Puyo Puyo Tetris

Lore & Background

Puyo Puyo Tetris centers on combining two gameplay styles: Puyo, where colored blobs are matched in groups of four or more to create chain combos, and Tetris, where Tetrominos are placed to clear horizontal lines. The game includes characters modeled after the seven Tetrominos and adopts contemporary Tetris guidelines, differing from Sega's previous Tetris releases. It features five main multiplayer modes—Versus, Party, Swap, Fusion, and Big Bang—each playable with up to four players locally or online, plus an Adventure story mode and six single-player Challenge modes. The story follows Ringo, Amitie, Arle Nadja, and Carbuncle as they encounter strange Tetriminos and meet Tee and his crew on the SS Tetra. They work to repair the ship and discover a plot involving dimension merging, ultimately confronting Ex, the Keeper of Dimensions. The game was originally planned as a direct sequel to Puyo Puyo 7 but was delayed, with Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary released first. It launched in Japan in February 2014 on multiple platforms, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions in December 2014, a Nintendo Switch version in March 2017, and a Windows version in February 2018.

Reader's Guide

Puyo Puyo Tetris is significant as a successful crossover that brought together two iconic puzzle franchises, marking Sega's return to publishing Tetris titles after an eight-year gap. It was the first English-localized Puyo Puyo game in over a decade, expanding the series' reach outside Japan. The game sold over 1.4 million copies worldwide by November 2020, with the 3DS version being the best-selling in Japan during its first week. It received positive reception, including a 9/9/9/8 score from Famitsu and an 8/10 from PlayStation LifeStyle for the Vita version, which praised Adventure and Swap modes. The PS4 and Switch versions won the 'Game, Puzzle' award at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards. The Windows version, released on Steam, included all DLC and 4K output support but was criticized for using Denuvo DRM and suffered from launch issues that were later patched. A sequel, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, followed in 2020.

Did You Know?

• The game includes characters modeled and named after the seven Tetrominos.
• The Xbox One version was one of seven Xbox One titles to be Japan exclusive.
• The Windows version was released on Steam on February 27, 2018.
• The Nintendo Switch version was a launch title for the system in Japan.