I'm still over here wasting my money on Super Famicom carts, and I've now entered the "only buy CIBs" phase of my illness, which you might note is a breath away from being terminal. Unfortunately, I also suffer a debilitating comorbidity where I habitually buy Puyo Puyo games. My family has begun discussing hospice options.
I didn't have a great time with Puyo Puyo Sun for the Sega Saturn and found it to be somewhat dull given how flat its difficulty curve is. Its Summertime aesthetics keep it on the shelf, but if I want to actually play a Puyo Puyo game, I'm more likely to throw in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, which I find to be more challenging. Brutal, even. In fact, there's a good chance my perception of Puyo Puyo has been warped by Mean Bean and it's rendered me incapable of valuing the series beyond its capability for dickishness.
Well, good news, Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix is pretty dickish, and that means it's a good Puyo game! I'm not having fun if I'm not stuck on the final boss, watching junk pieces come down with precision timing to choke off combos I've been setting up. Oh, half the screen is full now - that's nice, this match has only been going on for ummm.... ten seconds.
That's just what I like to call peak Puyo. Because you're always playing at the peak of your well.
I'm not being entirely fair to Remix here, because I do think its difficulty pacing is overall better than Mean Bean Machine. I was able to beat the game on normal difficulty with some perseverance, whereas Mean Bean has been an unclimbable wall on any difficulty level other than easy. I think this actually puts Remix in the sweet spot for me. Just hard enough to be engaging but not so insane as to be unwinnable.
It's also just cute as hell. Arle is such a great character, I genuinely felt bad beating Cait Sith. It's a shame I can't read any of this dialog, but the animations and overall presentation of Remix is fun. Even the box itself looks good, the manual is packed full of great character art, and it came with a foil sticker to celebrate the first printing that I swear hasn't been touched. I managed to grab a pristine copy for about 27$, which is only a few bucks more than a complete copy of the base Puyo Puyo Tsuu will run you, which lacks the expert mode and practice course introduced in Remix. Not a bad price if you're looking to build your own CIB collection, and it's just a damn fun game, too.
I didn't have a great time with Puyo Puyo Sun for the Sega Saturn and found it to be somewhat dull given how flat its difficulty curve is. Its Summertime aesthetics keep it on the shelf, but if I want to actually play a Puyo Puyo game, I'm more likely to throw in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, which I find to be more challenging. Brutal, even. In fact, there's a good chance my perception of Puyo Puyo has been warped by Mean Bean and it's rendered me incapable of valuing the series beyond its capability for dickishness.
Well, good news, Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix is pretty dickish, and that means it's a good Puyo game! I'm not having fun if I'm not stuck on the final boss, watching junk pieces come down with precision timing to choke off combos I've been setting up. Oh, half the screen is full now - that's nice, this match has only been going on for ummm.... ten seconds.
That's just what I like to call peak Puyo. Because you're always playing at the peak of your well.
I'm not being entirely fair to Remix here, because I do think its difficulty pacing is overall better than Mean Bean Machine. I was able to beat the game on normal difficulty with some perseverance, whereas Mean Bean has been an unclimbable wall on any difficulty level other than easy. I think this actually puts Remix in the sweet spot for me. Just hard enough to be engaging but not so insane as to be unwinnable.
It's also just cute as hell. Arle is such a great character, I genuinely felt bad beating Cait Sith. It's a shame I can't read any of this dialog, but the animations and overall presentation of Remix is fun. Even the box itself looks good, the manual is packed full of great character art, and it came with a foil sticker to celebrate the first printing that I swear hasn't been touched. I managed to grab a pristine copy for about 27$, which is only a few bucks more than a complete copy of the base Puyo Puyo Tsuu will run you, which lacks the expert mode and practice course introduced in Remix. Not a bad price if you're looking to build your own CIB collection, and it's just a damn fun game, too.
2 Comments
@MobileSpider I set a price threshold for myself of 50 dollars, if I can get a game I want for that or under I'll go for it. Thankfully, SFC games are still affordable enough that a significant amount can be found for under that, CIB. Whenever I can't find one I want, I'll go loose and use a universal game case and custom cover. Unfortunately, COVID took out the manufacturer of universal game cases, making them expensive if you can find them at all, so I blew a hundred damn dollars just to get ~30 of them, which should hopefully last me.
Point is, this hobby is all fucked. My repro guy apparently vanished and whether or not a loose or CIB game is more worthwhile boils down to pulling from a limited supply of blank clamshells and what condition I can find boxed games.
Point is, this hobby is all fucked. My repro guy apparently vanished and whether or not a loose or CIB game is more worthwhile boils down to pulling from a limited supply of blank clamshells and what condition I can find boxed games.
MobileSpider
5 months ago