Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
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| Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of Puzzle Fighter. |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, GBA, PC Windows, Playstation Portable (Capcom Puzzle World), Dreamcast (Japan only), Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Windows PC |
| Release date | (PSN) August 30, 2007 (XBLA) August 29, 2007 JP May 31, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) |
| Input methods | 8-way joystick, 2 buttons |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | CPS-2 |
| Display | Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors |
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, also known as Puzzle Fighter, is a one or two player puzzle game first released in Japan as Super Puzzle Fighter II X (スーパーパズルファイターIIX Sūpā Pazuru Faitā Tsū Ekkusu?) in the spring of 1996 by Capcom on the CPS-2 arcade system. Shortly after its Japanese release, the game was released in other parts of the world where it received modest popularity in gaming communities. Puzzle Fighter has steadily maintained its popularity among both new and longtime fans due to its easy to learn, lighthearted, and entertaining gameplay.
Although it has "II" in its title, it is not a direct sequel of any game. The title is simply a parody of the Street Fighter II series (in particular Super Street Fighter II Turbo), while the music and interface elements spoof that of Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter Alpha 2.
On April 13, 2007, Capcom announced Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, for Windows PC, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
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[edit] Gameplay
Puzzle Fighter is a puzzle game which is inspired by the Capcom arcade game Pnickies and Sega arcade game Baku Baku Animal.[citation needed] As in that game, the player controls pairs of blocks ("gems" in game parlance) that drop into a pit-like playfield (twelve blocks tall by six blocks wide, with the fourth column from the left being thirteen blocks high). In Puzzle Fighter, however, gems can only be eliminated by coming into contact with a Crash Gem of the same color, which eliminates all adjacent gems of that color, setting up the potential for huge chain reactions. As gems are eliminated, "garbage blocks" called Counter Gems will drop into the opponent's playfield; these will eventually become normal gems, but only after they count down to zero (most Counter Gems start at "5" and are reduced by one each time a new pair of gems is dropped on that board), and until that time they cannot be eliminated by normal means. (The only way to eliminate Counter Gems before they become normal gems is to place a Crash Gem of that color nearby so it eliminates at least one normal gem. If this is done, all Counter Gems immediately adjacent to the Crash Gem will be taken out as well). Additionally, gems of the same color that form squares or rectangles (of at least two blocks tall and wide) in the pit become a giant Power Gem of that size and color; eliminating these as part of a combo increases the number of Counter Gems that would otherwise normally appear on the opponent's board. The only other type of piece to appear is a diamond, which eliminates all the gems—normal, Power, Counter, and Crash alike—of whichever color gem it lands on (this, too, will cause Counter Gems to appear on the opponent's board; however, it will always be a smaller number than if the same number of gems had been eliminated as part of a normal chain reaction). The diamond piece appears every 25 pieces.
During the game, super deformed versions of various characters from Capcom's two main fighting game series (Street Fighter and Darkstalkers), will act out a comical battle based on how the game is going. Every time one player sends Counter Gems to his or her opponent, his or her character will perform a typical fighting-game action, anything from a taunt to a special move. The more Counter Gems the player sends over, the "bigger" the move the character will perform. These animations, however, are purely cosmetic and have no actual bearing on the gameplay(other than to indicate the magnitude of the counters).
The game continues until one player's field reaches the top of its fourth column (which is where all new gems first appear). That player is the loser.
HD Remix was announced to include several graphical upgrades in the interface, character sprites, levels, and endings, as well as the three gameplay modes included in the Dreamcast version; X-Mode, Y-Mode, and Z-Mode. Whereas X-mode is more of a rebalanced version of the core game, Y-Mode and Z-Mode have more drastic gameplay changes. Y-Mode makes the gems break as soon as three or more are aligned in a row, column, or diagonally, like in Columns, whereas Z-mode makes lines of gems rise up from the bottom of the screen, and the player controls a 2x2 square cursor, with which he rotates already-placed pieces, similarly to Tetris Attack.
[edit] Characters
As noted above, all of the playable characters in Puzzle Fighter (with one exception) are borrowed from Capcom's two major fighting game series, Street Fighter and Darkstalkers. The super deformed take on these characters gave the game a unique, light-hearted feel that served as a deserved break from the rough and edgy fighting games that were prevalent at the time of Puzzle Fighter's initial release. A fighting game using these character sprites called Pocket Fighter was released in 1997.
- Ryu (Street Fighter)
- Ken (Street Fighter)
- Chun-Li (Street Fighter)
- Sakura (Street Fighter)
- Morrigan (Darkstalkers)
- Donovan (Darkstalkers) and Anita (appears with him, does not fight)
- Hsien-Ko (Darkstalkers)
- Felicia (Darkstalkers)
[edit] Hidden characters
- Akuma (Street Fighter)
- Dan (Street Fighter)
- Devilot (Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness)
[edit] Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is a downloadable game in the Puzzle Fighter franchise for Windows PC, PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network) and Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade). HD Remix was announced to include several graphical upgrades in the interface, character sprites, and levels.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix has updated high-definition graphics. Each of the four colours of the gems have been associated with an element and given a new animation. Backgrounds and characters have also been redrawn, while the character sprites have been run through a bilinear filter.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix supports 4 player in multiplayer, spectator mode, online play and rankings. Also featured are the three gameplay modes included in the Dreamcast version: X-Mode, Y-Mode, and Z-Mode, and an additional X' ("X dash")[1] Mode. Whereas X'-mode is a rebalanced version of the core game (X-mode), Y-Mode and Z-Mode have more drastic gameplay changes. Y-Mode makes the gems break as soon as three or more are aligned in a row, column, or diagonally. Z-mode makes lines of gems rise up from the bottom of the screen, and the player controls a 2x2 square cursor, which rotates already-placed pieces, similar to Ultimate Block Party.[2]
A Windows version is planned but development has not begun yet.[3]
[edit] Changes from the original Puzzle Fighter
- Crash Gems now have elemental visual effects associated with them. Red gems are now Fire, Green gems are Plants, Blue gems are Water, and Yellow gems are Lightning. This does not affect gameplay and is purely a visual alteration.
- In the original Puzzle Fighter, the tempo of the music would gradually speed up the closer you or your opponent was to losing the match. Puzzle Fighter HD does not feature this.
- In addition to the standard difficulty selection (Easy, Normal, and Hard), home console ports of Puzzle Fighter let the player set an alternate difficulty level (marked by a number of stars up to five), which changed the default speed at which gems would fall. This was removed for Puzzle Fighter HD.
- Street Puzzle Mode from the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, and PC versions is not accessible. Some of the bonus content acquired through this mode is already unlocked when you begin (The ability to play as the secret characters), but most was removed.
- Dan's "Saikyo-Ryu Dojo" Tutorial has been removed. Normally it would appear if you left the game on the title screen for too long (in console versions, it could also be accessed from the main menu); In it, Dan would provide a visual demonstration to show the player the basics of playing Puzzle Fighter. It has been replaced with a four page text-only tutorial under "How to Play" in Options.
- Most fighting games of the era (including the original Puzzle Fighter) contained a number of different "Win Taunts" a character would pick at random to say to the losing player after a match. Puzzle Fighter HD removes most of the "Win Taunts", leaving only one per character.
- There are a number of palette errors in the sprites themselves. For example, during the Intermission featuring Akuma in his cave, all of the demons have garbled colors.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Capcom web site
- Joystiq article detailing the announcement of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
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