Puyo Puyo Tsu
| Puyo Puyo Tsu | |
|---|---|
 Puyo Puyo Tsu Box Art (Mega Drive) | |
| Developer | Compile Sega (re-releases) Bits Laboratory (SS) Goo! (PCE) MileStone (PS2) M2 (3DS, Nintendo Switch) |
| Publishers | Compile Sega (PS2/re-releases) Bandai (WS) NEC Interchannel (PCE) SNK (NGPC) |
| Platforms | Arcade, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Network, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Game Boy, Windows 95, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS Virtual Console, NEC PC-9821 & DOS/V, Macintosh, PC Engine, Neo-Geo Pocket Color, Wonderswan, 3DS, Nintendo Switch, SNES Online (Switch), Mega Drive Mini |
| Players | 1-2 players (1-4 players in the Super Famicom version) |
| Release date | Arcade
Mega Drive
Game Gear
PC-9821 & DOS/V
Sega Saturn
Super Famicom
Super Famicom (Remix)
PC Engine
PlayStation
Windows 95
Game Boy
WonderSwan
Neo Geo Pocket Color
PlayStation 2
Wii Virtual Console (Mega Drive)
Wii Virtual Console (Arcade)
3DS Virtual Console (Game Gear)
3D Classics (3DS)
PSOne Classics (PSN)
SNES Online (Switch)
Mega Drive Mini
Sega Ages (Nintendo Switch)
|
Puyo Puyo 2, formerly known as Puyo Puyo Tsu (ぷよぷよ通) (Also known as Puyo Puyo Tsuu and commonly stylized as Puyo Puyo TSU) is the sequel to Puyo Puyo, developed by Compile in 1994. The game's title is a pun based on the similarity between the pronunciation of the Kanji tsu (meaning "expert") and the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "two."
Gameplay
- See also: Tsu (rule)
Tsu adds a variety of new mechanics. The most prominent new gameplay mechanic is the "offset rule"; when a player has Nuisance Puyo above their field, creating a chain will reduce the number of waiting Nuisance Puyo instead of sending garbage to the opponent. Tsu also introduces "margin time", a mechanic that, after a certain amount of time passes, steadily multiplies the number of Nuisance Puyo that are sent per chain. "All clear," obtained by clearing every single Puyo on the field, gives the player a Nuisance bonus on their next chain.
In addition, the game introduces "double rotation." In the first game, if the player has control of a pair that is caught between two filled columns of Puyo, they cannot rotate the pair at all. If the player is in an identical situation in Tsu, however, they can flip the pair 180 degrees by pressing a rotation button twice.
Finally, Tsu adds "Rule Henka." When activated via the service/option menu, it changes the Nuisance Puyo in the single player game to Hard Puyo and/or Point Puyo.
Single-player modes
Normal mode
As opposed to the first game's linear Scenario mode, Tsu's main mode is a tower where Arle Nadja selects opponents to battle via roulette. Each "floor" of the tower has an EXP total that the player must reach in order to advance. If the player defeats all of a floor's opponents without meeting the goal, one final opponent will appear. If, after defeating this extra opponent, the player still fails to meet the goal, Arle is booted from the tower and the game ends. The EXP goals vary from version to version; for example, Super Puyo Puyo Tsu requires twice as many points to clear the first floor as the arcade or Mega Drive versions.
Unlike the first game, the arcade version of Tsu does not feature full cutscenes. Instead, each match is preceded by a short description of the opponent.
- Level 1
- Skeleton-T, Will o Wisp, Sukiya Podes, Trio the Banshee, Nomi, Momomo, Baromett, Mini Zombie (Masked Satan if you don't have enough points to pass the floor)
- Level 2
- Panotty, Uroko Sakana Bito, Nohoho, Cait Sith, Fufufu, Mummy (Owlbear if you don't earn enough points to pass the floor)
- Level 3
- Sasori Man, Samurai Mole, Harpy, Parara, Nasu Grave (Zombie if you don't earn enough points to pass the floor)
- Level 4
- Suketoudara, Mamono, Witch, Pakista (Dragon if you don't earn enough points to pass the floor)
- Level 5
- Draco Centauros, Minotauros (Zoh Daimaoh if you don't earn enough points to pass the floor)
- Level 6 (faced sequentially)
- Schezo Wegey, Rulue, Satan (Masked Satan if you earn 180,000 points and don't use any continues)
Other modes
Many of the home ports include Practice and Expert (Tsu) modes. Practice mode consists of either one or three set(s) of opponents that are faced sequentially. Expert mode, also known as Rally mode, pits the player against every single opponent in the game. The exact contents of each mode vary by port.
Certain versions of the game have Incubus, Scylla, Lycanthrope and Cockatrice in the Practice and Expert modes, but not anywhere else.
Nazo Puyo (Tsu), otherwise known as Mission Puyo is a side mode in the PC, PlayStation 2, and Sega Ages ports of Puyo Puyo Tsu. The single player mode features Arle completing puzzle challenges from Lycanthrope, Incubus, and Scylla, in that order. The puzzles require the player to clear a pre-made combo of Puyos, with a larger preview of incoming Puyos than in other modes. The pre-made sets of Puyos get progressively more complex as Arle continues through her opponents. The mode is similar to the standalone Nazo Puyo games, as well as Mission Puyo in Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary and Big Bang in Puyo Puyo Tetris.
Versions
Main article: Puyo Puyo Tsu/Port Comparison
Like the first arcade game, Puyo Puyo Tsu was developed for Sega's System C2 arcade hardware. However, while most of the first game's ports are very similar in terms of features, Tsu's ports vary in gameplay modes, character count, music, and even vocal catchphrases.
Notable ports
- The Mega Drive port is arcade-perfect in terms of gameplay, visuals, music, and sound effects. Unlike the first game's Mega Drive port, which removed all but three vocal samples, this game attempts to cope with the hardware differences between the Mega Drive and System C2 by introducing a vocal quality setting. Type B, the default, plays samples at a slightly lower-than-arcade quality while temporarily muting the music; Type A plays samples at a drastically lower-than-arcade quality but will not interrupt the BGM. For reasons unknown, Puyo Puyo Box locks the quality option in its version of this port. The version of the game included on the Japanese and Asian versions of the Mega Drive Mini adds a Type C, which plays samples that are at a slightly higher quality than the samples in Option A at a slightly slower speed.
- The Game Gear port is the first handheld version, displayed in colour and had some graphics in lower quality but similar to the Mega Drive port.
- The Sega Saturn port introduces Practice mode, Expert mode, and reintroduces pre-battle cutscenes.
- The first Super Famicom port (Super Puyo Puyo Tsu) features Practice and a four-player battle mode. The second port (Super Puyo Puyo Tsu Remix) features Expert mode and is the first port to feature three separate Practice courses. As with the first game, the median between game fields is smaller and the enemy portrait is placed inside of their field.
- The PC-Engine CD port (Puyo Puyo CD Tsu) features full voice work with a cast consisting entirely of professional voice actors, and also includes character-unique chain phrases. Like the previous game, it allows players to choose their character as long as their defeated once in story mode. This does defeat rule not apply to character Arle, and is available from the start.
- The Windows 95 port of the game features enhanced resolution, as well as a short Nazo Puyo quest mode, which was intended to be in the Mega Drive version but was cut.
- The PlayStation port (Puyo Puyo Tsu Ketteiban) is based on the Saturn port, but features a modified version of Remix's Practice mode that incorporates the Saturn version's previously-exclusive Beginner characters. Starting with this port, Minako Ozawa replaces Mami Inoue as Arle's voice actress.
- The Game Boy port had heavily different graphics, but some of the sound was the same as the Game Gear port.
- The WonderSwan port, is heavily influenced by the port of the Game Boy except the screen is much smaller. It was the only port to be published by Bandai.
- The Neo Geo Pocket port, licensed to SNK by Sega, was released in North America and Europe as Puyo Pop. Unlike previous English Puyo Puyo games, the NGPC Puyo Pop retains both the character designs and (almost) all of the character names from the Japanese version. As in the English translations of the first game, Satan is renamed "Dark Prince."
- The PlayStation 2 port (Puyo Puyo Tsu Perfect Set) is part of the "Sega Ages 2500" line of games, created in collaboration with D3 Publisher, one-half of 3D Ages. This version is based on the PSX port, but includes a Nazo Puyo mode.
- The Virtual Console port of the Mega Drive version was released, albeit untranslated, in North America and Europe as an import title.
- The Virtual Console port of the arcade version featured online multiplayer, but this functionality was lost when the Wii's multiplayer servers were taken offline.
- The 3DS port, as part of the Sega 3D Classics line and Sega 3D Classics Collection (Sega 3D Fukkou Archives 2 in Japan), developed and ported by M2, who previously worked with Sega on the Sega Vintage Collection (Sega Ages Online in Japan) line on PS3 and Xbox 360 and would later on work alsongside Sega for the development of the Sega Ages line on the Switch and the Mega Drive Mini, is based on the arcade version and is un-translated.
- The Super Famicom version was released in all territories as one of the initial twenty games on the Nintendo Switch's SNES Online (Super Famicom Online in Japan) service, un-translated ala the Virtual Console imports.
- The Mega Drive port was released on the Mega Drive Mini in Japan and Asian territories. Unlike Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine in the North American and European versions of the console, and Puyo Puyo in the Asian version of the console, changing the system language does not reflect the changes, like changing to English, French, German, Italian or Spanish for example.
- The standalone Switch port, part of the Switch's rendition of the "Sega Ages" line, which is once again developed and ported by M2, is a port of the original un-translated Japanese System C-2 version that adds the ability to modify Puyo colors. It also includes easy access to each enemy's description, which is translated in the English version. Notably, Satan is not referred to as "Dark Prince" at any point in this release, not even in his translated enemy description.
Trivia
- Compile's president, Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, voices Carbuncle in the Sega Saturn port.
- The Sega Saturn port features voice work done entirely by Compile staff.
- This is the first game in the series to open with an "Act Against AIDS" message. Similar messages appear in most of Compile's subsequent Puyo Puyo titles.
- The official art for Puyo Puyo Tsu Ketteiban, the PlayStation version, features a railway motif with a distinct "Puyo Station," poking fun at the PlayStation's title and its shortened form as "PS." An animated clock application based on this Puyo Station is included with the COMPILE GALLERY 123 ~Puyo Puyo & Madou Monogatari~ CD-ROM for Windows.
- The staff credits sequence for the SEGA AGES edition on Nintendo Switch features new animations for many of the game's characters, in the same style as the original sprites. They were done by a former Compile graphics artist on M2's SEGA AGES development team.
Gameplay Quirks
- It is possible for the game's automatic drop speed to become so fast that attempting to quickly drop a controlled pair of Puyo actually slows it down. This is emulated in Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary for the fight against Satan.
- In some versions of Tsu, including the arcade release, the player can use the double rotation mechanic to rotate their Puyo indefinitely. This requires placing twelve Puyo in columns two and four. This bug is fixed in some later Tsu implementations.[verification needed]
- In the Arcade and Mega Drive versions only, if the player defeats Masked Satan in the first floor, but did not gained enough EXP to progress, the normal ending will play instead of the bad ending. This was fixed in the later versions.
- In the Tsu CD edition, there is an overflow glitch where getting too many points before leveling up overflows the point requirement counter, guaranteeing the bad ending. While this glitch can be disastrous, it can prove invaluable for unlocking Owlbear, Zombie and Dragon for multiplayer, who are difficult to encounter without the glitch.
Gallery
- Logos
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Japanese Logo -
English Logo -
Japanese Game Boy logo
- Boxart
-
Arcade flyer -
Mega Drive cover -
Game Gear cover -
PC-9821 & DOS/V cover -
Sega Saturn cover -
Super Famicom cover -
Remix cover -
PC-Engine cover -
PS1 cover -
Windows 95 cover -
Gameboy cover -
Wonderswan cover -
Neo Geo Pocket Color cover -
Puyo Pop Cover -
PS2 cover
- Screenshots
-
Title screen (Mega Drive) -
Title screen (Remix)
- Other Stuff
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Mega Drive cover -
Mega Drive back cover -
Game Gear cover -
Sega Saturn cover -
Super Puyo Puyo Tsu package (SFC) -
Playstation cover -
Windows 95 cover -
Gameboy cover -
Neo Geo Pocket Color cover -
Stickers included with Puyo Puyo Tsu Ketteiban -
Placement guide for the Puyo Puyo Tsu Ketteiban stickers
Soundtrack
Note that the English song titles for the arcade version are sourced from the SEGA AGES release.
| Title (Japanese) | Title (English) | Plays during: |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | ||
| Tutorial | ||
| Menu | ||
| Stage Select | ||
| Stage Theme A | ||
| Stage Theme B | ||
| Stage Theme C | ||
| Stage Theme D | ||
| Game Over | ||
| Danger | ||
| Ending | ||
| Staff Roll | ||
| Stage Clear | ||
| All Puyos Clear | ||
Ports
| Title (Japanese) | Title (English) | Plays during: |
|---|---|---|
| Cutscene, Endless | ||
| Cutscene | ||
| Cutscene |
Related
Puyo Puyo Tsu/Reverse Engineering: A series of articles that examine the internal operations of Tsu's Mega Drive port.
References