Puyo Pop (N-Gage)

Puyo Pop
Developer	Lavastorm Engineering
Publisher	Nokia, Sega
Platform	N-Gage
Players	1 player
Release date	October 6, 2003; October 7, 2003;

Puyo Pop is a 2003 game for the short-lived Nokia N-Gage, developed by Lavastorm Engineering in conjunction with Sega Mobile.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Puyo Pop is based on the rules of the 1992 Puyo Puyo. Controls, drop speed, and the delay during which Puyo pairs "lock" into place are slower than almost every other retail Puyo Puyo game.

Puyo Pop contains Scenario, Exercise, 2P Bluetooth, and Puzzle modes. Scenario mode is a gauntlet in which the player battles 12 CPU opponents. Exercise mode serves as this game's "Endless" mode, where the player plays Puyo Puyo without a CPU opponent. 2P Bluetooth mode allows two players to use the N-Gage's Bluetooth capabilities to battle each other. Finally, Mission Mode is a "Nazo Puyo" mode where the player is tasked with solving preset puzzles.

Scenario Mode

Scenario mode features a cast of characters consisting of recolored character sprites from the 1992 Puyo Puyo, none of which are named in-game. The player controls a girl (Arle Nadja) who is trapped in Puyo Land, and must play Puyo Pop to escape. After 11 opponents, the player encounters the Gatekeeper (Satan), who promises to send the girl home if she can defeat him in Puyo. After defeating him, the game displays a splash screen informing the player that they have defeated all opponents, and the game ends.

The characters are encountered in the following order, and are named based on the original Puyo Puyo characters that they take their sprites from.

Trivia

Lavastorm, the game's developer, is tied to an even-lesser-known mobile Puyo Puyo gamethat was released in English.