Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S review for Nintendo Switch 2

I’m a big puzzle game fan, and I grew up playing Tetris and Dr. Mario on the green Game Boy screen. There are tons of puzzle games out there. Everything from Puzzle Bobble starring Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, to Super Puzzle Fighter II starring Night Warriors and Street Fighter characters, to Tetris Attack starring many of your favorite Super Mario characters and enemies. Will we be dreaming of Puyos and Tetriminos when you finish playing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S?

In 2014, Sega released Puyo Puyo Tetris on the Switch and other platforms. Admittedly, I never got around to picking this one up or playing it as much as I wanted to. So I’m finally getting around to playing the sequel in 2025. This is a mash up of two different puzzle games, Puyo Puyo and Tetris. They are substantially different from one another. In Puyo Puyo, there are different colored blobs (you can change the way they look in the game in the customization menus) that you are trying to put together. Get at least 4 of them to touch in any shape, as long as they are the same color, and they burst, allowing the Puyos above them to fall. While in Tetris, different shaped blocks, called Tetriminos fall from the top of the screen. The object here is to create a full line across the playing field and it eliminates the line. If either stack of Tetriminos  or Puyos reach the top of the screen, it’s game over.

When launching the game, players are given 3 options. To play Puyo Puyo, play Tetris or go to the main menu. Selecting anything but the main menu immediately sends players right into a regular game of Puyo Puyo or Tetris. The Main Menu is where all the action is. There are several different modes to choose from. For you single player gamers out there we have Adventure. This is the game’s story mode. The worlds of Puyo Puyo and Tetris are merging, and you must battle to prevent it. Which means battling your friends too.

The characters are very well voiced, and aside from the occasional “don’t I know you” and “why is this familiar” remarks, anyone who hasn’t played the first game can easily pick up on the story in the second. The characters are colorful, vibrant and, in some cases, downright goofy. Don’t  start playing adventure mode unless you already have a firm grasp on how both games are played. If not, you might want to check out the tutorial or get some practice in on the game you have the least amount of experience with. In adventure mode, you don’t have a choice on what game you play, Tetris or Puyo Puyo, so make sure you are practiced up.

When battling, it works like most other puzzle games. Each time someone is able to eliminate Tetriminos or Puyos on their board, obstacles are sent to their opponent’s boards that they have to work around to eliminate. On the Tetris side, it raises the stack of blocks from the bottom up, on the Puyo Puyo side, it drops garbage Puyos onto the field. In order to get rid of them, a player must pop a set of Puyos next to the garbage ones.

Of course there is local and online play, that comes along with a couple of different modes of play. First is the standard, up to four players can either play Puyo Puyo or Tetris in a grueling free for all. Or players can set up teams 2v2, or 3v1 to really challenge their mettle. Swap is interesting, where players each have 2 different boards, and they swap between the two at equal intervals. One board is Tetris, the other is Puyo Puyo. Where things get really insane is the Fusion play mode. This is where both games are mashed together in a mixing pot of weirdness. Both Tetriminos AND Puyos drop. Just like with the normal version of each game, group four colors together of Puyos or make a line with the Tetriminos. I could spend the entire review trying to explain it, but it is just wacky fun.

While the game is fantastic, there are a couple of caveats I need to bring to the table. There are two big annoyances I have with Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S and they come from multiplayer. When playing multiplayer locally I noticed two things that COULD affect game balance. The first is that if two people are playing Tetris, they don’t get the same blocks. Also, the player playing Tetris has the ability to do a “hard drop” of their pieces. Meaning, once their piece is lined up where they want it to go, just hit up on the d-pad and the piece drops instantly. The Puyo Puyo player has to hold down on the d-pad to get theirs to drop faster, but it isn’t instant. This is even more frustrating as on the title screen if, instead of selecting Main Menu and you select Puyo Puyo, the game of Puyo Puyo that players start have the hard drop option while playing.

Interestingly, Sega has included the ability to use the new Switch 2 mouse mode with the Joy-Con controllers. Moving the Joy Con to the left or right, moves the piece to the left or right. The shoulder buttons rotate the pieces. This mode isn’t for everyone, and I found myself not having the dexterity to, when trying to move a piece straight down, be able to keep it completely straight. This could just be me having a hard time with the new Joy-Con mouse controls, so I recommend trying it for yourself to see if that control style works for you.

It’s hard to explain the joy that a good puzzle game brings, and I want to take this game outside with a projector and just play it on my garage door and see if anyone driving by my house wants to join. When I was in college, I spent a weekend with a friend of mine in his dorm playing Tetris Attack until 6 in the morning, and it was an amazing time. I feel like Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is almost the same caliber. I still prefer Tetris Attack, but when playing with a couple of friends locally, the screams of happiness and smiles on their faces while playing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is well worth the asking price.

Note: Sega provided us with a Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S Switch 2 code for review purposes.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S - Nintendo Switch 2

Price: $39.99

9 used & new available from $39.99

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