by Amr (@siegarettes)

[TRANSCRIPT]

Sonic Team has made one of the best games of the year. It doesn’t have Sonic, it’s not even a platformer. It is, of all things, a fighting game. So move over Capcom, Arc Sys, and make way for Puyo Puyo Tetris.

Maybe you want to argue semantics, say that Puyo Puyo Tetris isn’t a *real* fighting game. It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or who is right. What’s clear is that Puyo Puyo Tetris has the hot-blooded, full-bodied soul of a real competitive game. What’s incredible about it is the way that it slowly unravels the depths which it runs.

I had little experience with Puyo Puyo, so I was initially drawn in by Tetris, figuring that i could organize and clear lines efficiently enough to compete with friends. And for a while it worked, and I was able to make up my weaknesses by playing cleanly. I practiced Puyo on the side, trying to get to grips with it.

Then I realized that not even the Tetris i was playing was currently. Suddenly I was deep into theory, losing sleep as I practiced combos, T-spins, and perfect clears. I learned staircase patterns and set off combos to chain from a board of Puyo pieces to Tetris lines.

In its best moments, Puyo Puyo Tetris is as dynamic as any other fighter. there are fake outs and mind games, desperate moments of hanging on, and plenty of nth hour comebacks. it’s deep, exhilarating, and frustrating.