Special Maneuvers and Mechanics

Some nifty side information and tips that every Puyo player should know.

Soft Drop Bonus

You earn small amounts of Score when you soft drop Puyo. In Tsu rules, this score is added to your next chain as small amounts of damage. In other words, you can "charge up" your 1 Chains by playing quickly and avoiding extraneous clearing. Every little bit of damage can count in a close harass battle.

See Scoring for more details.

Tips for Playing Faster

Double Rotation Frame Cutting

This is different from the mechanic introduced in Tsu where you can flip your piece 180 degrees if it's stuck in a column.

You should have noticed by now, but the pair of Puyo that you control has two parts. One Puyo functions as the axis of rotation, and the other Puyo rotates around it. When the pair comes out of the NEXT Window, the axis of rotation is in the Puyo on the bottom. By rotating twice while you soft drop, you can place the piece slightly faster than normal.

Wall Kicks

You can use wall kicks to help you place your Puyo faster and with more precision. It's easier to explain in a video, so watch the one I have below.

Avoid Excessive Splitting

When you split Puyo, you have to watch a realllyyyy long animation of your Puyo falling before the game gives you the next piece. Avoid forms that require excessive splitting to maximize your speed.

Video: Double Rotation, Wall Kicks, and Splitting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtZDkfvqyww#t=35

Staircase Maneuver

By using floorkicks, you can make your piece climb over adjacent columns. For more information, see Staircase maneuver. Method 2 is the best one to learn since you don't have to count your button presses. Watch the video further down this page to see it in action.

The 13th Row and Beyond

In all Puyo Puyo games, there is a hidden row above the 12th row that you can place Puyo in using the Staircase Maneuver or by placing pieces vertically. Puyo in the 13th row can't be cleared even if they "connect" in a group of four.

You can use the 13th row's properties to make chains that won't pop until the Puyo in the 13th row drops down. The Puyo in the 13th row is called the Ghost Puyo.

Placing Puyo beyond the 13th row in games such as Fever or Puyo Puyo VS causes Puyo to disappear completely. If you set up a staircase correctly in the 12th and 13th rows, you can stall indefinitely by making all of your pieces vanish. Watch the video below to see it in action.

The vanishing trick is not possible in games that use traditional Tsu physics because there is a ceiling above the 13th row that prevents rotation into the 14th row.

Video: Vanishing Trick and the Staircase Maneuver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP4pRwQmOBA

19 Chains

In Puyo games excent Puyo Puyo SUN, the max chain you can make is a 19 chain. If you want to try to make a 19 Chain yourself, you'll need to know how to vanish your Puyo away until you get the colors that you want.

This is the classic 19 Chain form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsbwES9A9No#t=199

Power Chaining

Power Chaining refers to chains clear a lot more than four Puyo at once. Clearing extra Puyo can yield two different types of bonuses: Group Bonus and Color Bonus. Group Bonus refers to clearing extra Puyo of the same color, and Color Bonus refers to simultaneously clearing different colors.

Group Bonus	Color Bonus

For specifics on the mechanics, see Scoring.

Power Chains are extremely powerful when you consider the Chain Power table for Tsu. The chain powers for links 1 through 5 increase exponentially, but after that it increases linearly. Since there isn't a large difference in strength between the higher chains, if you Power Up a 9 Chain, it could potentially beat a 10 chain, even though it's a link shorter.

Power 9 Chain = 572 garbage

Normal 10 Chain = only 526 garbage

Powering Up your chains has two advantages over normal chains:

Adding extra Puyo and colors adds a huge power bonus to your chain, which can be difficult for your opponent to calculate.
Shorter chains have a quicker resolve time, which gives your opponent less time to react.

Also, in some cases, Powering Up your 9 Chain can be more efficient and quicker to execute than trying to beat the 10 chain with a complicated 11. A common tactic for Stairs Pattern users is to Power Up the Tail End using Stair-like shapes. This is an absurdly easy tactic to use, since Stair shapes are intuitive to make.

You'll be hard-pressed to beat these kinds of players unless you're an expert at harassment, especially since the Tail can double as a Hellfire.

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