A puzzling music title

A lot of North American gamers have no clue what Puyo Puyo is. If you happen to be one of them, think of Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine or Kirby’s Avalanche...Those are games of the series modified with recognizable characters of the Sonic and Kirby franchises in order to try and make the game seem appealing to the non-Japanese public. If you’ve never played either of those two games, here’s the basic premise: globs of various color drop down the screen, Tetris-style, and by matching up the globs of the same color, they burst, giving you more room and possibly setting up a combo. The formula works well, making it one of the top puzzle game franchises in video games...So, imagine my surprise when I sat down to review Puyo Puyo DA! and found out that it’s not a puzzle game at all, but a music game set in the Puyo universe...And despite my love for the Puyo puzzle games, and initial disappointment that I wasn’t receiving the puzzle bliss that I was expecting, I actually enjoyed my experience here more than I thought.

As I stated above, Puyo Puyo DA! isn’t 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 here’s where the similarities to the Puyo puzzles games come in. You’re always facing a rival dancer. If they have a poor round and miss a lot of button commands when you have a good round, you’ll see some familiar globs appear in a rectangle above your rival’s 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. It’s 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 ‘arcade mode’ in a fighting game, and two-player mode, where you can battle a friend. That’s 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 you’ve ever played, there probably won’t be anything to keep you coming back for more. Aside from that, the lack of a ‘pause’ option can prove to be annoying if something happens, like you get a phone call or realize that you haven’t urinated in a day and need to release some fluids.

Graphically, the game is alright looking. The graphics won’t blow your mind; they’re simple and to the point, but not poorly done by any means. The audio is done alright as well. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the music, but I didn’t hate it, either. There’s also a decent variety in the songs, so you’re not hearing the same music over and over and over again, which is a plus. If you’re a fan of Japanese music, you’ll likely enjoy the soundtrack. If you’re not, well then maybe keep the mute button handy. Overall, though, the cosmetics aren’t fantastic, but they’re 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 isn’t enough content here for the fun to last very long for most people. For the most part, however, I’d say that the transition from puzzle games to a dance game went pretty well for the Puyo Puyo franchise. If you’re 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 don’t expect it to be a game that you’ll be putting more than a few hours into.

7/10