Puyo Puyo Chronicle
| Puyo Puyo Chronicle | |
|---|---|
 Puyo Puyo Chronicle Box Art (Standard boxart) | |
| Developer | Sonic Team |
| Publishers | Sega |
| Platforms | Nintendo 3DS |
| Players | 1-4 players |
| Release date | Nintendo 3DS
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December 8th 2016Puyo Puyo Chronicle (ぷよぷよクロニクル, Puyopuyo kuronikuru) is a game for the Nintendo 3DS as part of a celebration of Puyo Puyo's 25th Anniversary. Barring spinoffs, this is first Puyo game to be presented with 3D characters as opposed to 2D portraits.
This game is followed by Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.
Contents
Story
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Intro
Arle and Carbuncle were enjoying a peaceful day at Primp Town, having some time for themselves together. As Carbuncle was dancing about, a book with a moon and sun fell out of the sky and in front of the duo. As they approached the book, the cover flings itself open, revealing a portal that draws them into a world inside the book. As the book shuts its covers, Arle and Carbuncle come crashing down into the middle of Grimp Forest like shooting stars. This draws the attention of Ally, who was taking a leisurely walk with her pendant glowing upon their presence. As Arle regains consciousness, she is confronted by Satan to be informed that she is the heroine of the world she's transported to. However, before Arle could admonish him, Satan tells her to head for the tower before he gets spirited away.
Grimp
Bleuo
Retty
Yellome
Purplune
Color Tower
Post-Game
Overview
Puyo Puyo Chronicle, similar to past anniversary titles Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary and Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary features multiple options for multiplayer both for local and online play, which includes the return of the Tsu and Fever rules. However unlike the past anniversary titles, it contains a new RPG mode. This RPG mode has players take on the role of Arle and Carbuncle as you're tasked with finding a way back home, with the assistance of a new character named Ally. This mode contains battles against monsters where players play Puyo Puyo in order to inflict damage, and a level up system where stats like defense and attack increase to make characters deliver and receive damage better. Along with Arle, other characters can join your party, for a maximum of 3 characters at a time. In addition, this game features over 60 side quests with NPCs that will reward the player if completed.
The game also features different multiplayer modes, a total of 17 from Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary, and (in the case of Big Bang) Puyo Puyo Tetris, and a new mode called Skill Battle.
Characters
Main article: List of Puyo Puyo Chronicle Enemies
Playable Characters
Skill Battle exclusives
Modes
- Puyo Puyo
- Based on Puyo Puyo (1992). There's no offsetting, margin time, double rotation, or All Clear like other modes. However, 4 colors are used by default instead of 5 like the original arcade game.
- Tsu
- Based on Puyo Puyo Tsu. This includes offsetting, margin time, double rotation, and All Clear that was missing from it's predecessor.
- Sun
- Based on Puyo Puyo Sun. The fundamentals are the same as Tsu rules, but it introduces Sun Puyo. Sun Puyo spawn on the player's field when the player offsets a chain, and when cleared it increases the power of the player's chain. However, Sun Puyo act like Nuisance Puyo, so they may occasional obstruct a chain.
- Fever
- Based on Puyo Puyo Fever. Utilizing unique dropsets and chain strengths, the player is tasked is trying to beat the opponent. Offsetting behaves differently, with Nuisance Puyo only dropping if the opponent fails to create a chain. If a player manages to offset 7 times, they will enter Fever, where the player is tasked with clearing preset chains.
- Mission Puyo
- Loosely based on the Nazo Puyo games. Instead of trying to knock out the opponent with Nuisance Puyo, players are tasked with completing a set amount of objectives first.
- Excavation
- Players are tasked with digging through Puyo in order to reach the start on the bottom screen. The strength of chains by default are pathetically weak.
- Mini Puyo Excavation
- A variant of Excavation that uses Mini Puyo instead and three colors. All other rules are retained.
- Mega Puyo Rush
- Players use Mega Puyo in order to create chains. The objective is to clear out the Nuisance Puyo in the player's cache before the opponent does, and knock them out with Nuisnace Puyo.
- Foursight
- Based on the Tsu rules, but now players have a preview of 4 Puyo pieces instead of 2 like normally.
- Active
- Based on the Tsu rules, but players still have control during the middle of a chain animation, making it possible to extend a chain.
- Quartet
- All the players use dropsets, however every piece counts as 4 Puyo at a time.
- Blocks
- Each match is randomized with a different pattern of blocks that cannot be cleared.
- Big Bang
- Players are tasked with clearing away preset Puyo Chains within a time limit. After the time runs out, the chain powers are calculated and inflicted onto whoever had the weaker chain.
- Spinner
- Every 10 seconds the players boards flip over 180 degrees. In addition, any chains caused by this flip with have a power bonus.
- Non-Stop Fever
- All players are permanently in Fever, with the objective to clear away all the player's Nuisance Puyo in the cache and dump them onto the opponent first.
- Mega Puyo
- All Puyo are Mega Puyo. To compensate for the cramped space, 3 Puyo connected count as a chain instead of 4 like normally.
- Ice Blocks
- All players have access to character specific ice block dropsets. When a player attacks the opponent, they will receive frozen over Puyo in a specific pattern. After 3 intervals, the Puyo will thaw.
- Skill Battle
- Based on the RPG mode. The goal is to knockout the opponent by draining their health bar. Every player selects 3 characters, each one having two different skills that influence the match.
New Puyo Skin
- Gummy Puyo
- This Puyo skin is first featured in this game. This kind of Puyo skin will continue to be used in Puyo Puyo!! Quest prior to the redesign of its logo.
- Because of the redesign of Puyo Puyo!! Quest's logo, the Gummy Puyo skins will be used instead of Aqua Puyo skins from now on.
Reception
Puyo Puyo Chronicle received mixed to average reviews.
The games modes and presentation was well received. SEGAbits praised the 3d models in the game, stating that the artstyle "still have that familiar colorful charm like past games".[1] The four reviewers of Famitsu also praised the game for its 3d artstyle.[2] Writing for jrpg.moe, Griffin praised the "good mix of modes here", as well as the inclusion of Puyo Puyo Sun.[3]
Strong criticism was directed at the games RPG mode and story. The four Famitsu reviewers stated that the RPG mode was tedious and that the game felt geared towards children. Griffin disliked the story mode, as it felt "very formulaic"; and that the quests were about finding a Puyo character, fighting them, then moving on to the next area; claiming that it was "cute but repetitive". SEGAbits claimed that the RPG mode felt "more like a distraction than a full experience", stating that adding strategy contradicts the nature of Puyo Puyo. Free-log reviewer NAO criticized the walking speed as being too slow, and that RPG mode was neither a good nor fun way to practice Puyo Puyo.[4]
In 2021, netlab sent a survey asking players what their favorite Puyo game was, ranging from Puyo Puyo (1991) to Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. Out of 1523 responses, Puyo Puyo Chronicle received 25 votes and was ranked 13th favorite out of the 14 main categories (excluding the "Other" category), placing it between Minna de Puyo Puyo (ranked 14th, 13 votes) and Puyo Puyo eSports (ranked 12th, 35 votes).[5]
Sales
During the first week following release, it sold 13,873 copies in Japan.[6] In an 2021 interview with Red Bull, it was revealed that the game had poor sales.[7]
Cheats
- Unlock All
- At the title screen, hold L + R and press the buttons in the following order: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ → → ← ← X X B B Y Y A. The bell chime sound effect will play if the cheat is entered correctly. Unlike the past Puyo Puyo games, this cheat will not unlock the cutscenes from the game's story.
- Harder CPU in Free Battle Mode (Core AI Cheat)
- Hold L while selecting the CPU character.
- Set Player as CPU in Free Battle Mode
- Hold L while selecting your handicap. The player's AI level will be set based on the highest AI level of other CPU players.
Trivia
- The game's concept title was Puyo Puyo Adventure according to concept logos from the Puyo Puyo Artwork Collection.
- The files of the game reveal dialogue cut from the game's RPG mode for unknown reasons. Summarized translations of these lines can be read on Precise Museum's website.
- Harpy, Serilly, and Ragnus from the classic Puyo Puyo series are the returning characters in this game.
- However, these characters are only available as Skill Battle-exclusive characters in this game. They were not fully playable until the release of Puyo Puyo Champions.
- Despite this game being part of Puyo Puyo’s 25th Anniversary, in this game, Arle reuses some of the old lines from Puyo Puyo Tsu.
- No full soundtrack of the game has ever released, instead a commemorative album was released as a bonus with certain editions of the game that included select songs from the series history. Certain songs exclusive to Puyo Puyo Chronicle have had their official names revealed, but not that of the entire soundtrack.
Gallery
World Map.
Early title screen.
Early title screen.
Monster concept art.
Early Logos.
References
- ↑ Sega Bits review
- ↑ Famitsu review
- ↑ JRPG.moe review
- ↑ Free-log review
- ↑ Netlab survey
- ↑ Gematsu article
- ↑ Red Bull article
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