Puyo Pop

Puyo Puyo (also called Puyo Pop in the West) is a non-tetromino falling block puzzle game franchise.
It was originally conceived by Masamitsu Niitani and developed by Compile Corporation, which later folded. The gameplay could be described as a cross of Dr. Mario and Panel de Pon.
American localizations on 16-bit era consoles, such as Kirby's Avalanche and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, sadly replaced the original cut-scene characters with those from other franchises.
Sega currently owns the rights and continues the series on major video game console and mobile platforms.
The game was, and still is, a hit in Japan, with one of the first falling blocks game to heavily emphasize characters and storylines, and putting versus play as the default instead of solo play. Even in the default single player mode, the player is pitted against computer-controlled opponents. The characters and the general story universe of the original game were borrowed from Madou Monogatari, an RPG that was one of Compile's previous games. Each character has its own unique traits, including different tactics taken when controlled by the computer. A crossover of this game and Tetris has been released for Japan in 2014. Puyo Puyo Tetris was surprisingly localized and released in North America and Europe in 2017, and its sequel, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, was released worldwide simultaneously in December of 2020 to largely favorable critical reception. Puyo Puyo Tetris marks the first time a Puyo Puyo game was localized using the name Puyo Puyo instead of Puyo Pop, bolstering its reputation among the Puyo Puyo faithful, although some are concerned that SEGA will not take the risk of localizing Puyo Puyo games that are not part of the Tetris crossover series, a concern that has so far proven to be true, with Puyo Puyo Chronicles and Puyopuyo!! Quest remaining Japan exclusives despite the latter being quite popular in the Western fandom.
== Gameplay ==
Colored pieces, represented in the game as jelly-like creatures called Puyo, fall into a 6x12 block playfield. (The name may be different in cases where the developer replaced the original characters with ones from a different franchise.) Each piece consists of 2 to 4 Puyo, each colored in one out of 3 to 5 colors. In games before Puyo Pop Fever, only pieces consisting of 2 Puyo (dominoes) were used, but in Puyo Pop Fever and later, larger pieces which are made of 3 or 4 Puyo are also used. Such pieces always consist of a single color or two colors, with the colors adjacently placed when in two colors. The 3-Puyo piece is always aligned in an L shape, and the 4-Puyo piece, similar to the O tetromino. The two types of 4-Puyo piece are one with two colors in two Puyo each, and one with the appearance of a larger Puyo, of which the color can be changed upon rotation. The order in the number and alignment of Puyo in pieces that get dealt to the player has a fixed sequence, which differs depending on the character the player chooses.
The player can move the piece sideways or downward, and/or rotate them. When the piece is made of 2 Puyo, the "secondary" Puyo rotates about the highlighted "primary" Puyo. The 3- and 4-Puyo pieces rotate around the center of the 2x2 square.
Pieces that land break up into individual Puyo and then form groups of horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally, adjacent Puyo of matching color.
Four or more Puyo in a group explode, and any Puyo above them disconnect, fall, and reconnect. Unlike other franchises like Columns and Bejeweled, Puyo do not need to form a straight line. Puyo can be set up so that when one group clears, it causes other Puyo to fall and form another group. This is called a "chain", and is an integral part in gameplay. In versus matches, every time the player clears Puyo, a certain amount of transparent Nuisance Puyo are sent to the opponent. These must be popped by clearing other Puyo adjacent to them. Making chains with multiple groups of Puyo sends larger amounts of garbage Puyo to the opponent. These can also be countered and/or stopped before falling, making a chain against it (called "offsetting").
== Details ==
*Two "NEXT" pieces (One on Classic mode that does not support offsetting).
*ARE is present. The piece that locks jiggles up and down a couple times, and the next domino slides from the preview to the top.
*DAS is fast.
*Lock delay appears to reset only on piece entry.
*Top out when column 3 is filled, or in Puyo Pop Fever and after when column 3 or 4 is filled.
*In newer products, two consecutive rotations result in double rotation, moving the secondary block 180 degrees about the primary block.
The following analysis of domino rotation, including wall kick and floor kick rules, applies to Puyo Pop for Game Boy Advance.
The primary block is labeled ; the secondary block is labeled .
In this game, if a space is empty, the space above it is guaranteed to be empty.
R->U (L->U symmetric)
	
R->D (L->D symmetric)
	
In free space
	
Floor kick
D->R (D->L, U->R, U->L symmetric)
	
In free space	
	
Wall kick	
	
Between walls:Fail	
Try again:
Double rotation
So the overriding rule is that if a kick is required, try pushing the piece straight away from the wall or floor, so that the secondary Puyo occupies the space that the primary Puyo occupied.
Further research is needed to determine the additional rules that Puyo Pop Fever uses for 3-Puyo pieces.
== Fan games ==
*Puyo Puyo VS 2 (by Hernan, hosted on puyonexus.com)
*Puyo Puyo Compendium
== External links ==
*Wikipedia:Puyo Puyo
*Puyo Nexus , the fansite
*Puyo Nexus Wiki