Soko-Ban

1001 Video Games

Sokoban appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

NEC version

The first edition of Soko-Ban was programmed in BASIC on the NEC PC-8801 computer. It had twenty levels, of which the latter ten had false walls which had to be passed through in order to solve the mazes. This feature was not retained in later ports.

Sharp X1 version

The X1 version, which is also written in BASIC, features 18 levels. In Level 16-18 the walls are invisible. You have to navigate the level with the help of a minimap in the corner of the screen.

Sharp PA version

The game also received a port for Sharps PA series of personal assistant devices. It's played on a 96x64 LCD.

Title translation

Sōkoban means "warehouse duty" in Japanese.

Awards

• Commodore Format
  • June 1991 (Issue 9) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)
• Power Play
  • 1987 - #3 Best MS-DOS Game '87

Information also contributed by Indra was here and FatherJack