Qwirks

Qwirks
Box art
Developer	Big Bang Software, Inc.
Publisher	Spectrum Holobyte, Inc., Spectrum Holobyte Japan
Platform	Windows 3.1, Macintosh
Modes	Endless Puyo, Versus Puyo, Nazo Puyo
Players	1-2 players
Release date	December 1995 August 1995

Qwirks is an English adaptation of Puyo Puyo (1992) for home computers licensed from Compile. Unlike Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Kirby's Avalanche, and the much later-released Haro no Puyo Puyo, it does not involve the use of a particular license, instead featuring entirely original characters. This would be done again for the infamous Cranky Food Friends. This game was introduced by Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris.

Story

In the year 2581, the evil Warlords of Zapf saw their chance to discredit Earth's Alliance of Worlds. By infesting the Intergalactic Zoo with creatures called Qwirks, the Warlords hoped to destroy the Alliance's scientific showpiece.

At first, the plan worked well. The Qwirks began multiplying quickly, threatening to overrun the entire facility. Furthermore, their telepathic powers overwhelmed the minds of several Zoo creatures, turning them into evil monsters.

But the Alliance scientists fought back. They captured and domesticated two Qwirks, whom they named Cosmo and Bigelow, to help in their lab experiments. They discovered that Qwirks of the same color have a special telepathic affinity and link up when they're next to one another. When four or more Qwirks are linked this way, they transmigrate into the eighth dimention. By herding the Qwirks into the proper groups, the scientists have learned to make enough Qwirks transmigrate so that there is now some hope of defeating the evil Warlords' plans...

Stages

Each mode in the game uses their own exclusive background, except for "Challenge Mode" (Versus Puyo against the CPU), which has two. Players can start from as high as the eighth stage.

Easy levels

Play at the garden.

• Wuzzer - A small orange-colored bee with lazy eyes. Plays like Draco Centauros.
• Feegle - A two-headed green eagle with limited brain capacity. Plays like Suketoudara.
• Gloth - A small creature that can be described as a cross between an ostrich, a walrus, and some kind of insect. Plays like Sukiyapodes.
• Scump - A giant red ant said to be "too smart for it's own good". Plays like Harpy.

Normal levels

Same as Easy Levels, but the speed get sightly higher.

• Hammat - An orange rodent that resembles a mongoose or prairie dog. Plays like Sasoriman.
• Blupp - An oversized shrimp with lazy eyes and a habit of mouthing. Plays like Panotty.
• Rachis - A two-foot-long spider that makes optimal use of it's eight legs. Plays like Zombie.
• Frild - A mischievous reptile with a horn on his head. Plays like Witch.

Final levels

They are the hard levels. Based in underground, the speed is much higher.

• Nuzard - A carnivorous red snake monster with huge jaws. Plays like Zoh Daimaoh.
• Twang - A long-limbed blue frog said to be tall enough to squish anyone beneath his webbed feet. Plays like Schezo Wegey.
• Grillus - A female cyclops gorilla who is quick to anger. Plays like Minotaur.
• Nout - A humanoid creature with a large beak. Plays like Rulue.
• Spirtl - The primary main foe and the one leading the Qwirk Invasion. He is a muscular, penguin-like creature with green skin and a mustached, bovine-like face. Plays like Satan.

Crystal Puyos

Exclusive to Qwirks are a special variant of Puyo known as Crystal Qwirk (also known as Crystal Puyos), which appear in the player's field after creating a large chain. They can be seen as a predecessor to Sun Puyos, and Puyo Puyo~n's super attacks.

Crystal Puyos appear as one of the five standard colors of normal Puyos and are eliminated the same as normal Puyos; when it is connected to 3 or more Puyos of the same color at the same time. Each color has its own exclusive function that will help the player or hinder the opponent.

• Red - Every Garbage Puyo will be eliminated from the player's play field.
• Green - One colored Puyo will drop onto each of the six columns of the opponent's playfield; they will drop in such a way that they will not match up with any existing Puyos in the opponent's field. Since there are only five colors of Puyo, two of the same color will have to be dropped, but not adjacent to each other.
• Blue - All the blue Puyos in the player's field are instantly removed.
• Yellow - The center two columns in the player's field are automatically cleared out of all Puyos.
• Violet - The far left and far right columns in the opponent's field are filled up with Garbage Puyo.

Trivia

• Carbuncle appears in this game, albeit under the name Cosmo.