Puyo Pop (video game)

Puyo Pop, known as (Minna de Puyo Puyo; みんなでぷよぷよ, "Everybody Puyo Puyo") in Japan, is a Puyo Puyo game made for the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows. It is the last game in the series to use the original Madou Monogatari cast.

The Japanese title refers to the game's four player mode and became a staple in future games. The Western title is simply named Puyo Pop, a recycled title from the Neo-Geo Pocket version of Puyo Puyo 2.

Out of all the Puyo Puyo games, this one seems to be the most directly influenced by Puyo Puyo 2, though some of the elements in game are reminiscent of Puyo Puyo~n, such as the Special Rule.

Plot
The Dark Prince, the main "villain" from the previous games, is once again up to no good. He splits up five gold runes, and they are handed off to different individuals across the globe. The Dark Prince then sets up a Puyo Puyo contest. Carbuncle runs off for it, and Arle gives chase, thus starting her strange journey to collect the runes and find Carbuncle. At the end, it is revealed that the runes are actually a ticket for Arle and himself to go and bathe at some hot springs, made from the finest curry powder with the faintest scent for Carbuncle to trace. Arle then breaks the curry blocks, foiling the Dark Prince once again and leaving him to cry hysterically, whilst Arle uses the blocks to make curry.

Single Puyo Puyo
This mode is essentially the game's story mode. Each course is unlocked as Arle progresses through the story. An interesting feature of this mode, however, is the ability to attain and deliver various items throughout the courses. The item side quest can be played after clearing the game. Each item is received after the player completes the course for the second time. The player navigates through six different areas - Hamaji Forest, Gold Town, Gachinko Dungeon, Magical Tower, Dark Prince Castle and Trial Labyrinth - each with their own Special Rule. The first five areas are each unlocked by completing the one before it, but Trial Labyrinth has to be unlocked after completing an item delivery quest following the completion of the first five areas a second time.

Hamaji Forest
There are no special rules, and all of the opponents are easy. This would be the games equivalent to "Easy" or "Mild" in other games. Here, you face Skeleton T, Incubus and Serilly.
 * Item: Trail Labyrinth

When you give Seriri the Scale Pendant, the final course, Trial Labyrinth, will be unlocked. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

Gold Town
This course is unlocked after finishing Hamaji Forest for the first time. The Point Puyo rule is used here, and the game adds another color eventually. The characters encountered here are Kikimora, Momomo (not in the GBA version), Suketoudara, Harpy, Honey Bee (not in the GBA version), Minotauros and Nohoho.
 * Item: Scale Pendant

After completing the game, and having obtained the Nohoho Rucksack, bring the sack back here to have Nohoho trade you the Scale Pendant. Completing the course again before obtaining the Rucksack or after trading it for the Scale Pendant will unlock the Point Puyo rule. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

Gachinko Dungeon
This course is unlocked by finishing Gold Town once. The Hard Puyo rule is used here. Eventually the game will also give you five colors. The characters found here are Kikimora, Zoh Daimaoh, Choppun (not in the GBA version), Harpy, Chico (not in the GBA version), Rulue and Draco Centauros.
 * Item: Nohoho Rucksack

After finishing the game, coming back with the Flame Expander will make Draco give you the Nohoho Rucksack. Completing the course a second time before or after trading items will unlock the Hard Puyo rule. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

Magical Tower
No particular rule is used here; instead the playing field starts out with a random arrangement of Nuisance Puyo, Hard Puyo and Point Puyo. The game also gets faster. Here you meet Kikimora, Momomo (not in the GBA version), Incubus, Honey Bee (not in the GBA version), Suketoudara, Choppun (not in the GBA version), Schezo Wegey and Witch.
 * Item: Flame Expander

After finishing the game and obtaining the Dubious Book, finishing the course again will earn the player the Flame Expander. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

Dark Prince Castle
This is the final course. The rules used here are the same as above. Here you meet Lagnus the Brave, Wenellis (not in the GBA version), Saturni (not in the GBA version), Zoh Daimaoh, Chico (not in the GBA version), Minotauros, Skeleton T (!), Schezo Wegey, Rulue, and Dark Prince.
 * Item: Dark Prince Mask, Dubious Book

After finishing the course, the credits roll. Beating the course for the first time unlocks the Dark Prince Mask which adds Dark Prince as a playable character. The second time earns the Dubious Book. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

In the Japanese version, this course is called G-Satan Castle, and completing it unlocks the Satan Mask.

Trial Labyrinth
This is a secret unlockable course. It is unlocked by completing the Item trading quest by giving the Scale Pendant to Serilly. The player is then taken on a long play facing every character in the game, starting with Lagnus and ending with Dark Prince.
 * Item: Carbuncle

After Dark Prince, Carbuncle goes crazy for some reason, and challenges you as the final stage. In this battle, only 3 colors are used and the Point Puyo rule is in effect. Beating him finishes the course. It also unlocks Carbuncle as a character if it is the first completion. Every subsequent completion will unlock a character card to view in the options menu.

Double Puyo Puyo and Everybody Puyo Puyo
These are the game's two player and four player modes respectively. They allow for both single and multi-cart play. The Point and Hard Puyo rules can be used once they are unlocked. Carbuncle and the Dark Prince can also be used once they have been unlocked.

Playable Characters

 * Arle Nadja
 * Carbuncle
 * Skeleton T
 * Serilly as Seriri
 * Incubus
 * Kikimora
 * Harpy
 * Nohoho
 * Suketoudara
 * Lagnus the Brave
 * Minotauros as Minotaur
 * Draco Centauros
 * Witch
 * Zoh Daimaoh
 * Schezo Wegey
 * Rulue
 * Dark Prince (Satan in the Japanese version)

Console-exclusive characters

 * Chico
 * Honey Bee
 * Momomo
 * Choppun
 * Wenellis
 * Saturni

Card collection
Unique to Puyo Pop is a series of item delivery quests allowing the player to collect character cards of the cast. These can only be performed after the player has already beaten the normal story mode once. Once collected, the cards act as a gallery system typical of the genre, featuring artwork of the character and allowing the player to hear their voices by pressing the A button. There are 20 cards in all, with cards 19 and 20 playing music not otherwise used in the game.

Voice Cast

 * Ali Johnston - Arle Nadja
 * Ayame Kizuki - Carbuncle
 * Brendan Hunter - Incubus
 * Charles C. Campbell - Skeleton T
 * Chiara Zanni - Witch
 * Daran Norris - Momomo
 * Dave Squatch Ward - Zoh Daimaoh
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Dragon (Cameo in Chico cutscenes)
 * Denis Akiyama - Dark Prince
 * Erin M. Cahill - Lagnus the Brave (Child)
 * Evelyn Huynh - Honey Bee
 * Gerald Matthews - Minotauros
 * Hynden Walch - Chico
 * Ian James Corlett - Schezo Wegey
 * Jeff Manning - Lagnus the Brave (Grown-Up)
 * Kathleen Barr - Kikimora
 * Katie Griffin - Draco Centauros
 * Kim Strauss - Narrator at the Beginning
 * Lacey Chabert - Harpy
 * Lainie Frasier - Carbuncle (Additional voice clips)
 * Michael Sorich - Suketoudara
 * Phil Hayes - Wenellis
 * Rachael Lillis - Seriri
 * Quinton Flynn - Choppun
 * Susan Roman - Rulue
 * Thessaly Lerner - Saturni
 * Wally Wingert - Nohoho

Development
Universal Interactive Studios and Konami announced on September 21, 2000, that they had entered an agreement that would enable Konami to publish a Puyo Puyo game for next-generation game systems, with Universal Interactive handling the production of the games. Konami revealed that the Xbox version of the game would be titled Puyo Puyo X. The Game Boy Color and Dreamcast were originally included alongside the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 in the deal.

The English title for the game was tentatively titled Puyo Puyo: Everybody Puyo and went through the titles Puyo Puyo: Dark Prince's Revenge and Puyo Puyo: Puyo Panic before arriving at its final name.

Reception
Puyo POP received mostly positive reviews. It received a score of 74/100 at Metacritic, based on 14 reviews.

IGN cited it as «''a fantastic puzzle game that's enhanced simply by letting a development team exploit the Game Boy Advance's link capabilities as far as it can go. Four player Puyo Pop is just so much fun and highly recommended.».''

Trivia

 * The ranking screen includes names from other Puyo Puyo characters not included in this game, which are Panotty, Sukiyapodes, Baromett, Mummy, Will-o-Wisp, Nasu Grave, Sasoriman, Pakista, Banshee Trio, and Mini Zombie. Additionally, it includes Sonic's name in the rankings too, as well (on the console version only) several Universal Studios characters in the rankings too, which are Gabriel Garza, Ama, Claire Jones, Deon Splatt, Fiox, Cookie, Cream, Tad Sumoray, Woody Woodpecker and Zina Supermoon. Additionally on the console version, it includes Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex's name in the rankings too.
 * Even with the game's difficulty set to "hard", the opponents will still perform 1 chain over and over as they usually do on other modes, and will not be any more difficult. The only difference between the difficulties is that in hard mode, opponents move their Puyo slightly faster.
 * After defeating Dark Prince a few times in Dark Prince Castle, he will reveal that Carbuncle had picked up and swallowed the rune since the insides were made of curry powder, which happens to be both of their favorite spice.
 * The soundtrack, spare a few songs, was almost completely borrowed from Puyo Puyo Tsu, with the notation/ocative coming from the Mega Drive version and the instrumentation coming from the Super Famicom version (which was only just the case for the Game Boy Advance version, as the console versions uses what appears to be a sound font resembling Puyo Pop Fever's sound font).
 * In the GBA version, with the exception of Dark Prince, Serilly and Minotauros, all of the voices in the game are borrowed from Puyo Puyo Sun, while the console version just uses original voices.
 * Aside from Puyo Puyo Chronicle, the console and PC versions of Puyo Pop were the only Puyo Puyo games with 3D graphics. However, the intro cutscene, the cutscene that plays before the Hamaji Forest stage, and the cutscenes after defeating the Dark Prince are done in 2D animation.