SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo 2 review for Nintendo Switch

Puyo Puyo 2 was originally released in Japanese Arcades way back in the year 1994. Since it’s debut, it’s been ported to many classic platforms such as the Super Famicom, Sega Saturn and PC Engine just to name a few. It’s easy to follow formula and addictive game play have continued to win fans for the better part of the decade. There were even a few “Americanized” versions of this game like “Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine”, for the Sega Genesis and “Puyo Pop!” for the PlayStation 2.

The premise is simple. In Arcade and VS Modes, Two players (or One player with a CPU opponent) begin with an empty play field. Puyo begin fall from the top of the screen in connected pairs and can be moved left and right, and can be rotated clockwise and counter-clockwise by 90°. Matching 4 or more of the same color Puyos will result in them vanishing. If the third column from the left fills up to the top, the game is over. By strategically placing Puyos on your field, you can create huge chain combos, resulting in garbage or “Dead” Puyos to fill your opponents play field, making it harder for them to fit more Puyos. However, your opponent can do the same to you so you have to be quick and also know how to build up huge combos.

In “Endurance Mode”, one player simply plays against all of the CPU opponents in succession as the difficulty increases with each opponent beaten. It’s a good way to learn how all of the CPU opponents will battle you in Arcade Mode since their selection in that mode is random. There is also an Online Mode where you can play against opponents from anywhere. I did not last long in this mode as I am a somewhat novice player. The community of Puyo Puyo is very advanced and most online matches will not end in your favor unless you are quick and cunning with combos.

As with all other Sega Ages releases on the Switch, you do have a variety of options and special features to either help or challenge you. You can increase the amount of different color Puyos, change the amount of time it takes for the drops to get faster, and even use a “Time Reverse” when you slip up in the single player modes. One option I did notice that was sadly missing is an option for English text in the main game. While the game can be fully played and understood with no translation, there are exchanges between the characters that were not translated. It’s a very minor thing to note, and having English here won’t do anything game play wise, but I found it a little strange that the original text was left untouched. Visuals and Music are extremely cute and colorful, with strange and funny characters and happy upbeat music that can either be ignored or grind on your nerves depending on how well, or terrible you are playing.

Puyo Puyo 2 is a simple puzzle game that contains enough fun inside to keep you entertained. Not much else can be said about it, other than it’s extremely addicting and you will find it hard to put down. There’s very little depth or sense of progress outside of honing your own skills, and very few accomplishments outside of getting revenge on certain characters (or players) that destroyed you in previous games. It’s cute, funny and great for a quick challenge or for sharpening that hand/eye coordination. A really good fit for the Switch!

Note: Sega provided us with a SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo 2 Nintendo Switch code/copy for review purposes.