Developer: Compile Publisher: Compile
Released: October 1997 7/10
After receiving two different paint jobs to bring the series stateside on 16-bit consoles — Kirby’s Avalanche and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine on SNES and Genesis, respectively — the third entry in Compile’s timeless color-matching puzzle game hit Japanese N64s in Fall 1997. With no form of Western release this time, our only way to experience either Puyo Puyo title on the Nintendo 64 is in pure, uncut form, including all the characters, voices, and cartoony visuals the series can offer.
It really begs the comparison to the Bust-A-Move titles, another single screen puzzle series that focuses largely on matching colors to clear your screen while flooding your opponents until one of you is overloaded. Bust-A-Move also boasts a roster of cutesy characters to represent each player that, in single-player mode, interact in short, irreverent cutscenes that shoehorn their way into a puzzling showdown between them. Puyo Puyo certainly isn’t short on these, nor is it even a tiny bit serious about the storyline it’s telling. In Sun, the story revolves around Satan (yes, Satan) trying to create a tropical paradise for himself and some scantily-clad women to chill and tan on by manipulating the intensity of the Sun. When this obviously goes horribly for everyone on earth, it takes some clever Puyoing to stop him, somehow.
It’s obviously completely unimportant to have a story other than to justify the visual style and characters, but the tropical aesthetic does contribute pretty well to something that does matter for your enjoyment: the soundtrack. You’ll naturally be hearing a lot of the same stuff on repeat with only so many different ways to set up a game, but the setting does push the tunes selection somewhat in the direction of reggae and salsa, but an overall eclectic mix and a surprising number of total tracks also prove to be a highlight of the release.
Gameplay is largely the same as in previous Puyo Puyo titles, with one added feature in the form of Sun Puyo. Sun Puyo will increase the amount of nuisance (garbage) Puyo you will send to your opponent when they are cleared, and fall in spots indicated by beams of light in the column they are about to drop. Besides that, it’s pretty standard, and winning is all about planning ahead and setting up chains to overwhelm your opponent in one fell swoop. Other game modes include both a one-player and two-player puzzle mode to clear pre-set boards, but the fast-paced nature of the traditional head-to-head competition makes this a series that benefits most from the interaction of the two playfields.
The N64 has no shortage of representation from great puzzle game series, and Puyo Puyo has the benefit of two, albeit both in Japanese exclusive releases. Puyo Puyo Sun 64 has all the things you need to get enjoyment out of the series and is much easier to track down, so it’s an easy recommendation even if the formula stays the same across numerous releases over the years.
Additional Information
Players: 1-4
Saves: Cartridge
Compatible With: Rumble Pak
