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Swirl as it appears on Macromedia Shockwave

Swirl as it appears on Palm OS

Sega Swirl is a puzzle game that was created for the Dreamcast, Personal computer, and Palm OS. The game was included in various demo discs released for the Dreamcast (through the Official Dreamcast Magazine, and on newly released consoles), and is free to download and play on the PC.

Sega Swirl was created by Scott Hawkins, while he worked at Sega. Scott Hawkins designed the game and programmed the original PC version of the game. Scott Hawkins worked with Tremor Entertainment to develop the Dreamcast version of the game.

The game presented swirls of different colors stacked upon each other. The player would try to match up as many of the same colored swirls onscreen as possible, then, when satisfied with a combo, they would press the color, making them disappear. The more swirls one can gather together, the more points earned, as well as a reward of seeing the swirls disappear in different ways. The most rewarding way to see the swirls disappear is when they all go into the air and burst with firework-like sounds and cheers. If a swirl of a certain color is alone within a stack of other colored swirls, the player actually loses points.

The Dreamcast version featured a snake in the bottom right corner of the screen, who would act pleased when the player did well and shook his head when they did poorly. If the player did nothing for an extended length of time, the snake would stare at them and then gesture to the left, towards the play field.

On the Dreamcast, it could be played on Versus mode (players compete with one Swirl screen) with up to four players, and it also allowed Split Screen (four players with their own swirl play fields). On the PC, split screen is not available, and versus is up to two players. Both versions allowed one to compete with another human player via email (Dreamcast players may also play against PC players through this).

The Palm version of Sega Swirl includes a two player head-to-head mode that can be played in real-time over the handheld's infrared port.

See also

Sega Swirl 2

External links

• Sega Swirl guide at StrategyWiki

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Sega Swirl
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega On Hand Software
Release date(s)	1999 Palm OS  2001
Genre(s)	Puzzle
System(s)	Sega Dreamcast, Web browser, Windows, Palm OS
Players	1-4
Followed by	Sega Swirl 2

Sega Swirl is a puzzle game used to market the Sega Dreamcast. The basic goal is to connect as many Dreamcast swirls as possible either horizontally or vertically (there are no diagonals in this game). Additionally, with each level of difficulty there are new objectives. The game was originally released on the demo disc of Issue 5 of the Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine and later with Version 2 of the Dreamcast browser as well as in the Sega Smash Pack. It has since been released in web-based form as well as for Windows 9x and Palm OS.

Controls

Web-based	Dreamcast	Action
		Move cursor
		Select
Keyboard	+	Name entry on high score chart
Space		Exit current screen or game mode
N/A		View goals
C	N/A	Clear high scores
D	N/A	Toggle demo mode
S	N/A	Toggle sound
Z	N/A	Toggle animated credits

How to play

Gameplay
02:39

Watch how to successfully clear a level.

When you click on swirls they go white, letting you see which swirls you will remove and how many points you will earn.

The goal is simple: you must clear the board of swirls by selecting them (making them go white). Any swirls of the same color touching horizontally or vertically will be selected as well. Simply choose that set of swirls again to remove it, or choose another swirl (on the web-based version use on a blank to deselect all swirls). Colors are all worth the same amount of points, the only factor is how many you remove at a time.

On the objectives screen, ≤ means "equal to or less than", while ≥ means "greater than or equal to". You should always try to outdo these objectives.

General strategies

If you do a "big combo" you will earn a large number of points and will likely satisfy several objectives at the same time, so this should always be your primary goal.

• pick a color and stay with it. Once the level has begun you should be able to tell which color is the easiest to connect.
• try to create an enormous combo of your chosen color. Be careful to not remove too many singles in the process or otherwise fail your objectives.
• make columns if possible in order to get Column bonuses. The larger the columns the more points you get for each.
• if you must remove singles, try to remove ones that will connect other singles together, or otherwise result in larger groups. This is especially important when you've done everything and are left with a handful of singles and some pairs or other small groupings.
• If you're unsure how close you are to meeting the objectives choose Check. This is very useful for seeing how many singles you have removed and how many more you can safely remove without failing the level.

Level Mode

The most basic mode. On the Dreamcast you can also choose to have a 120-second timer (the timer is not available on the web-based version). With the timed mode the quicker you remove swirls the more points you get. In non-timed the bigger the combo the more points you gain. The goals in both get progressively harder until you eventually fail. You are then given a rank.

• when playing a non-timed games, the bigger the combo the higher your score. In timed mode there is also a score modifier for how fast you remove swirls.
• timed games give an additional bonus depending on how many seconds were left on the timer when you cleared all the swirls.
• You must meet each level's goal, otherwise you can't reach the next level.
• if time runs out before you remove all the swirls it's game over.
• if you clear a level with no singles you double your score. This is very difficult to achieve.

Versus Mode

In Versus Mode human or players take turns removing swirls.

• players are each assigned a color, and then take turns. The color of the cursor indicates who is playing.
• swirls of your own color are worth double.
• when all swirls of your color are removed you are out of the game.
• the player with the most points wins.

Split Screen

This mode is only available in the Dreamcast version. You compete against another player for high scores.

• this mode supports two to four human or computer players
• players are each assigned a color, and then take turns. The color of the cursor indicates who is playing.
• swirls of your own color are worth double.
• when one player clears a color that color is removed from all boards.
• when all colors are cleared a new round starts.
• the game ends when a player reaches the Goal Score.

Practice Mode

Lets you practice a single game. Level Mode rules apply.

Swirl Email

This mode is only available in the Dreamcast and Windows 9x versions. Turns are sent by email. This mode is otherwise identical to Versus Mode.

Single Game Challenge

Dreamcast only. Just like Level Mode you can have a 120-second timer or no timer.

• timed games give an additional bonus depending on how many seconds were left on the timer when you cleared all the swirls.
• if you clear a level with no singles you double your score. This is very difficult to achieve.
• if time runs out before you remove all the swirls it's game over.

Top Scores

This lets you view your top scores. On the web-based version you can submit your scores to Shockwave.com and see how you rank against other players around the world.

Ranks

• Amateur
• Rookie
• Sophomore
• Contestant
• Player
• Specialist

Cheats

In Practice Mode make a big combo (at least 20 swirls). Remove it, and then while the swirls are disappearing restart the level. If done correctly you will start with that score.