Puyo Puyo Champions (PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 & Nintendo Switch)
A somewhat lesser known associate of Tetris, Puyo Puyo is still a mainstream franchise in the competitive puzzle vertical. Puyo Puyo has been available on a large number of platforms over the past 15 years but this release contains both an updated version of Puyo Puyo 2 as well as Puyo Puyo Fever which encompasses a few new dynamics for more frantic competitive gameplay.
With an ability to play with up to four players at any time (if you have access to the joy-cons) on a single Nintendo Switch in Tablet mode or in docked mode Puyo Puyo Champions is perfect for a couch gaming session for multiple players.
Slightly easier to get into that the aforementioned competitor, Puyo Puyo Champions (and its variants) rely on players matching four coloured blocks together to clear those coloured blocks in its simplest form. In its more advanced playstyle, players attempt to form chains of matches by building towers of interconnected colours that when the first match is made, creates another match with the coloured Puyos that remain on the screen and fall due to the gaps created in the stack.
Puyo Puyo Fever takes the standard competitive model one step further by affording each character a special “Fever” mode. Activated by filling an onscreen meter through matches; Fever mode automatically engages and clears the screen of the current state, giving the player an instant predetermined selection of matches and stacks that can be chained very quickly to cause havoc for their competitors.
Once complete and the Fever bar drains, the previous state returns and players return to creating matches and clearing their screen. Fever matches tend to be faster paced since players experienced in maximising the Fever Mode quickly multiply up the number of Puyos that are dropped on their opponent for successful matches.
With single player, local multiplayer and online play (which can be controlled via online controls on Nintendo Switch), Puyo Puyo Champions is easy to pick up, hard to master and even more difficult to put down.
Puyo Puyo Champions is available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 & Nintendo Switch.
