Sink or Swim

Sink or Swim is a puzzle game where the player controls Kevin Codner, a rescue mariner tasked with saving passengers from a sinking cruise liner. The core challenge involves guiding these Dim Passengers from their entry point to a safe exit across sixty levels, with mechanics that require manipulating the environment.

Obstacles such as cargo boxes and bulkheads can be removed with bombs or repositioned using a crane when explosives are depleted. Environmental hazards like conveyor belts must often be redirected via levers, as incorrect movement can lead passengers into water, fire, or steam jets. The puzzles grow challenging, introducing elements like repairing cracked pipes to neutralize steam jets.

Creative use of equipment is central to progression; crates can be stacked to form bridges or provide protection from hazards, frequently by placing them onto conveyor belts with the crane. Each level imposes a save limit, requiring a minimum number of rescues, and many include a rising water timer that threatens to drown passengers if the player is too slow.

Progress is saved via a password system provided upon completing a level, allowing players to resume later. While the Super Nintendo and Genesis versions contain one hundred levels, the Genesis variant only displays passwords every five levels starting from level five, despite passwords existing for each individual stage.