A Tertiary cannot jump over any Primary or Secondary at all - No tile can land on another tile that contains any of the same symbols, unless the two tiles are exactly the same I'd say something like "tiles can only jump over things they can "peel" themselves off of, but this doesn't apply to Primary tiles. ============================================================================== 04 - Strategies ============================================================================== ----------------- Beginner strategy ----------------- Start by selecting the first board on Beginner difficulty. This board will be filled with Primary tiles only, no Secondary or Tertiary tiles. The only thing we have to worry about is not getting stuck at the end with tiles that are too far apart. So pick a tile, and look for another tile of the same symbol that you can jump to. This will leave the original space empty, and it will clear the tile you jumped over, no matter what it was. Now you can jump any tile to those empty squares, and you don't even have to think about the symbols at all. Start from one side and make your way to the other side, cleaning up all the tiles as you go. You'll learn basic methods of clearing out tiles, "going back" for tiles, etc. You'll also learn that with diagonal jumping, it's hard to really get stuck at the end, as long as all of your tiles are in the same area of the board. If you do get stuck, just undo a bunch and keep trying. The undo function is an integral part of finding a solution to each board, it is meant to be used and is not an admission of failure. This is also a good board to see what happens when you combine Primary tiles, and you'll see how Secondary tiles can hardly jump at all. --------------------- Intermediate strategy --------------------- Once you're comfortable clearing the board of Primary tiles, you can start meddling with Secondary tiles. If possible, use the list of legal moves to reduce all Secondary tiles to primary tiles, until all that's left are primary tiles. Then just clean them up. You'll still have to think about "pushing" all the tiles together. It may help to start at the corners and sides, and push everything toward the middle as you convert everything to primary tiles. Note that if a secondary tile is in a corner where a primary tile cannot jump over it, the only way to move it is to build an identical secondary tile next to it, so the corner tile can jump it. Try to take care of these sooner rather than later, as it can be tricky to line up the right Primary tiles later in the game. ----------------- Advanced Strategy ----------------- I wouldn't say I'm an "advanced" player, but these tips should be helpful and applicable to later levels and difficulties. Learn to be ok with having a bunch of Secondary and even Tertiary tiles on the board. Don't be in a hurry to reduce them all like in earlier levels. If a Secondary jumps over an identical Secondary and lands on a third identical Secondary, that's a great move that completely eliminates two Secondary tiles from the board. It's sometimes worth it to create new Secondary tiles if it helps you chain together these kinds of moves. A non-Primary tile in a corner, where it cannot be jumped, is your first concern with any new board. Construct matching tiles next to them and jump them out of the corners. Then try to remove any non-Primary tiles on the edges of the board, jumping them with Primary tiles wherever possible. When gathering tiles to one area of the board in the later stages of each board, you might find yourself with too few tiles to effectively push everything together. Develop habits of jumping tiles toward the center of the board, or lateral to it. Jumping away from the center, especially later in the level, can end up costing a lot of Primary tiles to fix. Don't leave stragglers behind, especially in the legs of the board shaped like an X. That particular board is a challenge of efficiently emptying each leg of the X, using only the tiles in each respective leg, if possible. Trucking a bunch of tiles over to clean up a previous mess is a recipe for failure. Tertiary tiles aren't all that scary. Literally every tile can jump over a Tertiary, so just use a Secondary to reduce it to a Primary whenever it's convenient. No problem. Don't worry if you end up making a few, just don't make one in a corner. ============================================================================== 05 - Helpful tips ============================================================================== Use Undo liberally. The manual literally says this. Don't worry about getting everything cleaned up in one try; if things start looking sketchy, hit the B button a few times and go a different way. If you are down to 8-10 tiles, and none of them are too far away, then there is almost definitely a way to clean them all up. I've gotten stuck before, thinking there was no perfect chain of jumps that could reduce everything to just one tile, but I've always found a way out with lots of trial and error. Stick with it. You can pause the game and "restart the same mosaic," and it will re-fill the board with different tiles. Sometimes you just get an unlucky fill. You can even do this during a Tournament. If a Primary is able to jump over a Secondary, then you can use that same Primary to jump "back" over the remaining Primary, leaving nothing behind. This is great for "sniping" Secondary tiles, as it leaves everything exactly as it was, except the Secondary is gone from the board. ============================================================================== 06 - Other Junk ============================================================================== This FAQ was written by me; my name is Splain. Copy it if you want, but credit me. Comments, questions, or corrections can be sent to peoppozo.msn@com. But, you know, switch the . and @ around. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------