Luigi Mario

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo 

Developer: Capcom   Publisher: Capcom

Platform: Arcade (though it is out on the first PS, Saturn, PSP, GBA, and PC)

Intoduction:

The year is 1996. Capcom, having much success with it's Street Fighter and Darkstalker (known in Japan as Vampire) series, decides to take a break from the edgy fighting game world, and release a game that's a more relaxed  (and somewhat kiddy) puzzle game that features famous characters from their two most famous fighting game franchises only deformed! This game has also acheived somwhat cult status due to it's cuteness and addictive gameplay! Also, keep in mind, Capcom never actually made a Puzzle Fighter 1. It was just a inside (yet homage) joke to it's many Street Fighter 2 titles.

Reviewed by: Legend

Graphics: A  

Well Capcom's CPS2 hardware really pushes the limits here! The characters are very well detailed and look just like their grown up counterparts! It's almost like watchin an anime! The backgrounds are also very well drawn and detailed! Also, the effects in the game are really cool to look at because they are so bright and colorful. The gems are also very nice to look at due to them being so colorful! All in all, the graphics are topnotch...which shouldn't really be surprising since it's a Capcom game.

Sound: A+    

Wow...what to say about the sound? Well, here's one word...EXCELLENT! The music is very well composed and fans of both sereis will recongize the theme songs for each character...only it's made in a more friendly and relaxing manner as opposed to the edgy soundtracks in their respective fighting games. Morrigan's theme is by far the best in my opinion. The character voices also sound good. They basically sound like their grown up counterparts...but younger. They basically sound "cuter" than their grown up counterparts so to speak, lol. They will also say things whenever the gems will do damage while they're taunting their opponents. The overall strongpoint of the soundtrack is by far the music itself.

Control: A         

Ummm...I can't really say anything about the controls. All you do is hit a button to switch the gems around. And you can move left and right. So I guess there's no complaints about the controlling.

Gameplay: A      

The gameplay is surpsingly good! The object of the game is to line up the colors the best way possible while trying to do damage to your opponent while your character does some humorous moves on the battlfield. It's kind of like the game Puyo Puyo. Except in this game, you have things that are called Crash Gems which destroys that certain color of a gem it's alligned with. The more gems you stack up the better! While you eliminate the gems, Counter Gems will appear on the opponent's side to make things more difficult. The Counter Gems will also be the same color of the regular gems but will have a countdown on them. These will eventually turn into regular gems after they reach zero (they countdown after every gem descends) however. As time goes on, a diamond with a certain colored gem attached to it will come down and eliminate all gems of that color (and Counter Gems of that color too). It's pretty simple right? Well not really. Playing against another human player is actually really fun and will lead to hours of play! But going against the AI, however, will become boring and just plain ol' frustrating. Why? Because the computer will be in a situation where it's impossible to recover from, and then all of the sudden catch all the way back up and win! This happens alot...most notably in Akuma's case! Overall, it's pretty solid!

Oveall: B+        

The game is very fun despite it's age! But that shouldn't really come as a surprise since this is a Capcom game. It's nice to see the serious Street Fighter and Darkstalker chraracters in a more humorous tone. Though the gameplay is addicting it can get old fast when you're not playing with another player. The computer just doesn't give you the satisfaction of beating it as opposed to another human player! Though I still prefer the fighing games to this, I personally think it's one of the best puzzle games I've played! Give it a try...you might like it :)!