Puyo Puyo Sun
ぷよぷよSUN, Puyopuyo San
Continuing the Puyo Puyo tradition, this puzzle game (which is a one-to-two-player game) was initially released in late 1996 for the arcades and on Valentine’s Day 1997 for the Sega Saturn. Puyo Puyo Sun is the third installment of the Puyo Puyo games series, and the sequel to Puyo Puyo 2, made in 1996 by Compile. After the highly acclaimed success of its predecessor, Compile took a slightly more retro approach, so players had a more original feel to the game over that of 2. The name of Puyo Puyo Sun comes from a Japanese pun on san, and also indicates a new Puyo brought into the game. As Sun Puyo were used in this game, and the game itself is not only set on a tropical beach, but is the third in the series (san (三) is the Japanese word for the number three), the name served multiple purposes.
This is the final game in which Rulue is barefoot (as she would start wearing sandals starting from ~n), and the final game developed by Compile, who later sold the Puyo Puyo franchise to Sega. The game never left Japan.
Storyline and gameplay
Satan (Dark Prince in English as heard in Puyo Puyo Tetris) has once again decided to create another test by using special magic to make the Sun bigger on a remote island. This created a semi-resort, in which characters have decided to visit. Arle, together with Carbuncle, find the sun too hot, and see the building that Satan’s emanating his own heat wave from. Draco loves the hot weather and appears in a bikini, whereas Schezo, who takes refuge in a cave, finds that it’s just not cool enough, and decides to find out what’s happening.
Just like the predecessors, Puyo fall from the top of the screen in pairs, can be moved left and right, and can be rotated clockwise and anti-clockwise by 90°; if the third column from the left fills up to the top, the game is over. The rule of Sousai and Zenkesei still remained, but every time the player countered, special garbage would fall on the screen in a preset pattern (in the Game Boy version of this game, it fell randomly). Every time player clears the screen however, Sun Puyo would fall on the screen, and the All Clear bonus removed.
If you finish the game as Draco, the end credits will go stupidly fast akin to Sesame Workshop’s (then known as the Children’s Television Workshop) Ghostwriter. You will see the message “YOU DID IT! TRY HARDER LEVEL, NEXT TIME!” You will see the message “COOL! YOU GOT TALENT! NEXT, CHALLENGE SCHEZO’S STORY!” if you finish the game with Arle, and, if you finish the game with Schezo, you will get “CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MUST BE A TOUGH PUYO PLAYER! NOW, PLAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS, AND IMPROVE YOUR SKILL! …HAD BIG FUN? SEE YA!!”
Because we live in North (and South) America, we only had Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, the Westernized version of Puyo Puyo for the Sega Mega Drive (outside NA)/Genesis (NA) as the franchise was rejected outside Japan until we have Puyo Pop Fever (though we did have Puyo Pop for the GBA). After Fever, the franchise was rejected outside Japan for the second time until we have Puyo Puyo Tetris (and by extension, Champions). There’s an app called rensim if you want to practice Puyo Puyo before jumping right into these Puyos.
… Hey, you had big fun? See ya!!
