187. Puyo Puyo (Compile, Famicom, 1993)

I think I've been too hard on Puyo Puyo as a concept and I just needed to play more puzzle games. I'll often compare other puzzle games on this blog unfavorably to Puyo Puyo, but now after playing the original article, I have to reassess my comparisons. The Famicom version of Puyo Puyo is actually a port of the 1991 disk system version with slightly altered graphics and music.

For starters, It's just satisfying the way the puyos stick together. There are hints of where the series would eventually go: you do get a selectable special move ability), but for a 1993 Famicom game it's pretty barebones. After playing through Tetris 2 + Bombliss and Wario no Mori, the static black menu screen with limited options really feels like a step back.

The best part of Puyo Puyo is the cool mission mode where you have various objectives like clearing all red puyos, or clearing a full row of 6 puyos, or chaining a certain number of puyos. The missions each feel distinct, and each one only takes about 30 seconds once you've figured it out, so it's hard to get burnt out. There is also a more standard endless mode, but it just feels like practice for the "real" mission mode.

4/5, a barebones puzzle game with a fun central mechanic