Puyo Puyo Tsu

Puyo Puyo Tsu is the version of Compile's franchise that most players consider its peak, and on the WonderSwan it shows that competitive colored-blob matching doesn't need a big screen to thrive. The basics are familiar to everyone. Pairs of jelly-like Puyos fall from above, the player rotates and arranges them, and once four or more of the same color touch, they vanish. Whatever sits above then collapses downward, which can trigger another vanishing, and another, and another. The chain is everything here. A single well-built setup can bury an opponent under an avalanche of transparent garbage Puyos, which can't be removed directly and must be cleared by an explosion next to them.

Compared to the first game, a rule was added that turned it into a genuine sport. An incoming attack can be countered with your own chain if you manage to respond before the garbage lands, turning the match into a tug-of-war where timing matters as much as the size of the prepared combo, and a match between two experienced players looks like a fencing duel. On the WonderSwan the game runs smoothly, and the console's control layout lets you rotate falling pairs without awkward finger repositioning. The monochrome display is the only real obstacle, since the Puyos are distinguished not only by shade but also by pattern and facial expression, which the eye needs a moment to get used to.

At the time, the franchise was among the most popular things to play in the genre in Japan, and its presence on the new console was an important signal for Bandai. The game keeps its comic-book flavor, with chatty opponents and lighthearted music that makes it pleasantly cheerful even when losing. Today Puyo Puyo Tsu is still one of the best-tuned competitive puzzle titles ever made, and the handheld version is a reminder that this system works on any hardware able to tell a few shapes apart. Anyone who pushes through the early phase, where chains form more by luck than by design, discovers a game with an enormous skill ceiling, something rarely found in the genre.