Dr. Sudoku
Dr. Sudoku is a sudoku game for the Game Boy Advance published by Mastiff Games.
In my opinion, its a pretty good way to play sudoku. There are a few reasons why I like it.
- The GBA SP is a small and portable device which makes it a pretty good format for playing sudoku.
- The puzzles are preprogrammed rather than randomly generated, so you get a sense of progress as you work through the difficulty levels.
- Unlike most games, you can pick it up and play for 15 minutes without committing to a longer play session like one would do with Pokémon or Harvest Moon.
I also have a few gripes.
- It would be nice if the tutorial covered more techniques. Familiarity with snyder notation, for example, is very useful for solving the puzzles in a timely fashion.
- As far as I can tell, the game doesn’t explain how to place marks. I didn’t know it was possible until I clicked the left trigger by accident.
- When notating, the player has to pick from one of four positions to place the marks. This is a limitation of the GBA’s resolution, but regardless, it’s a slight annoyance compared to most other methods of playing sudoku.
Verdict
Dr. Sudoku is probably my favourite way to play sudoku on a portable device, and I certainly prefer it to playing on a phone. If you have a Linux gaming handheld of some sort, or a real GBA, I think it’s worth checking out.
Other resources
- Dr. Sudoku - Embaressment of Riches: Someone else’s review of Dr. Sudoku.
- Dr. Sudoku (USA).zip: The Dr. Sudoku ROM.
- mGBA: A Game Boy Advance emulator.