Puyo Puyo review by Andrew Byus

When I bought my Neo Geo Pocket, I did it for two reasons. Number one, I was sick of Nintendo's crappy advertising of their new color Gameboy, while I still had the monochrome one. Number two was the fighting games, not to mention the talks of Capcom supporting the system. Don't get me wrong: I love KOF, but something was missing. I remember whenever I got bored, I would reach for my Tetris game and score a couple million lines. KOF, Metal Slug and Pacman were all solid and great games, but they did get a bit repetitive over time(Well, KOF's not repetitive, but it's too damn easy!) Upon hearing SNK vs. Capcom would be pushed back, I decided to try something new: a puzzle game! But which one? I had three to choose from. I never really caught onto the Bust-A-Move craze, so that was out. Puzzle Link looked really cheesy, plus I saw the import version for only $14.99. That left Puyo Pop, a game I'd only heard about from Japan, where it was rather popular(They even made an RPG out of it!) Not only that, but I had heard about it's similarities to Tetris. I put down my $30, popped the cartridge in at work and...well, read on. (BTW: I say Rugal, Shingo, Yuri and (please...please let me be right!) Blue Mary are the hidden characters in SNK vs. Capcom: The Fighting Game)

Graphics A+
In a word, gorgeous! The opening movie rivaled the one in KOF. Arle(the main girl) is cute and the characters she plays against all have a certain charm to them(Very Japanese in nature, though) The puyos are very colorful and you have the option to adjust the playing area, as well as the shape of the puyos(I only use the regular Tetris-style blocks...I'm a purist!) Also, the little creature in the game looks suspiciously like Pikachu. Puzzle games shouldn't look this good, but this one is just plain nice!

Sound B+
Two problems here. #1 is the voices just get annoying. That's right...VOICES! They took me by complete surprise-Since there weren't any in KOF, I figured the cartridges couldn't support them. I was wrong, but since they're in a very high-pitched Japanese, I have to play with the sound down, to keep people from staring at me. To be honest, they get on my nerves, but I'm just relieved the cartridges can handle the(Can anyone say SNK vs. Capcom) Even if I wanted to play with them, you have to make a choice of background music or the voices. I usually go with BGM, but overall, it's not anything huge(The forth level of the tower's BGM rocks!)

Gameplay AA++
Did I say Tetris was my favorite puzzle game before? Well, maybe it's been because I just got tired of it after 10 years, but I have a new champion. Puyo Pop's gameplay is unbelievable. Imagine Puzzle Fighter without the activation gems and you're almost there. The point is that different colored puyo, in pairs of two will fall into your jar and whenever you match four in a row up, they'll disappear and your opponent will get bombs dropped onto his side. This continues until one side completely fills up. Simple, yet incredibly deep. The freedom you're given sets up various combos, to make your opponent squirm, as a couple thousand bombs drop into his jar and the ability to turn a lost game into a comback at the blink of an eye. This is SO much better than Puzzle Fighter(I've died so many times, waiting for the right color activation gems to show up!) Also, if you mess up with the placement of a piece, you're not screwed, like in Tetris. You can just build around the piece and, if you're good, link it into a combo, to hit your opponent hard. Also, this game is NOT easy. The first two opponents in normal mode are pansies, but from that point on, especially if you're new to puzzle games like this, you WILL get your ass handed to you on a silver platter. I haven't even ventured into hard mode yet. The computer opponents are just too good, blocking your combos whenever they want and pulling bombs outta their ass at random...and I love it! Finally, a game I can sit back and vegitate over, without worrying about beating it. With each game, I improve and I'm constantly trying out new strategies. The final thing I want to mention is how well the controls works. In the third level of the tower, the game becomes strictly a twitch-experience and the analog stick handles it better than the Gameboy's directional pad ever could. Also, you have about a split second before the pieces actually land, giving you time to adjust their positioning. Therefore, it's not like Tetris, where you scream when a piece ends up in the wrong spot. Here, the only one you can blame is yourself!(Once, I was playing this at work and I messed up SOO bad, I just screamed out the F-word, WITH a ton of customers in the store!...But that's how competetive this game is!)

Overall A+
Well, if you read the review, you know what I think. Bottom line: This game is close to perfect. The option to play with the voices AND the BGM would make it better, but who cares? Puzzle fans, don't miss this. Anyone who owns a Neo Geo Pocket...get this. Although it's not as mainstream, it's just as good as, if not better than, Tetris.