I've always prefered a game in its original form. So I always play this version over Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Kirby's Avalanche. Not to hate on the AoStH cast (well, half of them are one hit wonders who only appear on the first ep of that cartoon), but the cast here are far more colorful. And Mean Bean Machine doesn't even seem to have a protagonist. Unlike in Puyo Puyo where we're obviously using Arle for the puzzle matches. The game itself is a fun color matching combo making puzzle game. Might take time getting used to if you're more used to games like Tetris or Dr Mario. One other thing I must mention is the music in Puyo Puyo alone are all bangers.

I don't think I will ever be able to forgive the West for robbing us of the Mado Monogatari series and its way more successful spin-off franchise , Puyo Puyo. While I will always have a nostalgic fondness for Mean Bean Machine (the first Puyo Puyo I experienced as a kid that weirdly tied a puzzle game with a cartoon whose dubious quality satiated my obsession with the blue blur at the time), the Arle gang and its mythological aesthetic were and always will be the perfect coat of paint to contextualize the absurd premise of competitive block puzzle gaming.

Thanks to the Sega Ages collection, it's now possible to experience Puyo Puyo translated in its glorious original form. Do you get much more out of it that you wouldn't by playing the untranslated version? Not really, besides some cute quips and banter that you can now understand at the start of each battle. But man, do these characters look and sound fantastic in 16 bit. Considering how the franchise would later evolve its presentation and gameplay, the original Puyo Puyo holds a certain quaintness and simplicity to it that makes it such a fun weird little title to revisit.

It's also a stark reminder of how a seemingly simple change to a concept can tremendously improve it and establish a formula for the rest of the series to iterate upon. This little change wouldn't happen until its revelatory sequel tho, Puyo Puyo Tsu, who introduced the ability to counter your opponents attacks, a mechanic the original Puyo Puyo lacked and would devolve every single battle into a "who is the quickest to make a combo that will fill the opponent's screen with a mountain of garbage puyos impossible to eliminate" match.

Better things would come for the Puyo Puyo series, but this is nice, isn't it?

https://youtu.be/FVe1Y6TcARc

You ever played that one Sonic spin-off on the Genesis known as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine? That one was a bit of a weird one, wasn’t it? It played pretty much unlike any other Sonic game before and since, featured these weird orbs that you would match together, and had practically nothing to do with Dr. Robotnik or his goons, aside from them just appearing in the game. And you know what’s even weirder than that? Sonic wasn’t the only series to have this kind of game. Kirby also had a game called Kirby’s Avalanche, which functioned pretty much exactly like that game, except this time with Kirby characters, and was released on the SNES rather than the Genesis. But wait, why exactly are these two titles so similar? What the hell is going on here?! Well, for any of you who grew up with either of those games and had held these questions in your mind for a very long time, then let me be the first to tell you that those two games were actually alterations of the first in what would become a long-running, extremely popular puzzle franchise, Puyo Puyo.

Like a lot of others, I did first discover this series through Mean Bean Machine, as well as Kirby’s Avalanche to an extent, and aside from those games, I had never really had any true experience with Puyo Puyo before. I had been aware of the series for a while, being somewhat interested in it, but not too much enough to the point where I wanted to give it the time of day. But, lately, I had been wanting to check out more classic puzzle games, rather then simply just only playing Dr. Mario and a little bit of Tetris every now and then, so I decided to give the first game a shot. So, after having my first proper experience with Puyo Puyo, rather then just confusingly playing those other two games as a kid and wondering where the platforming went, I found the first game to be… good. Yeah, just simply good. It can be pretty fun for what it is, but there are some things holding it back from being a game that I would want to go back to, both because of the game and myself.

The story is pretty simple, just being about this Dark Prince wanting to take over the world, and this random girl being the only person who is able to stop him… by playing a series of puzzle games against a bunch of random people (I mean, how else would YOU save the world?), the graphics are pretty good, having plenty of colors to admire, and plenty of variety when it comes to the characters and their expressions, but the main grid for the matches does get pretty boring to stare at, which is to be expected, but still, the music is actually pretty good, giving you plenty of enjoyable tunes to bob your head to, and even ones that are pretty intense for a game about stacking goofy-ass slimes on top of each other, the control is… well, I mean, it’s a puzzle game, so the control is pretty basic, but it still works well enough, even if laying down the puyos down can feel pretty stiff at times, and the gameplay is very similar to other puzzle games at the time, but it manages to be different enough to where it stands out from others, and it manages to be pretty fun at points.

The game is a puzzle game, where you take control of Arle Nadja, go up against 13 different opponents of varying types, sizes, and species, stack up four puyo or more of the same colorto rack up points and combos to fight back against your opponents, keep your stack from reaching the top of the screen so that you can keep delivering the smackdown onto your opponents, and cry yourself to sleep when you realize that you will never be as good as others who know these games like the back of their hand. Or at least, that last one is how I typically react to a pretty hard match of this game. So yeah, when compared to many other games in this series, this game is pretty basic, which is to be expected, given how it did lay the groundwork for every single other title to come since, and improve on it in plenty of ways. With that being said, as someone who only has experience with this version of Puyo Puyo, I can still say that I had a pretty good time with it for the time I spent with it.

There is a reason why franchises like Tetris, Dr. Mario, and this one have managed to last as long as they have, because they are able to take their very simple concepts, experiment with said concepts in numerous ways, and pump out installment after installment that changes up the formula in a way that could be seen as either a new standard way to play said games, or just simply a weird experiment that was a one-and-done thing. Of course, for every improved sequel to come afterwards, they all have the original game as the primary source for their development and success, so nailing a formula on your first go-around in a puzzle series is REALLY important, and in terms of Puyo Puyo, I would say it managed to do this pretty well. It is pretty addicting and satisfying to get the hang of, laying down these puyos, building them up, and unleashing a set of combos to absolutely DECIMATE your opponent, which doesn’t happen all the time for me, but when it does, it does make you want to keep going and see how much more you can keep this streak up until you have eventually had their fill. Not to mention, with several modes available to choose from, such as a multiplayer and endless mode, there is plenty of different ways that you can experience the game just in case single player gets a little stale.

Of course though, if you are an affluent fan of Puyo Puyo, then you may rarely ever come back to this title when choosing a game to play. While I myself haven’t played any other game in the series, I have seen a few of them in action, like Puyo Pop Fever and Puyo Puyo Tetris, and based on what I have seen there, they have managed to expand the game in plenty of ways, to the point where, like with other games like Bomberman and Super Mario Kart, it makes it very hard to come back to the original in comparison. Also, this may be the primary reason for me as to why I won’t go back to this game that soon, but… I completely suck ass at it. Yeah, obviously, a newcomer isn’t going to be the best at this type of game, but again, I was playing Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche years before I had the original game, so it is safe to say I have had plenty of time spent with this game to where I could get somewhat good at it. And yet… I just can’t. I have tried out certain strategies, including what I learned online to help me out, and it did work for a little bit, allowing me to beat six of the stages in the main story mode, but after that, it didn’t go anywhere from there, and just ended in loss after loss after loss.

Overall, despite how other titles improved upon the basic formula after this, and despite how terrible I am at the game, I would still say the original Puyo Puyo can be a fun time, and if this was your only way of experiencing the franchise, it can provide hours of entertainment, especially if you have a friend to face off against. I would recommend it for fans of the series, as well as those who are fans of puzzle games in general, but for everyone else, you’d be better off sticking to later titles in the series. But anyway, with all that out of the way, since Sonic and Kirby got Puyo Puyoed, what other game series could get this treatment? Mario? Zelda?.......... Mortal Kombat? Hey, if Street Fighter can get their own puzzle games and work, then I don’t see why Mortal Kombat can’t do the same. Just, you know, lean into the ridiculousness and don’t make another Mythologies or Special Forces.

Game #354