@“Chopemon”#p134517 Rad, I'll probably grab it then! It sounds like it might take a bit for it to click but it sounds like a unique mechanic to be centered around.
Here is a new battler puzzler from France available on Steam, and also coming to Switch early 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhSp8h0da9Q
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812170/Danghost/
The Indie Tsushin recently asked me for a writeup on 2022‘s Bellumarot, a doujin vs. puzzle game masquerading as a card game, as a pair to their interview with dev Yanaboh; the game’s currently exclusive to DLSite but those of you with memories from decades past might be pleasantly surprised by how much easier it is to buy from nowadays, and Yanaboh recently started adding their other games to itch so it might show up there eventually, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbljRQ3M6I
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@“gsk”#p130100 NIS just released a demo for this game in Japan—it has some offline content but the online multiplayer portion will only be playable until August 31, so I’d recommend grabbing and trying it ASAP, especially given that it’s not a conventional versus puzzle game.
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https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/product/JP0404-CUSA43863_00-0512588138854856 
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https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/software/70010000061376.html
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The basic idea is that you’re not just matching colours but forming specific shapes and attempting to fill the board with very specific configurations of pieces/shapes, which you can declare at will—the game straight up refers to them as yakuman, and it really does feel like a hanafuda/mahjong-esque game with a versus-puzzle veneer. I don’t know how much longevity it’ll have, or if it has any chance of hitting with a casual audience, but it’s certainly intriguing.
NIS reactivated the servers for this demo, so you can play online once more until October. [Here's an overview](https://gamesoftrobo.substack.com/p/yumeiro-yuram-is-a-fascinating-new) and [here's a more in-depth guide on all the different hands](https://cohost.org/Zircean/post/2637373-the-complete-yumeiro).
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@“◉◉maru”#p134998 Here is a new battler puzzler from France available on Steam, and also coming to Switch early 2024.
Looks neat but I gotta say, my first thought upon clicking through to youtube was "how the hell does this trailer have 135k views"
@“gsk”#p135002 Zero comments so I assume they paid for targeted ads on Youtube? Every other video they have is under 1000 views. Even the AG French Direct 2023 to which they participated back in May only totaled 30k views. Well, whatever can help…
@“gsk”#p135002 loved your writeup! You sent me on a trip reminiscing about old games haha
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@“◉◉maru”#p135006 gsk Zero comments so I assume they paid for targeted ads on Youtube? Every other video they have is under 1000 views. Even the AG French Direct 2023 to which they participated back in May only totaled 30k views. Well, whatever can help…
Yeah I didn't mean that as a dig, I was just taken aback because even the bigger games in this genre struggle to get that amount of attention, so for a second I thought, am I really this out of the loop? (A quick search turned up some sponsored streams, too... mostly JP/HK/TW folk with some vague connection to puzzle games, which tells me they're clued into the niche but also that they ought to be more calculated about where they spend their marketing money because these people have zero influence.)
I did learn the high-level FR Puyo Puyo player Hiku's been working on this game, so that's encouraging. There's certainly a whole grab-bag of different influences here, and I just wish it had native online so I could really put it through its paces.
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@“coffeentacos”#p135009 gsk loved your writeup! You sent me on a trip reminiscing about old games haha
Thanks! Yanaboh did archive the raw files for all their old Flash stuff, if you want to find your own way of playing em: https://ux.getuploader.com/neotaketonbo/
Petal Crash 3rd anniversary announcements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLBJrmwsE6U
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@“gsk”#p126503 Out of nowhere, Nippon Ichi announced a brand-new versus puzzle game, and it’s a full-price console game at that—it’s called Yumeiro Yuram and it’ll be out for PS/Switch at the end of October; there’s also a demo due soon, and both the demo and the full game will offer cross-platform online multiplayer. The character designs are by Masayuki Furuya, designer/director of newer Nippon Ichi games like Void Terrarium and The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, and it seems they’re going for straight cute on this one without any of the edge of those other games.
This game's out now in Japan (with no EN option and absolutely no indication that it'll be localised):
https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/software/70010000061376.html
https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/product/JP0404-CUSA43863_00-0512588138854856
Any brand-new game in this genre is fighting an uphill battle for attention, especially when the publisher's charging full price, but I feel like Suika Game has just completely destroyed what little chance this game had of taking off.
It's definitely not a pick-up-and-play game, either; zircean's yaku guide might help you come to grips with how to play: https://cohost.org/Zircean/post/2637373-the-complete-yumeiro
The most amazing NHK video about old japanese people playing competitive Puyo:
https://youtu.be/Tp4HJ9fRRis?si=c8LI_WJExLx0MP7Q
edit: omfg one homegirl at the end was dropping GTRs and stairs??? this is surreal
Miyabi360 just had a two parts Saturn Competitive Puzzle Game Marathon to celebrate the console’s 29th Anniversary this Wednesday 22 November:
https://youtu.be/RAqpmIhDYsI
https://youtu.be/OfKPXeLtYzQ
It’s not competitive per say (for now?) but I guess Suika Game fits this thread the most. AladdinX just announced that the game has passed 5 millions copies sold on Switch, and updated the game with a topical Christmas theme.
[URL=https://i.imgur.com/tis0NzC.jpg]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/tis0NzC.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
One of the weirdest success stories of the year and a good sign for the future of this genre of games. Who knows, maybe Taisen Puzzle Dama will become a global phenomenon in 2024?
The (official) game is still exclusive to Nintendo Switch and AladdinX projectors, but they are working hard on releasing their "official" Suika Game on mobile very soon. (In quotes because of the game’s [murky web browser origins.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suika_Game#:~:text=The%20concept%20originates%20from%20a,that%20released%20in%20January%202021.&text=The%20game%20involves%20the%20player,overflow%20out%20of%20the%20container.))
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In related garbage pouring industry news, Sega announced that "the **Puyo Puyo Tetris** series" as a whole (I am assuming that includes PPT and PPT2 but not Puyo Puyo eSports) has now [passed 3 millions copies shipped and downloaded.](https://twitter.com/puyopuyo20th/status/1737307169488560608)
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@“◉◉maru”#p145492 One of the weirdest success stories of the year and a good sign for the future of this genre of games. Who knows, maybe Taisen Puzzle Dama will become a global phenomenon in 2024?
Mikado's doing their part! https://cohost.org/gosokkyu/post/3904552-mikado-presents-tok
FWIW I don't think Suika Game blowing up necessarily portends anything positive for the genre as a whole—in fact, I think the vast majority of people only really have the appetite for one of these games every so often, and so this game has probably sucked the oxygen out of the room for the rest of 'em (not that there are many new, credible games being released in this genre nowadays).
RE: PPT series sales, it's been interesting to see the tail on PPT2, which initially seemed to underperform.. it seems the big vtuber tournaments, coinciding with the best-price release, gave it a big boost. I still wonder what's going on with the new Puyo... for the longest time, I presumed they were planning to drop it on 2/4/24, but if that were the case, they'd have announced it by now.
This week‘s Arcade Archives release is Cosmo Gang The Puzzle, the game better known globally by its reskinned console versions, Pac-Attack; the Pac version’s been ported, remade and reissued a zillion times but the original version's only ever been reissued/ported in Japan, and barely left Japan to begin with.
There's an international Puyo Puyo tournament scheduled for this weekend (January 13, 08:00 CET), 24 Kickoff—there are several top-level Japanese players signed up, and it might surprise you to know that the JP and non-JP communities don't formally clash all that often, so you may wanna keep an eye on this one: ([Challonge page](https://challonge.com/24kickoff) / [EN stream](https://www.twitch.tv/Phenotype__) )
Here's an archive of the 4th annual Daruma Dojo New Years Tournament, held using the arcade version at Game Center Ekuru last weekend—this is a game that developed a cult following via RTA in Japan, and this is the first year they've held the event in an arcade using the arcade version (as opposed to the SFC port). The game was originally developed by a company called Metro that currently does contract work for all sorts of big studios/titles, and they've given the event their blessing (with the added proviso that they're unable to formally reissue the game due to being preoccupied with making Pokemon and whatever else pays their bills).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-NN7FehlYk
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@“◉◉maru”#p145492 It’s not competitive per say (for now?)
It’s not competitive per say ~~(for now?)~~
https://youtu.be/hWryS-SV7hc
https://youtu.be/nEpgwuNa9ug
It’s a paid DLC, not a separate release. Available worldwide today. Note that the online mode will be patched into this DLC at a later date.
Petal Crash 2, the sequel to the best original action-puzzle game in a long time, is being crowdfunded right now: to the amazement of all involved, it was funded quite quickly, and they're currently aiming for the “if we raise this much then the lead dev gets to eat” stretch goal:
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/friend-fairy/petal-crash-2
new Puyo Puyo game (is locked behind Apple Arcade) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/puyo-puyo-puzzle-pop/id6446146451?platform=ipad
It's "new" inasmuch as it's not a direct port of any particular game, and most of the constituent elements (like the 3D character models, and most of the gimmicky game rules) have not been present in any of the globally-released games thus far, but it's not presenting anything super novel, pretty much just More Puyo.
Apple Arcade-to-elsewhere ports are by no means a sure thing but I think this one might come to consoles, if only because I don't see Sega finding the budget for another original console game anytime soon and I expect them to just port this one when the time comes.
@“gsk”#p157281 Rather than budget, I wonder what Sega could really do with Puyo Puyo as a matter of innovation justifying a new game, really?
Unlike Tetris, they missed on trends like battle royale and VR, they seem to have banked everything on making the franchise « eSport » (like VF5) because that was a good thing to tell investors, but without a clear understanding nor real investment into the eSports scene to make the brand bigger… Bar some Puyo Puyo arcade cabinets appearing in the next Like A Dragon and suddenly catching fire among a brand new community, or maybe some opportunistic Puyo Puyo x Dragon Quest slime collaboration game, they basically have to wait for a new service (here Apple) or new hardware to justify a new release. And it will probably just be Puyo Puyo Tetris 3.
I wish they would try new stuff like slime detonation on command (allowing the linking of more than 4〜7 slimes until you feel comfortable to start the chain) but they don’t seem interested in changing the core rules of the game anymore.
To piggyback off the Puyo Puyo conversation, I recently uploaded to Archive.org a hard-to-find port of Puyo Puyo Fever to Palm OS (more specifically for Sony Clie devices, but it runs on other Palm OS 5 devices as well). I haven‘t tested this on a Palm OS 5 Clie yet, but I understand that it lets you use the jog dial (a clickly scroll wheel on Sony’s devices) to rotate your puyo pieces. It also support FM sound (!) through onboard synth chips in certain models of Clie.
https://archive.org/details/puyo-palm
This was dug up from a warez forum post from 2006 that (miraculously) is still up in a registration-required forum to this day. If it weren't for them it'd probably be lost media.
@“donrumata”#p157432 oh wow, good looks! I've never actually played a Clie but I used to own the little clip-on controller they made for it, the one bundled with Columns (which also supported FM, IIRC).
btw, that specific version of Fever was programmed by the same person who did the arcade, Dreamcast, GBA & DS versions—it was apparently contracted to some other dev with a six-month turnaround, but when the deadline drew near and it became apparent that the contracted dev hadn't done anything, they tapped this programmer to put it together in two weeks(!)
@"◉◉maru"#p157415 fwiw they did say they experimented with something akin to Tetris 99 before Nintendo/Arika's game but decided it wouldn't work, and I could believe it—Tetris is specifically suited to that format because you don't really need to screen-watch all that much, whereas it's almost necessary for Puyo (as are the sound cues, which would be absolute hell in a BR format).
re: esports, the Japanese understanding of that term isn't explicitly rooted in formalised competition the way it is elsewhere, and so their "esports" initiative isn't focused on driving people to competitions so much as it's about maintaining a low-level presence in all sorts of market sectors that generate free press and other buzz: yes, it covers tournaments but also a STEM programming initiative, programs dealing with aged care and the acuity of seniors, school club activities, basically any government function that wants to tack on a gaming component, etc. The ultimate goal with "esports" is to drive up the Q Score of the IP, which they then use to sign better and wider licensing deals, basically, with the secondary goal of using Puyo as the guinea pig for events organisation and interfacing with JeSU and so on, so in those respects, it's doing what they want it to do.
I've also been waiting for them to at least attempt something new on a mechanical level, but I think that after 30+ years and a few dozen alternate rulesets that nobody plays, it's clearly easier said than done. The producer seems specifically interested in pursuing co-op/2v2 as a fresh direction, including attempting to establish mixed Puyo/Tet 2v2s as a competitive standard, but I don't know if that'll ever take. I think a Fever-esque soft reboot is long overdue, and if they can't even commit to that, there's always the obvious Sega all-stars/Puyo ga Gotoku/Puyosona route... to be frank, I don't think these games sell or don't sell based on mechanics, and for as much as I wish they'd at least try to introduce a credible new rule set, I think refreshing the visual identity of the series would do way more in terms of attracting new/lapsed players.
(I've wondered about an arbitrary-detonation mechanic, too... my presumption is that they've decided it'd too similar to the Compile-adjacent Pochi to Nyaa, not to mention their own Baku Baku Animal.)
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@“gsk”#p157446 btw, that specific version of Fever was programmed by the same person who did the arcade, Dreamcast, GBA & DS versions—it was apparently contracted to some other dev with a six-month turnaround, but when the deadline drew near and it became apparent that the contracted dev hadn’t done anything, they tapped this programmer to put it together in two weeks(!)
That’s pretty nuts. It’s a remarkably well put together port. Definitely a standout for the Palm platform, where most games are on the lighter end.