Super Puzzle Fighter II X

Take the legendary fighters from Street Fighter and Darkstalkers, shrink them into cute super-deformed versions and pit them against each other in a battle of falling gems. That is how Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was born, one of the cleverest and most entertaining puzzle games ever made, which shone on the Dreamcast in the version marked X.

The mechanic is beautifully thought out. Players stack falling colored gems against each other along with Crash Gems, which shatter entire clusters of the same color at once. The bigger the block a player builds and detonates all at once, the more nuisance blocks they dump onto their opponent. It is a duel of nerves and foresight, where one well-timed combo can turn the whole match around while your little character on screen performs attack animations.

Behind the game stands Capcom, cleverly recycling its all-star fighting roster. Characters like Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li or Morrigan from Darkstalkers serve as mascots here, each with their own distinctive pattern of sending blocks to the opponent. Combining two very different genres, fighting and puzzle, was a brilliant marketing and gameplay move that appealed to both audiences.

Culturally, Puzzle Fighter earned a reputation as a title that is every bit as good in multiplayer as Tetris or Puyo Puyo, which clearly inspired it. It became a fixture at parties and in gaming communities and is still remembered today as one of the best competitive puzzle experiences. Its cute aesthetic turns an otherwise merciless duel into a joyful spectacle.

The Dreamcast version benefited from the console's power and smooth performance. It is a title you can understand in a few minutes, but whose mastery takes hours, and a match between two experienced players is a gripping spectacle full of twists. An ideal piece for anyone who enjoys competitive play on a single screen.

Why play: For the brilliant fusion of fighting and puzzle that offers one of the best competitive experiences on a shared screen.