Soko-Ban

Soko-Ban is a video game published in the United States by Spectrum HoloByte in 1988, based on the 1982 Japanese videogame Sokoban.

Development
In 1988, Sokoban was published in US by Spectrum HoloByte for the Commodore 64, DOS and Apple II as Soko-Ban. A version for the BBC Micro called Robol was published by a third party in 1993.

Sokoban was a hit in Japan, and had sold over 400,000 units in that country by the time Spectrum HoloByte imported it to the United States.

Gameplay
This version of the game includes 50 levels.

Reception
A 1988 review in Computer Gaming World praised the game for being "pure and simple, very playable and mentally challenging", citing its addictive qualities.

The game was also reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game $4 1/2$ out of 5 stars.

Brian Wierda for Compute! said that Soko-Ban may not be suited to the action-adventure gamers, but rather to gamers who love to solve puzzles.

Paul Statt for InCider reviewed the game and said that "using the arrow keys instead of the joystick – Soko-Ban became, if not easy, mindless. It simulates this type of work well".

Reviews

 * Happy Computer – December 1987
 * The Games Machine – April 1988
 * ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) – May 1988