As I stated above, Puyo Puyo DA! isnât a puzzle game, but a music or rhythm game...And it plays as such. Basically, you have five commands to press; up/green, left/yellow, right/blue, down/red, and the left or right triggers. Based on what you see on screen, you input the correct buttons at the correct times and get a score. But hereâs where the similarities to the Puyo puzzles games come in. Youâre always facing a rival dancer. If they have a poor round and miss a lot of button commands when you have a good round, youâll see some familiar globs appear in a rectangle above your rivalâs head. If the song ends while they still have globs up there, the globs come crashing down and you become the winner of the all-important dance-off. Itâs a pretty simple formula and it works well.
However, there is a downside to the simplicity of this game, and that is the simplicity of the game. There are only two modes - single player mode, where you challenge various computer opponents like in the style of an âarcade modeâ in a fighting game, and two-player mode, where you can battle a friend. Thatâs all. While the game will definitely keep you occupied for a little bit, unless you consider this to be one of your favorite games that youâve ever played, there probably wonât be anything to keep you coming back for more. Aside from that, the lack of a âpauseâ option can prove to be annoying if something happens, like you get a phone call or realize that you havenât urinated in a day and need to release some fluids.
Graphically, the game is alright looking. The graphics wonât blow your mind; theyâre simple and to the point, but not poorly done by any means. The audio is done alright as well. I wasnât necessarily a fan of the music, but I didnât hate it, either. Thereâs also a decent variety in the songs, so youâre not hearing the same music over and over and over again, which is a plus. If youâre a fan of Japanese music, youâll likely enjoy the soundtrack. If youâre not, well then maybe keep the mute button handy. Overall, though, the cosmetics arenât fantastic, but theyâre slightly above average and more than passable.
In the end, while it lasts, Puyo Puyo DA! can provide you with a lot of fun if you enjoy rhythm games..But there just isnât enough content here for the fun to last very long for most people. For the most part, however, Iâd say that the transition from puzzle games to a dance game went pretty well for the Puyo Puyo franchise. If youâre a fan of the Puyo games or just a fan of music and rhythm games, Puyo Puyo DA! is a great Dreamcast game to own...Just donât expect it to be a game that youâll be putting more than a few hours into.