Together Retro Game Club: Puyo Puyo
Presented by noiseredux
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Puyo Puyo is a 1991 puzzle game that exists within the popular “falling blocks” and “tile matching” sub-genres. Its roots were firmly
planted in the arcade, thus the Player Versus Player slant that has remained important to the series. So join us this month as we match up
Puyos and send garbage over to our opponents!
Gameplay
Unlike its puzzler peers like Tetris or Columns, Puyo Puyo pits you against an opponent even in the single player mode. As Puyos (blobs with eyes) fall from the sky, your job is to match them into groups of four which will burst from your side of the board. And by utilizing chains you can send some garbage Puyos over to your enemy. Of course your opponent will be attempting the same. It’s certainly deceptively simple, but there’s plenty of strategy to be found.
Ports
Puyo Puyo was originally released in 1991 for the Famicom and MSX. A year later the game was brought to arcades and eventually a slew of
ports followed such as on the PC Engine, Game Gear, Game Boy, and N-Gage – not to mention various computer systems such as the PC-98 and
the X86000.
It was eventually brought to the US, though not under its proper name. The Genesis version was reskinned in a Sonic theme and titled Dr.
Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. This version was subsequently made available on the GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox, Playstation 3, Xbox
360, and Steam via various Sega Genesis compilations. The Super Nintendo version was similarly reskinned, this time as Kirby’s
Avalanche (or Kirby’s Ghost Trap in Europe) and later made available on the Virtual Console.
To get even more confusing, there were also home computer editions with various titles as well. The Windows 3.1 release of Puyo Puyo was
called Qwirks for some reason. While Amiga fans may remember a shareware clone called Super Foul Egg!
Legacy
The Puyo Puyo series saw many remakes, sequels and spin-offs over the years. The main series which was crafted by Compile consisted of Puyo
Puyo (1991), Puyo Puyo Tsu/Puyo Pop (1994), Puyo Puyo Sun (1996) and Puyo Puyo~n/Puyo Puyo 4 (1999).
The series has subsequently been scooped up by Sega who have delivered some solid titles in the series such as Puyo Puyo Fever (2003) and Puyo Puyo Tetris (2014).
Discussion
Join us in the forums this month to compare the many ports, share high scores, and otherwise chat about this great puzzler. Check out the discussion here.
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