LGR - Super Solvers: Gizmos & Gadgets! DOS Game Review

Reviewing the classic Super Solvers DOS and Windows PC game from 1993! Morty Maxwell, Master of Mischief, is up to his old tricks again, now with an army of robo-chimps and a plot to become head scientist of Shady Glen Technology Center. Collect parts and build vehicles! Plus: bananas.
● LGR links:
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
● Music courtesy of:
www.epidemicsound.com
#LGR #Edutainment #Retrospective

[@LGR]

As with tons of other edutainment classics, the OG G&G is playable on Internet Archive right from your browser! archive.org/details/msdos_Super_Solvers_Gizmos_and_Gadgets_1993

[@leehaase2588]

I loved this game as a kid, had it for Macintosh. Thanks so much for this video!

[@Sam42069]

This is the future

[@Schwa_Iska]

Great video! The gear puzzles always messed me up as a kid. I never ended up beating it.

[@christenorio9555]

What if they reboot this game series Morty is evil Morty & you play as Morty c-137 an Rick and Morty theme game!

[@MrClawt]

I was just playing Snood because LGR.

[@saulnunez2625]

[educational jazz music] The subtitles are hidden gems.

[@needfortweed8734]

Agreed. Was just about to comment the same thing...

[@spazzyphantasm]

Edutaitional jazz was what I was hoping for....

[@peaberry9413]

Nice JerryRigEverything reference, there, at 2:12. "DOS is DOS, and DOS breaks."

[@AerinRavage]

I'm just now watching this on my lunch break, and, yea, I had a mouthful of food when I heard it! Nearly did a spit-take!

[@BTStudioGE]

I wonder if a CRT scratches at a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7...?

[@hahaiseewhatyouredoing9086]

0:32 The donator name is Zack, so maybe....

[@brainstar64]

There is a run command in this game. Just hold CTRL then move in the warehouse. You can even do somersault while holding CTRL and up.

[@LGR]

I totally forgot about the somersaulting, nice!

[@ChowYunThin]

Yeah, it was a bit rough seeing the Super Solver plodding along while I'm screaming in my head "HOLD CTRL!" I loved hearing that trilling sound effect when somersaulting.

[@JamishS]

It was pretty amusing to see Super Solver jumping repeatedly to move faster than walking, tho

[@drd7of14]

Yeah, was gonna say this. It's actually necessary to through some of the sections like with the big rubber bouncy pads

[@mraaronhd]

You can also throw bananas further as well

[@lightninstriker10]

Gotta love the Super Solver's sass at the end there. "This proves I'm better than you, now get out."

[@benn454]

Super Solver has had enough of Morty's shit.

[@renjilover11]

I loved this game so much-I'd say "I've never clicked so fast", but actually I was frozen for a moment because I was so happy and surprised

[@portalknight1]

I had the *exact* same experience

[@Maggerama]

I join the ranks.

[@commallama]

Same here

[@miked5444]

Rainbow decal, push all of the red buttons at the same time by turning the crank.

[@PaulRudd1941]

Yup, this game takes me back

[@supersquare]

I watched the entire way through thinking I've never heard of this game until 8:12. Seeing that gear puzzle instantly flooded my memory again and I remembered everything about this game!! My whole school used to love playing this game during computer lab

[@Ray2Jerry]

"Do you want your GTA with chimps or further chimps??"

[@Safetytrousers]

There is a scene when you have to fend off marauding chimps in GTAV. And chimps make other appearances in GTAV.

[@nibblrrr7124]

"I pistol-started all of Plutonia on Ultraviolence... ...with chimps."

[@FalseDigital]

Oh man! I played this for countless hours when I was kid! Also, I remember that my mom didn't even flinch when I asked her to buy it for me because it said "educational" on it :P

[@TrackZero]

Played the heck out of this with kids I was babysitting at the time (they had a late model IBM PS/2 machine, their family had some cash to spare...). It was one of the only games with them that was actually fun for us all to play (I was ~14 at the time, the kids were 5 and 7). Thanks for the memories LGR, wasn't expecting those to get brought back today.

[@ChowYunThin]

Thank you LGR for showcasing this gem of an edutainment title. The airplane part was my favorite by far. That bluesy harmonica playing while I gathered parts was something that stuck in my mind when I studied engineering. It also felt the most engaging when reading the parts list and understanding why the best parts were that way. In contrast, I hated the automotive part because it was basically "the same, but more". As for the puzzles, I like the force one the best especially when all the options were unlocked. I liked how even after you solve the puzzle the game allows you to experiment and screw around to see what happens. It really helps to engage the player in thinking about how and why certain things happen. I can't really say the same for the gear and magnet puzzles, though. I'd exit and hope the door rerolls for something other than those two. Re: re-cycling puzzles. Yeah, I thought it was a bit strange but for me it usually happened when I was near the end. I guess that was because I didn't open any doors that I figured had no parts. I just chalked it up to the game giving me a break after all the hard ones were done with. At the very least, I didn't have to do the hard/tedious gear and magnet puzzles.

[@shukterhousejive]

I always had to play this game without the chimps because I was absolutely terrified of them for some reason. Turns out it was probably the uneven scaling in my windows copy making those jiggly walk cycles look a bit more unsettling than they should have, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

[@FalconFlyer75]

lol same, I replayed it again in College with the chimps on and "conquered my fear' its actually available for free on Dos Emulator sites now

[@NodokaHanamura]

I remembered playing this in school in the early 2000s, whilst our school still had DOS games stored on the network.

[@rallokkcaz]

Nodoka Hanamura same here, didn't even realize they were dos games

[@pinkipromise]

i played this in 1999

[@lhamil64]

Same, except our school had Macs.

[@supersquare]

@@lhamil64 Same we had those old as frick iMacs

[@paterson90]

I played this around 1994 lol

[@silverwasp]

"Do you want your child's education to be fun and rewarding?" - NOPE! *Throws pamphlet*

[@daisymae3717]

I laughed way to hard at that

[@digiowl9599]

That throw got me thinking about the swedish chef making popcorn shrimp.

[@AceStrife]

Best part of the video.

[@dogslappingandcowtipping2273]

Somewhere in an alternate universe IBM is the head of all computing and this man is the head, the smooth voice, the to the point attitude, interesting word selection along with the respectable high class beard

[@DarKnightKilla13]

I still have (and play) this game on my old PC! We used to have it on the computers at school (I'm 29 years old, btw), so my parents bought it one year for me to use at home. Loved it, still do!

[@benjaminrhodes]

AWESOME VIDEO!! I remembering playing a few educational games when I was younger, pure nostalgia! The history of computing is so cool, you and similar KZbinrs inspired me to start my own KZbin channel and I hope to learn more about computers through it. Thanks for the video!

[@bigbud6842]

I seriously love this little segment of your channel. So nostalgic feeling.

[@Edward135i]

OMG, I freaking loved this game as a kid! I haven't thought about it since then.

[@chillydude44]

For years I've been vaguely remembering this game. I first saw my cousin playing it years ago and I've been trying to find it since. THANK YOU!

[@G3DTrance]

Your job with matching framerates of the CRT monitor and capturing Ms-Dos and old Windows games is astounding. The attention for details... Your work is awesome and the content of your channel is great. You even made a video sharing your learnings about capturing Ms-Dos and filming CRTs. Thank you very much for your work! Much appreciated in this confining times!

[@GameHammerCG]

Those round, blue robo-chimps are fantastically designed and animated. They could have been a main character.

[@flippedoutkyrii]

MAN, all these memories that have lay dormant for 23 years are all coming back to me.

[@sammierose1212]

Yess!! This was one of my favorite games as a kid! I reinstalled it and played it again a few years ago!

[@krazproductions]

god! I felt a fain memory earlier this day and decided to look into a game review to travel down memory lane. I must have been about 7 or 8 years old when I played this game in Elementary School. I still remember Mrs. Willibee like it was yesterday. Thank you for tis bit of nostalgia .

[@Peeps40836]

Well, rip in peace Edutainment Month. Thank you for showing a whole lot of games that I didn’t even knew existed. Also, DOS scratches at a level 6, with Windows showing deeper grooves at a level 3.1.

[@PurpleTurtle-t4q]

you got my attention when you said I could throw the banana, but you convinced me when you said throw the banana farther

[@Rezic]

I grew up with Mission THINK. Seems all that one did was improve the visuals and have a more interesting battle between Morty. Still, awesome to see!

[@kmilli0313]

Eric the Red Mage I had that as well! I always enjoyed playing it

[@TheHylianJuggalo]

Had that! Had no idea it was a series, though.

[@SamLemont]

LGR, you just unlocked deep forgotten memories of this game I had locked away. Damn.

[@5PortStudios]

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. These games were amazing and I had forgotten about them until now. Great Video!

[@lazyuniverse4932]

OMG! I remember this game! Me and my sister played this all the time next to "Carmen Sandiego: Word Detective" so much nostalgia Clint, please review Carmen Sandiego Word Detective in the future

[@johnnyz7178]

I had totally forgotten this game until I saw this video. I used to play this all the time as a kid. Thx for the remembrance!!

[@makinbacon21]

This takes me back...I had my mom’s old eMachines Win98 machine as a kid and I used to play this all the time

[@triiistone]

The Super Solver games were my favorite back in computer class. Midnight Rescue and Outnumbered were my jam. Great video as always.

[@void5239]

This was one of the best learning games I ever played as a child. Thank you for this!

[@DarthG33k]

This was one of the first games I had when my parents bought the family's first computer in 1996. I'm gonna dig this up and set this up for my kid when he's old enough.

[@hokman1]

good plan. also carmen sandiego.

[@HardDriveGuruOfficial]

I had this and Midnight Rescue! on my Mac as a kid, and they were two of my favorites. I'll have to go back and play through them now...

[@matguy1000]

[CC] "Educational saxaphone plays." well done

[@dwegmull]

Seeing that Kaiser drive address in Fremont reminded me that The Learning Company and Logitech used to be right next door to each other. For a while they even shared a building where The Learning Company had the center of it, surrounded by Logitech! That center portion was made of a bunch of sound proof rooms used for recording voice overs.

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

I’ve always enjoyed the Super Solvers series as a kid, Outnumbered was the first game I would boot up when it was computer time back in elementary school.

[@4Wilko]

Aw yeah Super Solvers. My favorite's always going to be Treasure Mountain (since that's the one we had on our DOS computer), but I did play one or two of the other titles in a computer class at Elementary school.

[@JohnSmith-tr9us]

All made possible by a generous viewer. Thank you for taking the initiative and rolling this proverbial ball Zack.

[@Vostok7]

TLC games were my jam as a kid. Spellbound!, Midnight Rescue!, Gizmos & Gadgets!, Operation Neptune, OutNumbered!, Challenge of the Ancient Empires!... For the real OGs there was Think Quick! which was awesome. Not to even mention their more well known gems like Oregon Trail. Being homeschooled in the early '90s was awesome, nothing like spending all day playing TLC games and calling it learning!

[@koozmusic]

Think Quick! was pretty amazing for its time, despite having ultra-simple CGA graphics and PC speaker sound effects. The main campaigns were fun, but what I really loved about it was the level editor. Challenge of the Ancient Empires, though... man! The absolute best TLC game by far in my opinion. My only slight nitpick I have about it was the _super_ low animation frame rate. But the game isn't exactly fast-paced, and the puzzles and level design more than make up for it. I stopped at the intro just to see if anyone else mentioned AE. I couldn't help but notice that it was suspiciously missing amongst LGR's boxed collection. Most of the other TLC games start feeling repetitive pretty quickly (G&G included), personally. I was also homeschooled during that time. Yay, nostalgia!

[@MadameSomnambule]

I played both Oregon Trail II and Oregon Trail 3rd Edition as a kid and I've always leaned more towards Oregon Trail II from MECC, though they're both good in their own right and they're both nostalgic for me. Loved the hell out of Gizmos and Gadgets and Reader Rabbit back in the day too.

[@williamaitken7533]

DUDE! Thank you for posting this video!!! You just helped me solve one of my childhood memories! I remember my cousin having a game where a guy in a hat went around solving puzzles. It turns out it was one of the Super Solvers games! Not this one, but the outfit immediately triggered recognition!

[@MrRom92DAW]

YES. Omg my childhood right here. All these cd rom edutainment games were my jam

[@monsterxc2670]

I’ve been waiting for this one ever since discovering your channel. It feels like this was put together just for me!

[@bkslsh]

You just awakened some deep memories LGR. I couldn't remember for the life of me what this game was called!

[@thedeadhp]

This is actually one of my favourite games of all time. I had it on my gateway 2000. Played it so much!

[@Phil2stroke]

You have no idea how much i love your keyboard and drive sound intro !👌

[@KyoshoLP]

I LOVED this game as a kid. I remember BEGGING my mother to order this out of the Scholastic catalog from school. Played it on an IBM PS/2 that was running Windows 3.1 (and DOS, and OS/2).

[@alextirrellRI]

I have fond memories of this. Can't remember when I first played it. My dad worked in education support for an IT company, specializing in Macintosh, he'd bring home all kinds of free software from Apple's education bundles. If I ever did play it in school, it certainly would have been short bursts. One of my biggest frustrations of using computers in schools for these kinds of games was not having enough time to ever progress in them.

[@VitusPrimeGuy]

Oh man, Gizmo and Gadgets, some of my Formative years had this, the music will forever end up leaping up in my mind from time to time...

[@lotus-prince]

The Super Solver is normally voiceless, but I think I remember them saying something out loud when you beat the game in the Windows version, just as Morty speaks in the Windows intro. Also, gotta love Morty's plan, which says "Morty (that's me!)". :-D

[@aidancommenting]

I found a Sound Blaster PCI from 1999 just sitting in a drawer today. Even had the game port in it.

[@w2cfx]

Oh man I loved this game as a kid, got it from a book club just because it had “gadgets” in its name! Until now I could never remember what it was called! The game actually taught me a lot of stuff that came in useful years later. Thanks LGR!

[@etepeteseat7424]

Oh man, this is awesome! I still have my old copy of G&G for Windows 95 around here someplace, and I've played it at least once since getting older (though I doubt it'd run on my current PC). This and Mission T.H.I.N.K. were my absolute favorite Super Solvers games, and I don't even care how well they hold up. This one especially really kicked ass because I was always a nerd for simple machines and physics, so I still get a kick out of all the puzzles. Thanks for the feel-good nostalgia, LGR.

[@midiman369]

Great game! I remember playing this with my younger sister and I when we were kids. Now waiting for my own kids to be old enough to play it in my Dosbox system. :)

[@mattfleig2621]

A blast from my past. You made my day. It's amazing how your brain can remember sounds even from childhood, so nostalgic.

[@JadeRabbit-je4gd]

Oh. My. God. This is it. This is the first computer game I ever played, and I played it at school no less. My third grade class used to get one hour a week in the school computer lab and this was one of the few games available to play. I never remembered the name of it, and over the years I guess I forgot about it for the most part, but it’s immediately recognizable. I can’t believe I’m even seeing this again. That was all the way back in 2000. Damn.

[@coolmanjack1995]

Dude holy crap I loved this game so so much as a kid. Thank you so much for covering this game!! It's legendary

[@Banryu95]

I think about this game all the time! I was obsessed when I was a kid!

[@arpy4428]

I had one strategy for this game, when I was growing up, which was to find the fiberglass body for whatever machine being built. The decrease in weight was so OP that it basically ensured a victory every race.

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

We appreciate the torture you endure to make the videos for us. It's a trip back through Memory Lane !👍👍

[@nicks4802]

We had this bad boy on the windows 98 computers in my grade 1 class back in 2001 I’d show up early at school for breakfast club and eat with my boys, Then we’d go off to class and we’d SPRINT to the computers to play this game when we got out free time in class

[@StumblrNoE]

My aunt had this for her Macintosh LC III back in the day. Easiest way to keep me entertained while the adults did their thing.

[@ic3olate]

So glad to see this on here, and so many other people with fond memories of it. I think this is the only edutainment game that I ever actually wanted. It was installed on my elementary school's computers circa '97-'00. My family were quite early adopters of PCs and internet and almost all of our "computer lab" instruction was redundant to me, so I would speed through my work as quick as possible to play this game...then get pissed that I usually couldn't get very far before we left the lab because of the slow movement.

[@Oppaiman100]

My childhood....Thank you for doing a review of this LGR! I'm sure everyone has said this already but I'll join in....You can run and do a somersault jump by using the CTRL button.

[@davidhicks3722]

Omg I remember playing this game when I was a kid. You have just brought back amazing memories in primary school

[@BrenTenkage]

now this is a nostalgic blast from the past, I remember I had a CD of it years ago since long lost...but man oh man good times, would love to replay it again

[@cabe72000]

Subculture was a very similar game, where you had a submarine and solve puzzles to go inside places. I remember this two games with great joy.

[@VK2QRZ]

Yesss, an old time fav from our school library. Thanks Clint for covering this one, nostalgia heaven 🥰

[@SeanHarlow]

One of my favorite games as a kid. Ahh the fun of gaming in the '90s, where I might play this, Carmen Sandiego, and Wolfenstein 3D in one sitting....

[@otiefloro8968]

I never realized how large the Super Solvers series is. I had treasure mountain and used to spend countless hours cat hing butterflies and collecting treasure.

[@PatrickLofstrom]

I had the DOS version, exact box copy. Loved this game to bits, played it for hours!

[@soki.gakiya]

AAAAAAHHHH, I've been looking for the name of this game for years!!! man, thank you, thank you! my little brothers used to play this and wanted to download it for them now that they are adults!

[@MusicFromAnotherTime]

Oh my god. I remember this along with Incredible Machine. So good.

[@digitalrailroader]

I distinctly remember playing this in the 3rd Grade in 1997! This is likely the game that put me on the path of auto mechanics.

[@LNSLateNightSaturday]

Thanks for continuing to be LGR, Clint. I appreciate the fact that at least ONE thing is still normal in life. Your work brings me joy in a (mostly) joyless world, and I appreciate it.

[@robsa978]

Thank you so much for doing this video! I remember playing this game almost 25 years ago on our class room’s computer. So much nostalgia 😂

[@darlagoddesshate]

I absolutely loved this game! Back in 1998 when we got our first computer from Gateway they gave these dozens of CDs in a big Gateway binder and they had two super Solvers. The other one was...it had like a board game or chess like component that was hard. I used to play Midnight Rescue at school too. This just takes me back to a simpler time. I hate that I only recently found your channel because months ago I could have donated that whole pack to you. It had a bunch of games, weird random programs, etc. If it turns out I didn't throw it out I'd be happy to pass it on

[@73hhK41]

This was probably my favorite computer game growing up. My friend and I played the hell out of this game. Thanks for doing an LGR on it!

[@sonicjerry]

I remember this game when I was a kid. This was one of the games that was available in computer class and I loved playing it when we got the chance to play it.

[@EricKirby1]

I remember back in 4th Grade, it was the last day of school and the class tasked with cleaning out the classroom, I found a loose CD copy of Gizmo's & Gadgets on a bookshelf collecting dust. I went up to the teacher and asked if I could have it and she said "Yes". Despite all the dust it worked perfectly, probably still have the game buried somewhere to this day.

[@justherefortalking]

I was so hyped when you unboxed it during your donation video. I played this on any school computer that had it.

[@Astounding33]

this was one of my favorite games as a kid. my sisters and i still fondly remember playing this when we first got our computer back in the day. next to doom and duke3d, gismos & gadgets was probably my favorite game of the time.

[@DisneyMusicVideos]

I've played most of the Super Solvers games back in the day which they were all great, but Gizmos & Gadgets has always easily been my favorite! I still have the 1995 Windows CD-ROM version that I got for my 9th birthday back in 1995. I'm 35 now & I still play it occasionally & is still just as fun as it was back in the day! I got it to work on my modern computer using the Virtual Box app which if you don't know can run older versions of Windows to play older games which is awesome. I have Windows 3.1 installed on it & works flawlessly.

[@Nik-ff3tu]

Anyone else remember the super solvers strategy game where you played a board game against max?

[@ryanfoster9755]

Isn't it called mission think?

[@medes5597]

I loved this game as a kid, this was such a blast from the past. Those electricity puzzles were my favourite and likely why I ended up obsessed with electronics.

[@SkidmarkBurton]

I remember playing this game in school as a child, brings back memories, thanks for the video LGR! 👍🏻

[@cyb3rpunk190]

Man u brought back very good old memories with that compaq presario and those floppy disks we used to exchange around pirated games on floppy disks at school. Those were the days.

[@TheWyldehart]

Nice "Jerry Rig Everything" reference there. Thumb's up for that!

[@Vance1982]

My family had tons of The Learning Company games in my house when I was a kid, my favorite being Ancient Empires

[@SlayerCerri]

I was just trying to remember the name of that game. Thank you! That one and Midnight Rescue were my favorites.

[@Archangelm127]

All of the yes! I played so much Super Solvers as a kid.

[@Charlemagne89]

Aw HELL YEAHH, loved that gave as a kid. Loved all sorts of TLC games back in the 90's! I had the Win 95/98 CD edition though, I had no idea the game pre-dated Windows...

[@raptorshinryu]

I had no idea this game was such a big deal for so many people. I still have my disk and thought it was just an obscure title that maybe a few dozen owned. The platforming section soundtrack has been cemented in my memory even after all these years.

[@hiccuplord5683]

I was home schooled in the late 90s early 2000s and I always played this when I got the opportunity. I still have the two CD cases filled with random edutainment software. Unfortunately my parents never kept the boxes, so LGR would not approve haha.

[@TheSignPainter500]

THIS is the game that got me into circuitry, I had the CD version and still have it loose around here

[@livingcartoon]

I always liked the hero's character design in these games. Was it a boy or a girl? Was it you or a friend? Who cares! They're so covered up in cool gear they can be whoever you want them to be!

[@benburrell]

I played the hell out of this after school when I was in 5th grade. Have been trying to remember the name of the game for years. Thanks for the memory jog and, as always, the nostalgia !

[@Legion563]

Holy crap its the game I've been trying to work out wtf it was for the last 2 decades. I used to play this back in primary school in the late 90's. All I could really remember was the way the playable character looked like look and banana traps/attacks. Thanks for finally putting this to rest for me...holy hell.