Puyo Puyo Champions Ditches Tetris And Lands On Switch In May

May 7th's a Tuesday according to my calendar.

I bought the JP release, but I'll buy it again via English eShop to be able to read the menus properly. Edit: That said, the game is very light on content right now and I do hope it gets plenty more modes and content in the future, which is why I only bought it at 500 Yen under a launch sale (though $10 seems fair enough for me; $20? No).

Dual Audio–Players have the option to enjoy Puyo Puyo Champions with the original Japanese voice acting and either English, French, German, or Spanish text.

Man, I wish PPT would get this later down the line...

I have Puyo Puyo Tetris, so.... I might consider later after i got my important games for right now.

As an owner of Puyo Puyo Tetris, I can't fathom that there is enough here to justify a separate purchase of this game. Unless they added a Puyo Puyo 99 mode or something cool like that, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Oh, the irony. The worst part of Puyo Puyo Tetris gets a standalone release.

Japan is getting a physical release. Wonder if it will be in English.

This looks like a LOT of reused assets. I already have the tetris crossover, so I'm good for now.

Tetris wants to be clear that Puyo Puyo didn't ditch it; it broke up with Puyo Puyo.

@Dodger It was a mutual thing. Mutual, I say. *single tear rolls down cheek

@Medic_alert Same. I can do tetris in my sleep but Puyo Puyo is like trying to learn Japanese.

Puyo Puyo had so many re-release this gen it's enough for me now. First Puyo Puyo Tetris, then Sonic Mania, then the Sega Genesis Classic Collection, then the two upcoming Sega Ages games, then Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine again for the Sega Genesis Mini, and now this. Add up all the Puyo Puyo and that's 7 entries already for just one gen. C'mon Sega enough with the Puyo already, if anything give us ChuChu Rocket that other puzzle game you tend to forget.

I see no point in this release when Puyo Puyo Tetris exists

@EasyDaRon

@iLikeUrAttitude

If you're a Puyo fan who doesn't want to fight against Tetris players online, then you need a pure Puyo game to do that in. Puyo Puyo has a lot of strategy regarding watching how your opponent is constructing their chain and how they react to your incoming garbage.
So while in PPT a Puyo fan can just play Puyo against random opponents, a lot of the pure Puyo Puyo strategy is lost when fighting against a Tetris player.

Also this game includes the Fever ruleset, which wasn't present in PPT at all.
I guess you could play Puyo Fever way back on the GameCube, but it's nice to be able to get that style of Puyo on Switch, wouldn't you say?

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a great game, especially for Swap Mode which is easily one of my favourite falling-block puzzle game concepts ever, but it's still really important to give us the ability to just play Puyo normally, which is what this release does.

@John_Deacon Slightly different rules/gameplay and visuals, the option for dual audio. Otherwise the other elements are all multiplayer oriented. Still, it's $9.99 for a reason. They know many people will just play Puyo Puyo Tetris.

@EasyDaRon @duffmmann This has better online play, modes and options if what you want to play is Puyo Puyo. It also has fairly different rules/mechanics, which most Puyo Puyo players prefer. And finally, if you didn't buy Puyo Puyo Tetris, this game is much cheaper. Only $9.99 and eventually with sales could be only a few bucks. If all you want is to play Puyo Puyo, it's a cheaper and better way to do it. My girlfriend is excited for it because she doesn't like Tetris. Also, it has dual audio for anyone who wants the original Japanese.

@Deltath oh i understand the differences, but those aren't compelling enough to a Puyo Puyo Tetris owner such as myself to buy another version of Puyo Puyo on my Switch, especially when i have 2 more versions of Puyo Puyo on my Switch in addition to my copy of Puyo Puyo Tetris: one in Sonic Mania, and one in the Sega Genesis Collection as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Short of something really different and exciting like a Puyo Puyo 99, I just do not need yet another version of the game on my Switch.

Also you pick a character depending on your style of play. Past Puyo Puyo games had characters with passive and active powers. However I don't know if the characters will be used just as avatars or characters with a power.

@oninowon

In Puyo Puyo Champions, the character choice only affects games of Puyo Puyo Fever. If you select Puyo Puyo 2 rules, then character choice doesn't matter.

The character choice affects their drop set. Sometimes in a game of Fever you'll get three Puyos at a time, four Puyos at a time, or even one huge Puyo that splits into four. You can see which pieces your character gets on the character selection screen.

Character choice for the computer, however, IS important. Different characters have different AI and behave differently - Draco Centauros is an easy opponent. Risukuma is a more challenging opponent. Dark Prince is the hardest opponent. Also some characters have weird quirks - an AI playing as Harpy will always stack her Puyos to the left and right sides up to the top, for whatever reason.

The character-sepcific "powers" you mention were only really a thing in Puyo Puyo 4 for the PS1/Dreamcast/N64, and tbh Puyo 4 wasn't very fun to play because of them.

Meh, I only got Puyo Puyo Tetris for the Tetris bit, so this is easy to skip as I still don't quite get Puyo Puyo

We will also be getting 2 Puyo Puyo Games from the Sega Ages line, too much Puyo Puyo

@John_Deacon Maybe I misunderstood, but the way you worded it was that you couldn't fathom how one might buy this if they had PPT. I think there are some compelling reasons for some players. It definitely is hitting a niche, but that's also why it's so cheap. I'm sure it will sell enough to make them money.

@John_Deacon If you really like Puyo Puyo, I think it'll be the best version yet for Switch and the cost is right for me.

I love Puyo Puyo Tetris so much, it made me track down and buy a copy of Puyo Pop on GBA, and my friend surprised me with Puyo Pop Fever for GC for Christmas last year. This is very good news to me, and made me really happy.

@John_Deacon No, no, I accidentally sent that second to last message to you rather than someone else. My mistake.

I have PuyoPop Fever for the DS. It is one of my prized possession

@Sunsy I've been on a retro Puyo purchasing kick too. The most interesting one I got was Puyo Puyo BOX for PS1, because it contains a silly little miniature RPG adventure where the random encounters are fought via Puyo battles. The game also contains the entirety of Puyo 1 and 2 on it as well for good measure.
I bought an actual PS1 disk, but it's also on the Japanese PS3 shop as a PSOne Classic too.

Another great one is Puyo 20th Anniversary for DS/Wii/3DS, which contains a little practice board, where you can freely place puyos anywhere with the DS stylus, and then hit "play" and and watch to see how they fall.

I couldn't get into Puyo-Puyo like I can Tetris. It's fun but it just doesn't click for me in the same way.

@EarthboundBenjy Glad I'm not the only one, yeah I wanted to play the some of other games in the Puyo Puyo series after playing Puyo Puyo Tetris. Puyo Puyo BOX sounds amazing from what you described.

I'm having trouble understanding why you'd choose this over Puyo Puyo Tetris even if you don't like Tetris. It's just seems like a lesser game.

@EarthboundBenjy I'm pretty sure there's a Fever mode in Puyo Puyo Tetris.

@Farbringer

There's no way to play an actual match of regular Puyo Puyo Fever within Puyo Tetris. There's only the "Endless Fever" singleplayer challenge, and "Big Bang", which takes place entirely within Fever mode.

A match of Puyo Puyo Fever is more than just Fever Mode itself - you have to fill in the seven-bubble gauge by countering incoming garbage in order to enter Fever mode, and it only lasts a short amount of time before it's over.

You can't play a match of Fever within PPT.

The reason one would choose Puyo Champions over Puyo Tetris is because the version of Puyo Puyo in PPT is modified and rebalanced so it can exist within the same space as Tetris. Even a Puyo vs Puyo match played within PPT doesn't behave the same way as a standard match of Puyo Puyo.

In addition, the online mode will pit you against Tetris players more often than not. A lot of the strategy within Puyo Puyo comes from strategically blocking your opponent by watching how they're stacking their Puyos to build their big chain. This dynamic totally doesn't exist when you're pitted against a Tetris player.

Puyo Puyo Champions finally gives Puyo fans a space to play simple Puyo online without any compromises.