Ludography
Split Personalities cover

1986 · Puzzle

Split Personalities

Split Personalities is a fast-paced puzzle game. The objective is to complete images of famous faces.

Released
1986
Platforms
Amstrad CPCCommodore 16Commodore C64/128/MAXZX Spectrum
Genres
Puzzle
Developers
—
Publishers
Domark Software
Modes
Single-player
Country
United Kingdom

About

Split Personalities (first released as Splitting Images) is a sliding square puzzle video game that involves piecing together the faces of famous personalities and politicians. The game was developed for the ZX Spectrum by Ernieware and published by Domark, who also ported the game to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Plus/4. The game was later released in 1993 for the Game Boy under the name Splitz.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game presents a blank grid for the player to engage with. The player controls a flashing cursor which can be moved at will over the canvas. Puzzle pieces are brought into play by pressing the fire button on a dispenser in the top corner of the grid. Pieces can then be slid about the screen.

When a piece is moved, it can only be stopped by the walls of the play area or by another puzzle piece. A miniature preview of the completed image acts as a guide for the player and also highlights the piece of the puzzle that is currently being controlled.

Legacy

In 1993, Imagineer released a Game Boy version called Splitz, known in Japan as Splitz: Nigaoe 15 Game. The game was only released in Europe and Japan, and never saw release in North America.

While the mechanics of the game stayed the same, the puzzles and bonus blocks were changed. Like the original game, there are ten stages, with the addition of three bonus stages, which occur after three levels are completed. In the bonus stages, the player arranges the tiles in a more traditional way of a sliding puzzle. Some of the caricature puzzles include Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Elvis Presley. However, Ronald Reagan and Marilyn Monroe were kept in the game, but moved to other levels.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
ZX Spectrum31 December 1986Worldwide
Commodore C64/128/MAX31 December 1986Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Remade as
Splitz
Built on it
Splitz

Games like this

Collections3 collections

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.