Puyo Pop Fever
| Puyo Pop Fever | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sonic Team |
| Publisher(s) | Sega, Atlus, THQ |
| Platform(s) | Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Arcade |
| Release | Japanese Releases: Arcade: November, 2003 PS2: February 4, 2004 DC: February 24, 2004 GC: March 24, 2004 Xbox: April 24, 2004 GBA: July 24, 2004 DS: December 24, 2004 PSP: December 24, 2004 U.S. Releases: GC: July 20, 2004 DS: May 3, 2005 PSP: TBA European Releases: GC, PS2, and Xbox: February 27, 2004 GBA: March 24, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Puyo Pop Fever (or Puyo Puyo Fever in Japan) is a puzzle game released mainly on the Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable and was developed by Sonic Team. Sega published all versions of it in Japan, but due to a strange reluctance to carry it over to other countries, international versions of it were sometimes published by others. Sega of America published the U.S. Nintendo GameCube version, Atlus published the U.S. Nintendo DS version, Sega of Europe published the European Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions, and THQ published the European Game Boy Advance version. The PlayStation Portable version is listed for a U.S. release, but has been re-listed recently with the "To Be Announced" status.
Gameplay Information
The game's story mode follows the "adventures" of Amitie, a spunky girl who attends a magic school, where she is taught by Miss Accord how to cast magical spells using Puyos, which are blob-like jelly creatures of multiple colours and facial expressions. Magicians using Puyos for battle have a field in which groups of Puyos can fall (much like Tetris) and must be arranged to "pop" them, which occurs when they arrange in certain patterns so that four of the same colour touch each other. This casts a "spell," which will disrupt the opponent's Puyo field. The loser is determined when one of the middle two rows on his or her field fills up to the top.
A new addition to the Puyo Pop game mechanics is the Fever Mode. Fever Mode occurs when a bar in the middle of the screen is filled up. To fill the bar, one must "offset," or counterattack "garbage Puyos," which are colourless and hard to pop Puyos, being sent to the field by the opponent. Every chain, which is a single popping of Puyos, will fill one space in the Fever Gauge until it is full, which is when Fever activates. In Fever Mode, a pre-designed puzzle will fall onto a cleared field. In a limited amount of time, one must find a "trigger point" in the puzzle, which will cause a major chain to go off and attack the opponent. Once a chain is made, another puzzle falls, bigger and more complicated than the previous one. This keeps occurring until time runs out, then it returns the player to his or her original field.
In the main story of the game, Miss Accord has lost her Flying Cane, the equivalent of a magic wand, and claims to have a reward for the student who can find it. The player plays the roll of Amitie as she ventures across the Puyo Pop Fever world to find the cane, while meeting many wacky characters along the way and battling them. In a harder version of the story mode, one plays as Amitie's rival: Raffine. She is a cocky brat who believes she is better than everyone else, and is also out for the reward. Depending on which story mode one is playing depends on what characters one will meet and who ultimately finds the wand.
The different characters of Puyo Pop Fever offer different gameplay. With the addition of groups of three and four Puyos, unlike previous Puyo Pop games, each character has his or her own pattern of which different types of Puyo groups fall onto the field. All characters are playable, but not in Story Mode, where one must be Amitie or Raffine, respectively. There are also two hidden characters, one possessing a powerful pattern of Puyo groups.
Multiplayer is possibly the best part of this game, especially in the Nintendo DS version, which supports two to eight players, unlike the others which only support two. In this mode, one can play as any available character.
There is also an Endless Mode, where one can practice Fever Mode, complete small tasks as they are given, and play good old-fashioned Puyo Pop.
Other Information
Puyo Pop Fever is the latest installment in the popular Puyo Pop (or Puyo Puyo in Japan) puzzle game series. Compile, the original creator of the Puyo Pop series, played no part in the creation of this game, for it has been gone from the video game industry for a while. Sonic Team began this project to keep the series alive, but redesigned the entire package into something of its own, adding new features, new cast characters, and gameplay elements along the way. Dispite the absence of Compile, the protagonists of the original Puyo Pop series, Arle the brown-haired spellcasting warrior and Carbuncle the little yellow beam-shooting rabbit, play a cameo role in this game, Arle being "lost" from her own world and Carbuncle being a final boss and secret playable character. It received much fanfare and praise in Japan, and is still going strong with the recent Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable versions.
Worldwide Distribution
While becoming very popular very quickly in Japan, the game hasn't received much from the other parts of the world, mainly because of the lack of international distribution. In the U.S., it has been released for the Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo DS (DS version courtesy of Atlus), with an announced PlayStation Portable release. An Xbox release was once planned, but canceled. Europe has received all three main console versions as well as the Game Boy Advance version, but otherwise no others are announced. The interest for this game in the U.S. has been rising with the release of the Nintendo DS version, so hopefully worldwide distribution of this loved puzzler will grow.
Lesser Known Versions
While noted for being released on today's most popular gaming platforms, it has actually been, much like its highly multi-platform Puyo Pop (Puyo Puyo in Japan) ancestors, released across several smaller platforms in Japan, including a few mobile phone services. Sega released them in an easily memorizable pattern as an almost "once a month" system throughout 2004, each being on the 24th day of every month. The only versions known to have broken the 24th day rule are the Arcade (exact date unknown) and PlayStation 2 versions. The main console versions (Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, and PlayStation 2) were re-released in Japan on November 4, 2005 under the "Sega Best" label and budget price. The official Japanese site lists the following releases: Arcade (November, 2003), docomo (May 24, 2004), Macintosh (June 24, 2004), Vodafone (June 24, 2004), au (July 24, 2004), PC (September 24, 2004), Pocket PC (October 24, 2004), and Palm OS (November 24, 2004). The official site link can be found below.