- JP release: 31st October 1997
- NA release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Compile
- Publisher: Compile
- N64 Magazine Score: 80%
My main experience with Puyo Puyo is Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine – a game I couldn’t enjoy because of colourblind issues, so I was dreading playing this one. However, in the options, you can adjust the colours of the different Puyo, even going as far as completely greyscale and relying on the (a bit too minor when the game goes fast) different shapes completely.
With the options set to how I like them…I actually really enjoy Puyo Puyo. It’s geared towards a 1v1 setup, as creating sets of four will send bad beans to the opponent’s screen – but if you score combos, you’ll send a load at once. This creates a risk factor as you can try to set up elaborate combos (something I’m not good at) but wait too long, and your opponents will scupper your plans with some bad blocks.
The story mode has you battling lots of colourful characters as you get amusing little snippets before each match, with some nice animation. It’s all very silly, but also quite entertaining, with lots of unfortunate events happening to absolutely everyone. Of course, every problem in life can be solved by a Puyo Puyo battle.
There’s also a good amount of different modes. Puzzle Puyo is essentially a training mode, giving you a guide to help you set up combos, and you can then test out these skills in a mission mode, which gives you tasks but you have to figure it out yourself. There are also endless, tournament and versus modes, giving you plenty to deal with.
I have not played any later Puyo Puyo games so I don’t know how this compares, but I found this to be genuinely entertaining and it was a blast to play.
Fave
It’s Puyo Puyo, still one of the finest competitive puzzlers to ever come between friends and have them growling under their breath at each other.
Zy Nicholson, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or remaster?
A collection and official localisation of the earlier Puyo Puyo games would be nice.
Official ways to get the game.
While there are newer Puyo Puyo games, this particular version is not available anywhere.
Europe
Japan
North America
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Played thru this game a bit, finished easy but only got so far in normal mode because I am not the greatest at these kinds of games. But overall I give it an 8/10. It’s a shame it never got released in the west . I enjoyed the cutesy chibi anime aesthetic, cutscenes and voice acting and while like I said I’m not great at these games, it is easy to understand and pick up and play, just mastering it will take a lot of practice and time. But yea solid time for me
The Sun mechanic in this game is completely unique to this third entry in the Puyo Puyo series (outside of Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary, which allows you to mix & match rules from multiple series entries); as it proved somewhat divisive amongst series fans. The name “Puyo Puyo Sun” is also a stupid Japanese pun, since “san” is the Japanese word for the number “three”.
Also there is a modern re-release of this game… kinda… as a cut-down multiplayer only port of this game was included as part of the Mega Drive Mini 2.
Finally, this game was originally made for the SEGA Titan Video Arcade board (which is essentially a SEGA Saturn that runs games off of cartridges rather than CDs) and got its first console release for, unsurprisingly, the SEGA Saturn; making this one of the only former SEGA Saturn exclusive games to ever get ported to the N64.
BTW @Cube, I’m pretty certain that none of that swearing was in the original game; since you’re playing the fan translated version (the cutscenes did not have voice acting originally, not even in Japanese). A fine example of why I tend to avoid unofficial translations, even when they’re reportedly well done. They never manage to properly capture the original developer’s intent.