Help me play Puyo Puyo

[Ruldra]

After watching shoe's awesome puyo puyo skills on youtube (here and here), I felt like playing it for a bit, but I guess years of Tetris has left me unable to play this one properly. I ignore chains completely, since I don't know how to make them, and eventually I get crushed by the CPU's 5+ chains.

So, is there any guide out there for complete noobs like me?

Also, I'm planning to get either Puyo Puyo Fever 2 or Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary for the PS2. Which one is better?

[Shatterhand]

Puyo Puyo 15th anniversary is a compilation, isn't it?

I would say, get Puyo Puyo 2... its in a Sega Ages release and IMO it's the best Puyo Puyo game ever.

I don't play as well as Shoe, but I've been able to 1cc both Puyo Puyo 2 and Puyo Puyo sun on the normal level a few times.

The easiest way to build chains is to put 3 puyos of color A together, put 3 puyos of color B in top of those, put another puyo of color A in top of the 3 of color B, and then finish the color B puyos. With some practice doing that, you'll start buidling 3+ chains, 4+ chains...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I dig Puyo Puyo Fever on the Gamecube and on the DS as well. I like how you can change the language settings of either the GCN or the DS of PPF to either English or Japanese complete with the proper matching vocals as well. Sega does provide little bonuses like this from time to time. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ruldra]

I would say, get Puyo Puyo 2... its in a Sega Ages release and IMO it's the best Puyo Puyo game ever.

The Sega Ages one is another, older release...I didn't want to pick that one since I can play it on mame and it isn't as fun as the newer ones with the fever mode and all the extra stuff.

I made it to the third floor in Puyo Puyo 2 once, but got destroyed as soon as I got there. If you can beat the game then you're pretty good.

EDIT: Hmm...just found a puyo fansite. Looks interesting.
http://www.puyonexus.net/

[GaijinPunch]

This game results in one thing at my house: broken controllers. I learned ages ago to avoid it.

[Jockel]

Puyo Puyo 15th anniversary is a compilation, isn't it?

Not in a classical sense.
It's technically one game with modern graphics (think puyo puyo fever enhanced), but it has the rulesets from the other games.
You start a match, ruleset is selected, go.
Some rulesets i remember:
Puyo Puyo
Puyo Puyo 2 (ability to cancel ghost puyos and all clear bonus > chain after all clear for massive ghost puyos)
Puyo Puyo Sun (there's a star on the field buried under puyos, pop it and you win)
Puyo Puyo Fever (has fever mode, obviously - some great tactical opportunities)
Underwater (kinda upside down puyo, takes some time to wrap your head around it)
Rotating (gamefield rotates 180°, also really mindbending if you plan building chains that start only by rotation)

> Puyo Puyo Anniversary is the version to own.
There even is a translated rom of the DS Version out there.

I fucking love puyo puyo, but i kinda suck at it. I am still better than all of my friends, but the best i can cough up are mostly 4 chains. There are some occasional 5ers and 6ers, but those are really rare

[Ruldra]

Thanks for the info Jockel, I'll get the Anniversary version then.

And checking the Puyo Nexus forums, there's a sub-forum filled with guides...just what I need

http://www.puyonexus.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

Guess who's the moderator

[Shatterhand]

I think the ruleset of Puyo Puyo 2 is the one that manages to give the most balanced gameplay, thats why I like it.

One tip to beat the CPU is to learn how each character plays. They have different AIs, against certain characters it's better to make lots of quick chains than try to go for a big chain.

[Herr Schatten]

I think the ruleset of Puyo Puyo 2 is the one that manages to give the most balanced gameplay, thats why I like it.

I feel the same way.

[Ruldra]

One tip to beat the CPU is to learn how each character plays. They have different AIs, against certain characters it's better to make lots of quick chains than try to go for a big chain.

The only character I noticed that plays differently is the frog, he tends to stack all the puyos on the right side. Most of the time he kills himself in the process but some other times he pulls off a big chain and kills me.

[Shatterhand]

The frog is the most noticeable, but I remember there are a few others who do some stuff differently. If I am not mistaken, I always felt there were certain opponents who will try to build some REAL huge chains, while some others will go for a lot of smaller chains. Or maybe I am just crazy

The Frog AI is not random in the way it fills the right side of the screen, or so I've been told... I've read somewhere there's a logic behind of what it does, and the text I read even tried to teach you how to play like the frog, but I didn't understand half of it The trick to beat it is to send some quick small attacks to his screen while he's still rushing the right side of his screen. This seems to kill anything he may be trying to do while "rushing", so it gets easier to beat it.

Indeed, if you let him fill the screen without attacking him, he will soon screw up your game.


I believe you'll get some better info from that forum than from me though

That info here is very valuable, I got if from the forum you linked:

The Strategy
Puyo Puyo unlike other games, have one main strategy. Yet, this one strategy takes thousands of games to master.
Simply put, the main strategy involves the following skills.

1) Chaining. This is the "Bread and Butter" of puyo, without this you're not going anywhere.
2) Observation. This is the skill that seperates the "good" players from the "great" ones. It involves you observing your opponent while they play - and building your chains according to it, and reacting upon your observations.
3) Your Observation and your Chain is synchronized. Meaning that what you see will be reflected in how you are chaining, so you can take full advantage of everything.

The only real strategy that works in Puyo Puyo is...
Building up a big chain, but while doing so, observe your opponent. Be ready such that if you see a spot where he can't recover from, cut your chain and smite them. Harass so you force the other guy to trigger their chain first, and be ready for harassment in return if they do have a harassment ready.

[Davey]

Not to take anything away from shoe, because I'm sure he's way, way better than me, but are giant chains really that practical? I rarely get anything higher than a 4 or 5 chain, not only because I'm not good enough, but also because it seems like any halfway decent opponent would bury you with a mid-sized chain well before it's physically possible to make a 10 or 12 or 15 chain. I only skimmed the videos, and I've only watched a few Puyo Puyo videos in general, but it seems like the really impressive big chains are always against the really brain-dead AI characters. Those guys are more or less a punching bags. What I need to look for is a video between two good human players. How big of chains do they go for?

However, most of my experience is with Puyo Puyo 2... I never even played any version of Fever. I can 1CC Puyo Puyo 2 on hard with nothing higher than a 4 chain (you just have to move really fast), although I'm sure human players are much tougher. Unfortunately I don't know anybody in real life that's really into the game, so I pretty much plateaued after I could beat that game pretty consistently.

I ignore chains completely, since I don't know how to make them, and eventually I get crushed by the CPU's 5+ chains.

You've probably already realized this by now, but unless you're desperate for survival, singles and 2-chains are a waste of time. I'm not sure how large a chain has to be to be worthwhile to a good player, though. Regardless, Puyo Puyo is all about screwing over the other guy, not keeping your side clear, so play aggressive!

[Ruldra]

Are giant chains really that practical? I rarely get anything higher than a 4 or 5 chain, not only because I'm not good enough, but also because it seems like any halfway decent opponent would bury you with a mid-sized chain well before it's physically possible to make a 10 or 12 or 15 chain.

I can't say from experience, but from what I've seen you just keep building your chain as much as you can before the opponent trigger his own. If you can build a massive chain during this time, it's better for you. However, doing a mid-sized chain to stop him from triggering his huge chain is also a viable tactic.

What I need to look for is a video between two good human players.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 1C27B80C86

About 50 matches of shoe vs. Lon, two of the best players from that site I linked. In the very last match, they both go for the biggest chain possible.

[Danbo]

puyo puyo anniversary on the ds was pretty kewl and although i disliked all the stupid characters, their stupid voices only adds to the pain you can heap on someone if you're decent...

if you're a noob in fever the best strategy is to pick one of the characters that get a lot of 4-blocks or 3-blocks like, uh, the ghost or the fish guy, stack up a load of 3-blocks just ready to go and offset any pain the enemy throws at you until you can enter fever mode and turn them into a cadaverous motherfucker

[Davey]

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 1C27B80C86

About 50 matches of shoe vs. Lon, two of the best players from that site I linked. In the very last match, they both go for the biggest chain possible.

Thanks, I'll have to watch those. I couldn't find any good two player videos back when I was really into the game (like 5 years ago).

[Davey]

I saw some YouTube videos of a fan-made game called Puyo-Online. It looks great, so I wanted to try it out. However...

This Account Has Been Suspended

Does anybody know where I can find this? I also wonder how long Puyo Nexus has been down; maybe this is just a temporary hiccup. I've been meaning to dig into their content but never got around to it.

[Ruldra]

Puyo Nexus is working for me. But here's the direct link for Puyo-Online: http://www.puyonexus.net/files/hernan/P ... 0.97r2.zip

[Davey]

Yeah, it's up again. Just my luck, the site was temporarily down the moment I remembered to try that game. I'm definitely trying this as soon as I get home.