SEGA AGES's review Puyo Puyo (eShop Switch)

We have now reached the tenth match of the Sega Ages series, and we can say that the project has been a resounding success. Over the past year, Sega and M2's retro assistants have launched a large number of old ports that have forced us to use the phrase "definitive version" more than once in a normal life.

The tastes of Out Run, Virtua Racing and Alex Kidd in Miracle World are permanently installed on our switch, which proves that some great games remain great forever. With Puyo PuyoHowever, Sega and M2 have proved something else: that everything related to the Sega Ages brand does not go to gold.

For the uninitiated, Puyo Puyo is Sega's puzzle series (we're not talking about The columns no more), which was originally run by the Japanese developer Compile, but was moved to the big S in the late 90s. It's likely you've played a variant over the years: blobs Colorful ones called Puyo fall from the sky in groups of two and you have to stack them.

There have been around 25 different games and fallout from Puyo Puyo over the years, each bringing his own touch or his own sophistication to the series. The main problem of this version of Sega Ages is that it is a port of the original version of Puyo Puyo that he brought back to the arcades in 1992: among all Puyo Puyo games available, it has probably the least luck. he.

While many other versions of Puyo Puyo include things like an endless mode (where you keep playing forever), Tetris Style) or a Mission Mode (where you have to make all Puyo appear before the time runs out), this original arcade version consists strictly of direct battles, whether against a friend or an opponent of the CPU. If you do not like the idea of ​​trying to defeat your opponents by forcing them first to the top of the screen, then there will not be big. something for you here because that is literally all there is (although it's just is generally considered the most popular mode among fans).

That aside, the other two major gameplay changes are actually features that were missing in the original Puyo Puyo but that were included in the arcade sequel. Puyo Puyo Tsuu. The first is the possibility of turning your Puyo counterclockwise (in the original arcade version, you could only turn them to the right). Naturally, this means that you can now take a single turn to reach a position that would have previously required three rounds. This is a nice mechanics of bread and butter with regard to puzzle games, but without that, the game would be even more archaic.

The other addition is the fast turn, a technique similar to Tetris T-spin that should not be physically possible, but allows you to escape. If your room is stuck in a nook and could not normally rotate, press the rotate button twice to quickly return the room to 180 degrees, essentially replacing the colors. Again, this was originally added in the second game Puyo Puyo, which makes you start wondering why this is not the one that has been transferred. And yes, for purists, left turns and fast turns can be turned off if you want the original archive intact.

For many fans of the series, this will be enough for £ 5.99. For others, though, we may recommend pushing the boat one step further: there are two other Switch options that cost a little more but give you a lot more. The most obvious of them is Puyo Puyo Tetris, which can be found for around £ 25 now and offers a wealth of solo and competitive Puyo Puyo modes, as well as many Tetris modes and some interesting mergers.

Alternatively, for about the same price, you can get the Sega Mega Drive Classics collection, which has more than 50 games, including Dr. Robotnik's medium bean machine. This is a westernized version of Puyo Puyo with the same competitive game, plus the added bonus of an endless mode, and practically matches the same experience as this version of Sega Ages. Both options are obviously more expensive, but offer more than what is actually a unique game mode (assuming online multiplayer does not have a leg).