Puyo Puyo (series)
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Puyo Puyo
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 The front cover of the Mega Drive/Genesis version of the original game. |
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| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Developer(s) | Compile, Sega, Sonic Team |
| Publisher(s) | Sega and others |
| Creator(s) | Masamitsu Nītani |
| Official website | http://puyo.sega.jp/ |
Puyo Puyo refers to a series of puzzle video games created by Compile and later Sonic Team.
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[edit] History
Puyo Puyo, originally released by Compile in 1991, featured characters from the 1989 RPG Madou Monogatari, also made by Compile. Puyos were enemy monsters in said game, as the rough equivalent of the slime monsters from the Dragon Quest game series.
Puyo Puyo really became popular when it was released as an arcade game in 1992. This was the first version that included the aforementioned one-player story mode, in which the human player plays against computer opponents of increasing difficulty. This feature was an immediate success because it allowed players to play by themselves. Future versions of Puyo Puyo for console systems also included this feature.
The most released version of Puyo Puyo to date is Puyo Puyo Tsu. It is said to have had 15 releases, one for each console, including a PC version and a Satellaview remake (BS Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix).
Sega had hopes of releasing it outside of Japan, and, although they did, they had non-Puyo names nor any of the characters. The first was released in February 1993 under the name Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (for Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear). Nintendo would also get their version of Puyo Puyo for the Super NES outside Japan, but under the name Kirby's Avalanche (Kirby's Ghost Trap in Europe), which the original characters were replaced by the Kirby series ones. Spectrum HoloByte also released Puyo Puyo for the Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Macintosh in August 1995, under the name Qwirks[1].
After the demise of Compile in 2002, Sonic Team continued development of the Puyo Puyo series (as Sega held partial rights to the game since the first arcade release).
Nowadays, the Puyo Puyo merchandise uses its own original name, replacing the second Puyo with Pop. The first of these was Puyo Pop for the NeoGeo Pocket, which was a version of Puyo Puyo Tsu. Puyo Pop (Minna de Puyo Puyo in Japan) for the Game Boy Advance, was the first Puyo game to use characters from Puyo Puyo SUN and Puyo Puyo~n, most notably, those originally coming from Tsu to begin with.
Puyo Pop Fever (Puyo Puyo Fever inside of Japan) was the last game released by Sega for its Dreamcast system. It was also ported to the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Mac OS X, Windows, PocketPC and Palm platforms; however, due to lack of worldwide release, versions saw separate releases; the Nintendo DS and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in North America. The sequel to the game, Puyo Puyo Fever 2, has been given a release in Japan for the PS2, the DS, and the PSP. There's no confirmation as of yet if there will be any more multiple releases, and if any of them will be seen outside of Japan.
In July 2005, Bandai released Kidou Gekidan Haro Ichiza: Haro no Puyo Puyo (lit. "Mobile Theatrical Company Haro: Haro's Puyo Puyo") in Japan for the GBA, the Gundam themed Puyo Puyo[2].
Between 2006 and 2007, for the franchise's fifteenth anniversary, Sega released a version for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo DS known as Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary.
A new game known as Puyo Puyo 7 has just been recently released, with a schoolgirl known as Ringo Andou being the new main character.
The Puyo Puyo games developed by Sonic Team generally have references to the Sonic the Hedgehog series:
- In Minna de Puyo Puyo, "SONIC" is listed as one of the highscore placeholders.
- There was an official Sonic Riders-style Sonic the Hedgehog modification for Puyo Pop Fever.
- In Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, a player can unlock the "Sonic style puyo", which enables Puyo versions of the characters Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Silver and Blaze.
[edit] Gameplay
The object of the game is to defeat the opponent in a battle by filling their grid up to the top with garbage. Puyos, little gelatinous creatures with eyes, commonly fall from the top of the screen in a pair (although for Puyo Puyo Fever, they can fall in triplets, double pairs, and Bigpuyos). The pair can be moved left and right and rotated clockwise and counterclockwise 90°. (Bigpuyos, however, change color rather than rotate.) The pair drops until one puyo falls onto another puyo or the bottom of the screen, following the rules of gravity. The pair then breaks, so the other puyo(s) free fall until it (they) fall onto another puyo or the bottom of the screen.
[edit] Rensa (chain)
When four or more puyos of the same color form together to create a group, whether vertical, horizontal, or in a Tetris-shaped piece for four puyos (not including diagonals, puyos must be adjacent to each other either horizontally or vertically), they pop and disappear. This is called a Rensa (Chain). Rensa can vary in size, groups, and steps. For example, the A pieces form groups in grids 1 and 2, but not 3:
When four or more puyos are connected in a group, they disappear. All puyos above those about to be cleared will then fall until they land onto other pieces or the bottom of the screen.
Combo chains are created in the same way, when more than four puyos form a group, or more than one group is formed at one time. All the puyos in a "combo" are erased at the same time. For example, grid 4 has a five combo, grid 5 has two groups of four for an eight combo, and grid 6 has three groups of five for a fifteen combo:
Fluent Rensa (step-chain) A Fluent Rensa is made when falling puyos form a new group of four or more puyos, causing a chain reaction where several puyos are erased one group at a time. For example, grid 7 will form a two-rensa chain, grid 8 will form a three-rensa chain, and grid 9 will form a five-rensa chain:
[edit] Ojama (garbage)
Whenever a rensa is achieved, Ojama (Garbage blocks, aka Nuisance Puyos or refugees) are sent to the opponent. The bigger the Fluent Rensa is, the more ojamas are sent to the opponent. Garbage in this game is determined by the overall score of the chain divided by 70 and rounded up to the nearest integer. For example:
- Player A forms a group of 4 red puyos as a single chain.
- The score card reads "40 x 1" (Simply by the following: (Puyo * 10) x (Puyo - 3) -> (4 * 10) x (4 - 3) -> 40 x 1).
- 40 x 1 is the total score of the chain, so this is divided by 70, to give 0.571 (to 3.s.f)
- This value is rounded up to the nearest integer, which is 1.
- One ojama will fall on the opponent's grid.
If more puyos are erased in succession due to a Fluent Rensa, the amount of garbage will keep going up until the chain ends. Ojama puyos are dropped in rows of six, with the extra ojamas distributed in random columns. If more than 30 ojamas are sent, they will be dropped in groups of 30.
Ojama block the opponent's playing field, and can cause them to lose if they reach up to the top of the grid. Ojama are eliminated if puyos are eliminated adjacent to them.
[edit] Deciding games
If the third column from the left is piled to the top then the game is over. In Puyo Puyo Fever, the third or fourth column from the left must be filled to end the game.
[edit] Clones
Puyo Puyo has many clones. An Amiga clone was created as a reader's response to a comment in the Amiga Power magazine named Super Foul Egg. XPuyoPuyo and KFoulEgg are two Open Source clones of Puyo Puyo for KDE, both of which only support original Puyo Puyo modes. FloboPuyo is another Puyo Puyo clone, this time multiplatform, written using SDL in C by IOS Software. Puyo Puyo Compendium is a larger scale fangame written in Delphi and utilizing DirectX on Windows, which features a wide selection of gameplay modes developed by Xerodox Games in part of a series of Puyo Puyo games by the group.[3]
More recently, a new Puyo Puyo clone has arisen specifically for competitive playing, and is being created for Windows using Multimedia Fusion by Hernan of Puyo Nexus. It is unnamed, however it is the only known clone with physics identical to Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, and is planned to have netplay support. No publicly released version supports any form of netplay, but an offline version with very basic AI has been released.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Qwirks at GameFAQs
- ^ Kidou Gekidan Haro Ichiza: Haro no Puyo Puyo at GameFAQs
- ^ Puyo Puyo Compendium at puyonexus.net wiki
- ^ Unnamed Puyo fangame at puyonexus.net forums
[edit] External links
- Hardcore Gaming 101 - Puyo Puyo Details the entirety of the series and all of its spinoffs
- Puyo Nexus, a website about Puyo Puyo, including a Wiki.
- FloboPuyo, a Puyo Puyo clone.
- Xerodox Games, the home of the Puyo Puyo fangame, Puyo Puyo Compendium.
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