Back in the 90s, I was VERY much into anime and Japanese pop culture in general. And I had a GameBoy Color Pikachu (where IS that?), and hung out at the anime store in Fremont, California, eagerly looking for new games.
That’s how I came across Sega’s Puyo Puyo for the first time.
Puyo Puyo is in the class of games inspired by Tetris. Stuff falls from the top of the screen, you fit it into stuff on the bottom of the screen, stuff disappears, don’t let stuff reach the top of the screen.
But in Puyo Puyo, you weren’t playing by yourself. You were playing against a hilarious band of opponents each with a goofy back-story like Street Fighter, except… weird. When you made a pretty cool combo, you would send a bunch of trash to their side of the screen, and vice versa.
Anyway, it was over the top funny and over the top fun and hella addicting. And while following up on some Puyo-fueled nostalgia, I came across a Puyo Puyo fan site which reveals that the latest game in the series, Puyo Puyo 7 which, as well as having new gameplay modes, includes modes duplicating the gameplay from previous games in the series, well…
I have no idea if this is coming to the US in some form. But if it isn’t, it’s worth the import. Really. Fun, addicting and quick gameplay — what’s not to like?
