Sega Ages Puyo Puyo 2

Genre: Match-4 Falling Block Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local / Online), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Sega Ages Puyo Puyo 2 is a Match-4 Falling Block Puzzle game originally released to arcades in 1994. While the characters and story are based on a Japanese RPG by the name of Madō Monogatari (which translates to Sorcery Saga), I think it’s safe to say that the Puyo Puyo franchise has far surpassed and outlived that series.

Before I get to the review proper, I’m gonna’ level with you – I’ve never been the biggest fan of Puyo Puyo. I dunno what it is, but I just can’t wrap my head around its own particular brand of combo-fueled, gravity-affected, color-matching style of puzzle game, despite that Tetris Attack AKA Puzzle League, which shares multiple mechanics with Puyo Puyo, is probably my favorite puzzle game of all time. In any case, I recognize my own bias in this, and will do my best to review this game fairly regardless.

With this being the first full sequel to Puyo Puyo, the folks behind the series made a number of adjustments to the gameplay that were largely celebrated by fans, many of which have remained with the series to this day. Most notably when opponents send garbage blocks to your screen, players now have a brief period of time to make matches to cancel out the attack. In addition, even small matches can send garbage blocks to opponents, meaning that every action you take can make a difference.

This game also makes what I feel is a noteworthy improvement in the presentation as well, with character voices and designs that aren’t quite as off-putting as in the original. And while I think that the default color set for the pieces in this game can make it difficult to see some of the colors, developer M2 has thankfully provided players with options to change this in the game menus.

Puyo Puyo 2 features a new “endurance mode” that allows players to take on the game’s enemy characters one after another in turn rather than fighting a random selection of them. However, it’s still missing an endless mode, something more modern players come to expect from Puzzle games.

Developer M2 has done its usual upstanding job integrating a good feature set into this game, including local 2-Player and online play (though the game’s online servers sadly seem deserted at this point), online leaderboards, multiple display options, save states, replays, and a music test mode.

Puyo Puyo 2 is a marked improvement over the first game in multiple ways, though it’s still missing some features. Fans of Puzzle games looking to get an inexpensive classic (and who don’t already have another version of the game) would do well to look this one up.

tl;dr – Sega Ages Puyo Puyo 2 is a Match-4 Falling Block Puzzle game originally released in 1994. It’s a marked improvement over the first game in multiple areas. It’s still missing features we’ve come to expect from Puzzle games today, and the online servers are deserted, but the core gameplay here is still solid, and worth a look for Puzzle fans who don’t own another version of the game.

Grade: B-

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