History VideoGame / GemStorm

* ScrappyMechanic: The gray gems, those don't make drops of any kind and their only purpose is to make things harder for the player. The only thing the player can use to get rid of those is to use the Degray Special Move (not available in the demo) to clear all of those from the field, but the Degray costs ''six'' Nots to activate.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If the player has Nots (see below) in their inventory and any gem reaches the top, the Clear Line will be triggered automatically one to three times, giving the player another chance. ** Also, if you max out the Not counter, a Clear Line will be automatically triggered to make space for the new Not.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If the player has Nots (see below) in their inventory and any gem reaches the top, the Clear Line will trigger automatically one to three times, giving the player another chance.

** The title screen theme (named in the archives as "GTITLE.MID") is ''Mit dir vielleicht'' by Nicole Holhoch, from her Album Augenblicke.

For a similar (and considerably more succesful) example, see VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}, released five years later.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If the player has Nots (see below) in their inventory and any gem reaches the top, the Clear Line will trigger automatically one to three times, giving the player another chance to keep playing.

* ComebackMechanic: If the player makes a drop that exceeds the required one by one or more gems for the level, the player will earn a "Not". These "Nots" can be used for a variety of effects to help the player clear the level, such as clearing the bottom line, adding multicolor gems to the field in different ways, or eliminating an entire gem color. Not thresholds are indicated for every level below the Drop thresholds, with unused Nots being carried over to the next level.
* MatchThreeGame: Just like ''Columns'', although the match can be from three to seven, depending on the level, and you can use special moves to clear the level more easily.
* NonIndicativeDifficulty: In the first version, the difficulty levels were only to choose the starting level, that is: Beginner starts from Level 1, Intermediate starts at Level 20, and Expert starts the player from Level 40, ''a la'' VideoGame/{{Tempest}} (but without any kind of point bonus). [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in version 2.0, where any Level can be played on any difficulty, adjusting the Speed and Thresholds accordingly.
* PasswordSave: In addition to a standard save file system, the game has this [[spoiler: This is also for activating the Custom Game Menu]].
* RealSongThemeTune: The game was notorious for the MIDI renditions of music for its levels:
** The title screen theme (named in the archives as "GTITLE.MID") is ''Mit dir vielleicht'' by Nicole Holhoch from her Album Augenblicke.
** The second theme (named as "G2.MID" or "G1.MID" in the demo) is ''Quiéreme Mucho (Yours)'' by Julio Iglesias.
** The third theme ("G3.MID" or "G2.MID" in the demo) is ''In Private'' by Dusty Springfield.
** The fourth theme ("G4.MID" or "G3.MID" in the demo) is ''D.I.S.C.O'' by Ottawan.
* UpdatedRerelease: ''[=GemStorm=] 2.0'' changes the gem textures to make them less generical, changes how pieces are dropped (i.e.: the diagonal falling pieces are removed), adds more levels, and makes the difficulty levels playable on all levels. Also, the Custom Game Mode is available from the beginning of the game.

* ClassicCheatCode: The original version has one, and it activates the Custom Game editor, where you can change the number of colored gems, thresholds for Drops and Nots, the Speed, and a Random Option [[spoiler:Type "Sonya" in the Password Button on the TitleScreen to access it]].

* ComebackMechanic: If the player makes a drop that exceeds the required one by one or more gems for the level, the player will earn a "Not". These "Nots" can be used for a variety of effects to help the player clear the level, such as clearing the bottom line, adding multicolor gems to the field in different ways, or eliminating an entire gem color. Not thresholds are indicated for every level below the Drop thresholds, and each unused Nots are carried over to the next level if the player has any.

** The fourth theme ("G4.MID" or "G3.MID" in the demo) is ''D.I.S.C.O'' by Ottawan.

* MatchThreeGame: Just like ''Columns'', although the match can be from three op to seven, depending on the level, and you can use special moves to clear the level more easily.

* ClassicCheatCode: The original version has one, and it activates the Custom Game editor, where you can change the number of colored gems, thresholds for Drops and Nots, the Speed, and a Random Option [spoiler:Type "Sonya" in the Password Button on the TitleScreen to access it].