As many games there are in the puzzle genre only a few of them can hold my attention. Lumines, Super Puzzle Fighter, and of course, Tetris, are among the few I care about, though once in a while I pull out the Dreamcast to replay one of my favorite – and one of the oddest – exports out of Japan, Chu Chu Rocket.

A puzzler by Sonic Team, the goal is to lay down arrow panels that direct your brainless mice to safety – into rocketships – before the evil orange cats get to them. Imagine Lemmings with more stalking felines and interstellar travel.

It’s nice and simple until the game tosses you into some real brainstem-strangling scenarios. The real hook, however, is the multiplayer mode where each player gets a rocket and you can steal your opponent’s mice or direct cats to his rocket. Frantic doesn’t even begin to properly describe it.

Much like the Dreamcast itself Chu Chu Rocket boasts a cute, streamlined aesthetic. The simple graphics do well with the simple, almost iconic design of the rockets, cats and mice. The cutesy voiceovers and catchy music do well to garnish the presentation too. Overall, it’s a really well designed little gem full of personality, which this bizarre Japan-only commercial conveys.

Tsubababa!

Chu Chu Rocket was ported to the Game Boy Advance some time after the Dreamcast’s unfortunate (unfair!) demise, so I got that too. It’s nice on the go if you don’t care about multiplayer, otherwise it’s not the same as playing it on Sega’s swan song. However, I’m open to the idea of an online-capable WiiWare version! Nintendo, SEGA, are you listening?