Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
Part 1: Origins
What is Puyo Puyo?
Puyo Puyo is a long running series of Match-4 puzzle games. This year, 2016, marks the series’ 25th anniversary, and in my opinion, it is SEGA’s most woefully ignored gem.
Your goal in Puyo Puyo is to match four puyo/blobs/beans of the same color. When that happens, the puyo will pop, potentially cause a chain reaction, and dump an increasingly devastating amount of garbage on your opponent. It’s easier said than done though!
https://youtu.be/HE6P9UtJ4X0?t=84
The first Puyo Puyo game came out in 1991, but it was only released in Japan. If the graphics look familiar to you, it’s because the game was reskinned in America and Europe as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche (Kirby’s Ghost Trap in Europe).
As was the case for many classic game series, Puyo Puyo 1 and its western reskins didn’t nail the formula down on its first attempt. The sequel, Puyo Puyo 2 (also known as Tsu or Tsuu), introduced a counter mechanic that lets you defend yourself from garbage before it falls on you. This mechanic opened the door for tactics beyond pure offense and single-handedly revolutionized the strategy involved in the game. At one point, the game became the hypest shit in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbf-Z2IgnVY
Puyopuyo 2 3rd match grand final in 1997 Japan
Puyo tournaments are still regularly held on the big stage today. Currently, the most popular major for Puyo Puyo is the Red Bull 5G. Puyo Puyo has been one of the 5 games in their lineup for many years now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgL1aT2sF0E
Compile Heart and SEGA have released many new Puyo games with increasingly convoluted gimmicks and gameplay mechanics in the years since 1991. But despite their best efforts, only Puyo Puyo 2 has stood the test of time, and it remains the tournament standard even after 23 years.
Unfortunately, very few Puyo games were released in the west, so many of us never got the chance to learn of the series’ brilliance. If you’d like to learn more about the game’s history, read the Introduction at Puyo Nexus. Hardcore Gaming 101 also has a comprehensive writeup about the many games in the series.
http://puyonexus.net/intro/
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/puyo/puyopuyo.htm
Part 2: Untold Puzzle Strategy
Unlike other popular VS puzzle games like Tetris and Puzzle League, the strategy involved in Puyo Puyo is logical and intuitive, yet deceptively complex and demanding. Really, no other puzzle game stands up to Puyo Puyo 2’s design purity.
Chaining
Let’s start off by talking about chaining. Like I mentioned before, your goal in Puyo Puyo is to match up 4 puyo of the same color. However, if you plan ahead and “stagger” the puyo in a specific way, you can make a chain reaction.
It’s important to make chains with many links because each link increases the chain’s total power nearly exponentially. The longer your chain, the more garbage you’ll bury your opponent under, and the higher the chance victory will be yours.
Here’s a video that illustrates how strong your chains get from extra links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soKV4msu5C4
Because of the exponential rise in damage per puyo, learning to chain is critical if you want to swiftly defeat your opponent.
Countering
In Puyo Puyo 1, the best strategy was to attempt to 5 chain as quickly as possible, because a 5 chain dealt a full screen of damage. It’s the minimum amount you need for a fatal strike. Puyo Puyo 1 didn’t have a counter rule, so sometimes you’d have shitshow matches where the game could actually end in a tie. You have to mash the rotate button really, really fast, and hope your opponent’s piece locks before yours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHWDjwc4yF4
In Puyo Puyo 2, that nonsense is no more. By setting off your own chain, you can counter and reduce the amount of garbage about to fall on you. And most importantly, if your overall chain power was stronger than your opponent’s, the overflow will be sent back!
With the introduction of a counter rule, Puyo Puyo 2 evolved into a complex competitive VS game that was decided completely by skill -- not by the number of fast-twitch fibers in your fingers.
Harassment and Reading
At this point you might be thinking, so what? Even with the counter rule, all you have to do in Puyo Puyo is make your biggest chain and overpower your opponent, right? At least, that’s how it seems like in theory. So how is Puyo Puyo any different from Tetris or Puzzle League, where all you do is crap out T-Spins and x13 Chains?
Well, if you’ve been paying attention, you might have noticed that both incoming garbage and your pieces come from the top of the screen. Therefore, incoming garbage can block off access to your puyo, if not outright kill you. In Puyo Puyo, building big chains is not enough. You have to defend your primary chain against quick attacks called harassments, and punish your opponent with precise and decisive harassment to gain the advantage.
Let me show you how those ideas would play out. First, you need to read your opponent to prepare for sneaky attacks. Otherwise, you’re going to experience some really shameful deaths.
Instead of styling, Player 1 should have realized that Player 2 had nothing. Player 1 would’ve won if he had set off the chain instead of being greedy.
If your chain is safe, you should try gaining the advantage by attacking weaknesses in your opponent’s chain, like unfinished links or a blocked trigger. One way you can gain the advantage is to snipe your opponent with a well-timed attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cThFmCord8A
You have to be careful though. If you use up too much resources in your attack and your opponent was prepared for it, you won’t be able to fight back. Read your opponent properly, and weigh the risks!
You can also use harassment to trap your opponent. If you cover your opponent’s access to their chain, you can follow up with another attack to finish them off. Or, you could just keep attacking to keep the pressure on.
Player 2 tanks a hit, and counterattacks before Player 1 can recover
Player 1 gets hit by a surprise attack
Poke War
Finally, you can use harassments to force your opponent’s hand. If you attack your opponent and they don’t have any defenses ready, they only have three options:
https://youtu.be/vqUf6mLWIbc
A good player will be employing these strategies against you too. Watch some pro-level videos, and you’ll see how high-level this puzzle game can get.
https://www.youtube.com/user/gearfirst/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/nicoimporter
https://www.youtube.com/user/bayoenfr/videos
Impressive, right? There’s just so many things in Puyo that you don’t consider in puzzle games. How big is the opponent’s chain? Is the opponent feeling confident? If I attack them now, are they skilled enough to defend in time? How well is the opponent reading my attacks? If I my attack whiffs, will I get locked into a fatal position?
I hope you’re surprised by this complexity and are interested in learning to play. Underneath Puyo Puyo’s cute exterior is a brutal puzzle fighter with tough decisions and crazy mindgames.
Part 3: Learning Puyo Puyo
Learning Puyo Puyo isn’t easy. Players who have been playing since the beginning are still developing their technique and improving to this day. It also requires a lot of courage and willpower to withstand getting trampled while you’re still learning the ropes. The good news is that the basic concepts are easy to pick up, so anyone can become mid-level very rapidly. Once you get the basics down, you too will realize just how much there is learn, and that Puyo Puyo is the ultimate puzzle game.
I won’t get into much detail here since there are many resources already available. The following is presented approximately in order of complexity, from simplest to most complicated.
How to play Puyo Puyo - Lesson 1: Concept of making chains (video)
An old GAF post about how to chain
An offbeat guide that teaches using “transitions first”
S2PID’s Puyo Nexus wiki guide
List of Chaining Forms
Like in any other game, the quickest way to improve is to practice your chains in endless mode and then test your mettle against players online.
Part 4: Which Puyo Games Should I Get?
There used to be a lot of ways to play Puyo Puyo online, but SEGA has dropped the ball recently. Still, here are the most common ways to play.
Puyo Puyo VS 2
Puyo Puyo VS 2 (PPVS2) is the most popular PC Puyo Puyo fangame. Ever since the official Puyo Puyo Fever and Puyo Puyo Tsu servers died, many top players have migrated to this platform.
Features:
Server: ds-net.jp
Western Puyo VS chatroom: #NeoGAF
Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary 3DS
An official game released back in 2011. Has loads of content, a pretty bang-up tutorial/lesson mode, and online multiplayer to boot. Its online is pretty active if you get on at the right time, but be prepared to get stomped by middle school girls with an unnatural lust for blood. You’ll have to import it and use a Japanese/Region Free 3DS. It was also released for the Wii/PSP/DS, but copies for those systems are difficult to come by these days (not to mention netplay for those SKUs are no longer functional).
Puyo Puyo Tetris PS4 / 3DS
The latest Puyo Puyo game, with Tetris that isn’t utterly broken like Ubisoft’s Tetris Ultimate!!!!!!!!!!! Like, even if you’re some anomaly who still hates puyo, you should import this game to support SEGA instead of Ubisoft and their abomination to gaming.
Word of mouth says PS4 has the most active online. The PS4 version also includes all the DLC, extra skins, character voices, and all the other random things you might care about. If you care about playing online, definitely don’t waste your time with the XB1 version. I mean, it’s an XBOX game in Japan. Come on.
NeoGAF OT for the PS4 and XB1 versions: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=944530
Menu Translations: http://www.windowscentral.com/puyo-puyo-tetris-guide
Mission Requirements Translation: http://www.gamefaqs.com/xboxone/832015-puyo-puyo-tetris/faqs/70996
SEGA 3D Classics Collection - Puyo Puyo 2
An upcoming rerelease of a bunch of retro SEGA games. Puyo Puyo 2 is included. The game itself isn’t translated, but it does come with a menu translation guide. Unfortunately, this game only has local multiplayer. But hey, beggers can’t be choosers :/
The game will be released on April 26, 2016.
3D Classics Collection OT: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1173746
Puyo Puyo Fever
SEGA’s 2004 attempt at a new style of Puyo games, and the last mainline Puyo game to ever grace the west. This game came out for almost every console available in its generation: PC, OG Xbox, PS2, GBA, DS, Dreamcast, Gamecube… only the PC version has an online mode though. Sort of. The official servers are dead, but there’s an IP to IP version of the game floating around. It’s very buggy though. There’s no reason to play this over Puyo Puyo VS 2 unless you really like the seizure-inducing graphics and poor English voice acting.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX - Puyo Puyo 39 minigame
The latest release of “Puyo Puyo” in the west. Kind of barebones. Tsu rules, local multiplayer only. But hey it’s vocaloid!!!
Part 5: Where can I find people to play with?
/r/puyopop has a discord chat set up. Invite link: https://discord.gg/0k41S8ARwvY2iTIQ.
There will usually be a PPVS2 chatroom on the ds-net.jp servers called “#NeoGAF”. You might be able to find some lurking players from Puyo Nexus who can help you learn to play Puyo.
If there’s interest in the game, we can try to organize some 10 Player party matches.
Part 6: Other Cool Stuff
Puyo Puyo!! Quest
SEGA’s most wildly successful mobile game for iOS and Android. Unfortunately neutered in the west as Cranky Food Friends. If real puzzle games are too hard for you, you should give Puyo Quest a shot. It’s kind of like PAD, but instead you trigger Puyo chains to attack. Say goodbye to your wallet.
Puyo Puyo Weiss Schwarz
A Puyo-themed expansion for the crossover anime TCG, Weiss Schwarz. You probably already play WS if you care about this.
Puyo Puyo!! Touch
The latest Puyo Puyo mobile game. It plays sort of like Candy Crush or Bejeweled, except you match 4 to make Puyo chains instead.
Chain Incantations
Whenever the characters in Puyo Puyo attack each other, they shout out crazy, Engrishy gibberish. It sounds like nonsense, but if you can translate them they’re actually very interesting. There are many references to mythology, science, and other languages. The suspicious bear-like character simply says “I love you” in five different languages when he attacks. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
http://klugheit.kitunebi.com/voice_e.html
Puyo Puyo Tetris GiantBomb Quick Look
Thanks to Jeff and Dan at GiantBomb, Puyo Puyo has gotten a little more western interest than it’s had in a while. We can’t really have a NeoGAF puyo thread without mentioning them, so here’s their Quick Look if you haven’t seen it yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XcLz7sUMXk
Special thanks to Raikoh89 for a lot/most of the groundwork in the OP
What is Puyo Puyo?
Puyo Puyo is a long running series of Match-4 puzzle games. This year, 2016, marks the series’ 25th anniversary, and in my opinion, it is SEGA’s most woefully ignored gem.
Your goal in Puyo Puyo is to match four puyo/blobs/beans of the same color. When that happens, the puyo will pop, potentially cause a chain reaction, and dump an increasingly devastating amount of garbage on your opponent. It’s easier said than done though!
https://youtu.be/HE6P9UtJ4X0?t=84
The first Puyo Puyo game came out in 1991, but it was only released in Japan. If the graphics look familiar to you, it’s because the game was reskinned in America and Europe as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche (Kirby’s Ghost Trap in Europe).
As was the case for many classic game series, Puyo Puyo 1 and its western reskins didn’t nail the formula down on its first attempt. The sequel, Puyo Puyo 2 (also known as Tsu or Tsuu), introduced a counter mechanic that lets you defend yourself from garbage before it falls on you. This mechanic opened the door for tactics beyond pure offense and single-handedly revolutionized the strategy involved in the game. At one point, the game became the hypest shit in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbf-Z2IgnVY
Puyopuyo 2 3rd match grand final in 1997 Japan
Puyo tournaments are still regularly held on the big stage today. Currently, the most popular major for Puyo Puyo is the Red Bull 5G. Puyo Puyo has been one of the 5 games in their lineup for many years now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgL1aT2sF0E
Compile Heart and SEGA have released many new Puyo games with increasingly convoluted gimmicks and gameplay mechanics in the years since 1991. But despite their best efforts, only Puyo Puyo 2 has stood the test of time, and it remains the tournament standard even after 23 years.
Unfortunately, very few Puyo games were released in the west, so many of us never got the chance to learn of the series’ brilliance. If you’d like to learn more about the game’s history, read the Introduction at Puyo Nexus. Hardcore Gaming 101 also has a comprehensive writeup about the many games in the series.
http://puyonexus.net/intro/
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/puyo/puyopuyo.htm
Part 2: Untold Puzzle Strategy
Unlike other popular VS puzzle games like Tetris and Puzzle League, the strategy involved in Puyo Puyo is logical and intuitive, yet deceptively complex and demanding. Really, no other puzzle game stands up to Puyo Puyo 2’s design purity.
Chaining
Let’s start off by talking about chaining. Like I mentioned before, your goal in Puyo Puyo is to match up 4 puyo of the same color. However, if you plan ahead and “stagger” the puyo in a specific way, you can make a chain reaction.
It’s important to make chains with many links because each link increases the chain’s total power nearly exponentially. The longer your chain, the more garbage you’ll bury your opponent under, and the higher the chance victory will be yours.
Here’s a video that illustrates how strong your chains get from extra links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soKV4msu5C4
Because of the exponential rise in damage per puyo, learning to chain is critical if you want to swiftly defeat your opponent.
Countering
In Puyo Puyo 1, the best strategy was to attempt to 5 chain as quickly as possible, because a 5 chain dealt a full screen of damage. It’s the minimum amount you need for a fatal strike. Puyo Puyo 1 didn’t have a counter rule, so sometimes you’d have shitshow matches where the game could actually end in a tie. You have to mash the rotate button really, really fast, and hope your opponent’s piece locks before yours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHWDjwc4yF4
In Puyo Puyo 2, that nonsense is no more. By setting off your own chain, you can counter and reduce the amount of garbage about to fall on you. And most importantly, if your overall chain power was stronger than your opponent’s, the overflow will be sent back!
With the introduction of a counter rule, Puyo Puyo 2 evolved into a complex competitive VS game that was decided completely by skill -- not by the number of fast-twitch fibers in your fingers.
Harassment and Reading
At this point you might be thinking, so what? Even with the counter rule, all you have to do in Puyo Puyo is make your biggest chain and overpower your opponent, right? At least, that’s how it seems like in theory. So how is Puyo Puyo any different from Tetris or Puzzle League, where all you do is crap out T-Spins and x13 Chains?
Well, if you’ve been paying attention, you might have noticed that both incoming garbage and your pieces come from the top of the screen. Therefore, incoming garbage can block off access to your puyo, if not outright kill you. In Puyo Puyo, building big chains is not enough. You have to defend your primary chain against quick attacks called harassments, and punish your opponent with precise and decisive harassment to gain the advantage.
Let me show you how those ideas would play out. First, you need to read your opponent to prepare for sneaky attacks. Otherwise, you’re going to experience some really shameful deaths.
Instead of styling, Player 1 should have realized that Player 2 had nothing. Player 1 would’ve won if he had set off the chain instead of being greedy.
If your chain is safe, you should try gaining the advantage by attacking weaknesses in your opponent’s chain, like unfinished links or a blocked trigger. One way you can gain the advantage is to snipe your opponent with a well-timed attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cThFmCord8A
You have to be careful though. If you use up too much resources in your attack and your opponent was prepared for it, you won’t be able to fight back. Read your opponent properly, and weigh the risks!
You can also use harassment to trap your opponent. If you cover your opponent’s access to their chain, you can follow up with another attack to finish them off. Or, you could just keep attacking to keep the pressure on.
Player 2 tanks a hit, and counterattacks before Player 1 can recover
Player 1 gets hit by a surprise attack
Poke War
Finally, you can use harassments to force your opponent’s hand. If you attack your opponent and they don’t have any defenses ready, they only have three options:
- Accept death, if they got sniped at a really weak moment
- Tank the hit, and hope they can untrap themselves before you finish them off.
- Set off their primary chain and hope you can’t catch up.
https://youtu.be/vqUf6mLWIbc
A good player will be employing these strategies against you too. Watch some pro-level videos, and you’ll see how high-level this puzzle game can get.
https://www.youtube.com/user/gearfirst/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/nicoimporter
https://www.youtube.com/user/bayoenfr/videos
Impressive, right? There’s just so many things in Puyo that you don’t consider in puzzle games. How big is the opponent’s chain? Is the opponent feeling confident? If I attack them now, are they skilled enough to defend in time? How well is the opponent reading my attacks? If I my attack whiffs, will I get locked into a fatal position?
I hope you’re surprised by this complexity and are interested in learning to play. Underneath Puyo Puyo’s cute exterior is a brutal puzzle fighter with tough decisions and crazy mindgames.
Part 3: Learning Puyo Puyo
Learning Puyo Puyo isn’t easy. Players who have been playing since the beginning are still developing their technique and improving to this day. It also requires a lot of courage and willpower to withstand getting trampled while you’re still learning the ropes. The good news is that the basic concepts are easy to pick up, so anyone can become mid-level very rapidly. Once you get the basics down, you too will realize just how much there is learn, and that Puyo Puyo is the ultimate puzzle game.
I won’t get into much detail here since there are many resources already available. The following is presented approximately in order of complexity, from simplest to most complicated.
How to play Puyo Puyo - Lesson 1: Concept of making chains (video)
An old GAF post about how to chain
An offbeat guide that teaches using “transitions first”
S2PID’s Puyo Nexus wiki guide
List of Chaining Forms
Like in any other game, the quickest way to improve is to practice your chains in endless mode and then test your mettle against players online.
Part 4: Which Puyo Games Should I Get?
There used to be a lot of ways to play Puyo Puyo online, but SEGA has dropped the ball recently. Still, here are the most common ways to play.
Puyo Puyo VS 2
Puyo Puyo VS 2 (PPVS2) is the most popular PC Puyo Puyo fangame. Ever since the official Puyo Puyo Fever and Puyo Puyo Tsu servers died, many top players have migrated to this platform.
Features:
- Free, multiplatform (Available for Windows, OSX, Linux)
- Rulesets: Tsu (competition), Fever, Endless Fever
- 10 Player Online rooms (more than any official game). If your computer can handle it, you can even have a 999 Player offline match against CPUs.
- Lots of mods. You can even make your own mods and animations! http://puyonexus.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1878
Server: ds-net.jp
Western Puyo VS chatroom: #NeoGAF
Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary 3DS
An official game released back in 2011. Has loads of content, a pretty bang-up tutorial/lesson mode, and online multiplayer to boot. Its online is pretty active if you get on at the right time, but be prepared to get stomped by middle school girls with an unnatural lust for blood. You’ll have to import it and use a Japanese/Region Free 3DS. It was also released for the Wii/PSP/DS, but copies for those systems are difficult to come by these days (not to mention netplay for those SKUs are no longer functional).
Puyo Puyo Tetris PS4 / 3DS
The latest Puyo Puyo game, with Tetris that isn’t utterly broken like Ubisoft’s Tetris Ultimate!!!!!!!!!!! Like, even if you’re some anomaly who still hates puyo, you should import this game to support SEGA instead of Ubisoft and their abomination to gaming.
Word of mouth says PS4 has the most active online. The PS4 version also includes all the DLC, extra skins, character voices, and all the other random things you might care about. If you care about playing online, definitely don’t waste your time with the XB1 version. I mean, it’s an XBOX game in Japan. Come on.
NeoGAF OT for the PS4 and XB1 versions: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=944530
Menu Translations: http://www.windowscentral.com/puyo-puyo-tetris-guide
Mission Requirements Translation: http://www.gamefaqs.com/xboxone/832015-puyo-puyo-tetris/faqs/70996
SEGA 3D Classics Collection - Puyo Puyo 2
An upcoming rerelease of a bunch of retro SEGA games. Puyo Puyo 2 is included. The game itself isn’t translated, but it does come with a menu translation guide. Unfortunately, this game only has local multiplayer. But hey, beggers can’t be choosers :/
The game will be released on April 26, 2016.
3D Classics Collection OT: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1173746
Puyo Puyo Fever
SEGA’s 2004 attempt at a new style of Puyo games, and the last mainline Puyo game to ever grace the west. This game came out for almost every console available in its generation: PC, OG Xbox, PS2, GBA, DS, Dreamcast, Gamecube… only the PC version has an online mode though. Sort of. The official servers are dead, but there’s an IP to IP version of the game floating around. It’s very buggy though. There’s no reason to play this over Puyo Puyo VS 2 unless you really like the seizure-inducing graphics and poor English voice acting.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX - Puyo Puyo 39 minigame
The latest release of “Puyo Puyo” in the west. Kind of barebones. Tsu rules, local multiplayer only. But hey it’s vocaloid!!!
Part 5: Where can I find people to play with?
/r/puyopop has a discord chat set up. Invite link: https://discord.gg/0k41S8ARwvY2iTIQ.
There will usually be a PPVS2 chatroom on the ds-net.jp servers called “#NeoGAF”. You might be able to find some lurking players from Puyo Nexus who can help you learn to play Puyo.
If there’s interest in the game, we can try to organize some 10 Player party matches.
Part 6: Other Cool Stuff
Puyo Puyo!! Quest
SEGA’s most wildly successful mobile game for iOS and Android. Unfortunately neutered in the west as Cranky Food Friends. If real puzzle games are too hard for you, you should give Puyo Quest a shot. It’s kind of like PAD, but instead you trigger Puyo chains to attack. Say goodbye to your wallet.
Puyo Puyo Weiss Schwarz
A Puyo-themed expansion for the crossover anime TCG, Weiss Schwarz. You probably already play WS if you care about this.
Puyo Puyo!! Touch
The latest Puyo Puyo mobile game. It plays sort of like Candy Crush or Bejeweled, except you match 4 to make Puyo chains instead.
Chain Incantations
Whenever the characters in Puyo Puyo attack each other, they shout out crazy, Engrishy gibberish. It sounds like nonsense, but if you can translate them they’re actually very interesting. There are many references to mythology, science, and other languages. The suspicious bear-like character simply says “I love you” in five different languages when he attacks. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
http://klugheit.kitunebi.com/voice_e.html
Puyo Puyo Tetris GiantBomb Quick Look
Thanks to Jeff and Dan at GiantBomb, Puyo Puyo has gotten a little more western interest than it’s had in a while. We can’t really have a NeoGAF puyo thread without mentioning them, so here’s their Quick Look if you haven’t seen it yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XcLz7sUMXk
Special thanks to Raikoh89 for a lot/most of the groundwork in the OP
