49. Cosmic Spacehead (Sega Genesis)
Well, when it rains, it pours. And it's a rainy day, at that. I'd never really played this hybrid puzzle/adventure/platform game before, though I've owned a copy for a couple years now. (In fairness, my copy was boxed, and I don't like flying blind on this kind of game: I finally bought a manual last month.)
Either way I've been skittish about playing Cosmic Spacehead, thinking that it would be a contrived hassle (or at least James Pond-esque), but actually it was great fun. The menu-driven puzzle solving is relatively smooth sailing, the platforming does a good job of fitting the right amount of challenge into short bursts, and the game's aesthetic is engaging.
The
review on Sega-16 is pretty accurate...and has a couple minor spoilers, the bigger of which I'm glad I only saw after beating the puzzle in question (though the solution was obvious). I'd probably waffle between 7/10 and 8/10 -- or, in letter grades, B-plus versus A-minus -- since it's short (not that I minded), the graphics are a little bit unambitious, and there are some spelling and grammar mistakes that shouldn't be happening in a text-driven game. But it's actually fun to play, the puzzle-solving is never unfair, and the music is sometimes gorgeous.