# Puyo Puyo Chronicle

Puyo Puyo Chronicle (ぷよぷよクロニクル, Puyopuyo Kuronikuru) is a 2016 puzzle video game developed and published by Sega for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan on December 8, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Puyo Puyo series.
In addition of the traditional mechanics, it introduces role-playing elements, allowing to have up to three allies in the player's team, as well as over 60 side missions and introduces a new protagonist, Ally. The single player story takes place in an RPG, where the protagonist Arle has to figure out how to escape the Book World while defeating the demon king who has taken it over.
Puyo Puyo Chronicle received mixed reviews. While the multiplayer content was praised, the game was criticized for its tedious and repetitive single player mode, as well recycling gameplay modes and other assets from previous titles. The game failed commercially, becoming the lowest-selling game in the franchise. To date, it is the last dedicated Puyo Puyo anniversary game, with subsequent anniversaries being commemorated via updates to existing games in the series. In a Japanese survey, Puyo Puyo Chronicle ranked among the least favorite games in the series.

## Gameplay

Puyo Puyo Chronicle game has 18 modes of gameplay, with 16 of them from Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary and one from Puyo Puyo Tetris. Except in Mission mode, a player is eliminated when they top out, and the last player (or team) standing wins the round.

### Skill Battle

Skill Battle is a mode based on the games single-player campaign. The goal of this mode is to knock out the opponent by draining their health bar, where filling up the third column causes them to lose a large amount of HP (instead of losing the battle). Each player assembles a group of three characters, where each character has different skills that can change the outcome of the match.

## Reception and sales

Review scores :
| Publication | Score |
| Famitsu | 32/40 |
| SEGAbits | B- |
Puyo Puyo Chronicle received mixed reviews.
Reviewers praised the game's 3D artstyle, noting that the shift to models allowed characters to be more flexible in animation and movement. The selection of game modes divided critics; while one reviewer from Famitsu stated that the game offers a wide variety of rules, SEGAbits noted that most of these rules were recycled from past titles.
Critics generally disliked the RPG story mode. They felt that while the mode make it easy for beginners to play, it lacks quality and that the battles were redundant, repetitive, and tedious. In addition, SEGAbits felt that while the RPG mode was ambitious, the added mechanics could be ignored by experienced players by hitting enemies with a large enough chain.
Puyo Puyo Chronicle sold 13,873 copies in the first week in Japan, but is considered a commercial failure, as it sold a total of 21,451 copies, and series producer Mizuki Hosoyamada stated that the game did not do well in sales in a 2021 interview.

## Legacy

Puyo Puyo Chronicle was the last mainline game released to celebrate the series anniversary. The next Puyo Puyo anniversary was celebrated via Super Puyo Quest Project, a large update to Puyopuyo!! Quest that changed major parts of the game, such as adding main characters and a main storyline.
In a 2021 netlab survey asking players for their favorite Puyo Puyo game, Puyo Puyo Chronicle was ranked as the second least favorite game out of 14 choices. At rank 13, it was ahead of Puyo Pop and below Puyo Puyo Champions, an esports game.