Puyo Puyo Tetris

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a crossover of Tetris and Puyo Puyo, a mainstream Japanese puzzle game which provided the engine for Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Kirby's Avalanche, published by Sega. It has been released for the 3DS, Wii U, Playstation 3, and Playstation Vita. It is the first game in the Puyo Puyo series to ever have DLC. On January 12th, 2017, Sega announced that Puyo Puyo Tetris would be localized and released in the Americas and Europe for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, making this first game since Puyo Puyo Fever to do so.

Differences from Other Games
The side bars are not an indicator of incoming attacks; incoming lines are shown on the top in Puyo form, while the side bars are reserved for visualizing how much attack power you store. This game has a Puyo-style story mode, a feature absent in many other Tetris games.

Characters
These new Tetris characters are named, very directly, from the Tetrimino that they're based on (Tee is based on the T mino, Ess is based on the S mino, and so on). The only exception to this is Ex, who seems to be named after a Pentomino. Voiced by Kaoru Mizuhara (Japanese), Tee is the main protagonist, and the king-to-be of the tetrimino planet, replacing the previous king Ex. Because of this, he traveled to other worlds to train his ability. He first meet Andou Ringo, the protagonist of Puyo Puyo 7, when she accidentally got transported to the Spaceship Tetra along with Amitie, Arle Nadja, and her bunny-like sidekick and pet, Carbuncle. He became fast friends with her after a friendly battle and learned about Puyo Puyo battle from her. He initially helped them to clear the Tetriminos that were covering up both Ringo's and Amitie's world. In the end, he and the others eventually stop the problem and finally depart. It's hinted that he gained a crush on Ringo, mainly in the epilogue.
 * Tee

Tee's sidekick and the controller of the spaceship. He is often with Tee due to his job. He makes friends with both Arle and mainly Carbuncle, and just like Carbuncle, he only speaks one word, 'Bi'. He is the Tetris mascot character. Voiced by Miina Tominaga (Japanese).
 * O


 * Ess
 * A rude girl, and supposedly the youngest in the Tetra crew, who is voiced by Yui Horie (Japanese). She first met with Amitie, who was trying to find Ringo and Arle, eventually befriending her after a not-so-warm welcome. Just like Amitie, she has a child-like personality, and when she is in trouble she often cries. She also calls Zed her Papa due to his big body, despite he is in truth a robot.


 * Ai
 * An alien dog who is the smartest group of Tetra crew. Despite being the smartest, he is easily scared, and makes dog-like cries each time he gets scared, mainly when Jay and Elle toy him around for entertainment. He is the engineer and the scientist of the crew. He is shown to bring a diamond-like device to divine things. He is voiced by Yuki Tai (Japanese).


 * Jay & Elle
 * Trouble-making fraternal twins who often toy Ai around, Elle is a girl while Jay is a boy. They both love making trouble for the crew, mainly Ai, by calling him "Wan-Chan". They often speak together, and often fight each other, mainly when they lose in a Puyo Puyo or Tetris battle. They are both voiced by Miyuki Kathleen (Japanese).


 * Zed
 * The robot guardian of the Spaceship Tetra. He a is large, round robot who obsessed with body health. He is first encountered when Arle and Carbuncle got separated from Ringo and Amitie, and thinking that she broke in, started attacking them, but eventually stops. He is very loyal to the crew, and he doesn't know Ess calls him "Papa" due to his big body. Ryunosuke Watanuki (Japanese) voices this character.


 * Ex
 * The king of Tetrimino planet, voiced by Kazuki Yao (Japanese). He is mysteriously missing from the planet in order to fix the Tetris portal that broke due to its instability. He encountered O in the Primp town battle place. He is later encountered again in the road to the Tetris portal, and later in the Tetris portal, which is shaped like a door. Although they almost fail to repair the portal, two previous game antagonists, Satan, with his power to control darkness, and Ecolo, with his power of time traveling and space manipulation, helped repair the portal to its normal state. He finally departed with the Tet space crew when it was fixed. He has his own chapter in the downloadable content, which focuses on him getting out of his dream.

Modes

 * The story mode, named Adventure Mode, is a master story line spanning 7 chapters each with 10 stages. Each stage is either a battle with a COM player or a single player challenge. An additional 3 bonus chapters can be bought as DLC, playing through the mode unlocking additional alternative voice clips, backgrounds, and Puyo and Tetris skins.


 * A "Challenge" tab contains other game modes such as Endless Fever, Mini Puyo, Marathon, Sprint, and others.

Versus
The basic battle rule. In this mode, it is possible to make a match between Puyo Puyo VS Tetris (as in the title of the game itself) not to mention Puyo VS Puyo, and Tetris VS Tetris. The Tetris side does not work differently from modern multiplayer Tetris games. A match can start even with players choosing different modes.

Swap
In Swap mode, you have two play fields: one W6H12 field where Puyo fall, and one W10H20 field where Minos fall. Every 25 seconds (as shown on the timer) you must toggle between Puyo Puyo and Tetris. The game does not wait for the current piece to finish dropping before swapping, and the current piece will continue to drop (without player control) after the swap. Clears started before the change can combo with furthers clear in the current field, creating extra damage, for example, clearing a long chain while in wait for an I to fall and score a Tetris.

Big Bang
You can play as Puyo or Tetris in this mode. The Puyo Puyo player is in Fever mode, and the rules are according to Endless Fever mode; premade chains fall from the top of the field, and you must either set it off, or extend it slightly for a better score. The Tetris player has "Lucky Attack", where you must clear pre-made patterns often by employing SRS Triples. After a set period of time, the timer stops, and compares the points the player has made. The one who made fewer points receives damage from the other, shrinking the health bar. A player is eliminated when their field is completely shattered, and the last player standing is the winner.

Party
The players compete for score and can use items in battle. Items like the Slot Mode in 20th Anniversary and Tetris Party can be a personal buff or a debuff sent to other players and they fall from the top of the field, and you can gain those by clearing lines through them or popping Puyo next to it like getting rid of Nuisance/Garbage Puyo. This is the only game mode where a top-out does not result in a loss (cf. Tetris Friends). The winner is the One who Scores the Most Points. This is the most harshly criticized mode by far in the game.

Fusion (Puyo-Tet-Mix)
Definitely the most chaotic and hardest-to-learn game mode of the whole game. Fusion mode takes place in a playfield of W8H16, an average of the W6H12 Puyo field and the W10H20 Tetris field. Both Puyo and Minos fall in the field. Minos sink to the bottom while Puyo loop through and fall from the top after they are squashed. To send more damage to the opponent, the player must combine a Puyo chain with Tetris line clears. The dropset consists of eight Puyo drops (post-Fever), two Tetriminos and one special drop, which can be a piece that switches repeatedly between Puyos and a Tetrimino, or a golden 1-to-2-block Tetris piece.

Marathon
This mode uses the fixed goal system. The player can achieve high scores before clearing 150 lines. For every 10 lines cleared, the level will increase.

Sprint
Achieve best times in clearing 40 lines.

Ultra
A 3 minute mode where the player must achieve high scores.

Controversy
Most Japanese fans were excited by the announcement of the crossover, while some cautious ones thought that it would break no new ground, and instead even harm the series by replacing some playable Puyo Puyo characters with Tetris characters to make room for these new characters. This game is the first ever Puyo game to have DLC, while many fans loved the Puyo series for being a DLC-free haven.

Some overseas fans have wished this game to be ported worldwide, but others disagree that the Puyo series is not known enough abroad to make the crossover work without any misconceptions (e.g. Puyo is a Tetris spinoff). It was also originally unlikely that Sega would be able to acquire rights to publish a Tetris-branded game in non-JA territories on XB1 / PS 4 due to these rights probably being held exclusively by Ubisoft (publishers of Tetris Ultimate) for the time being. Coming spring 2017, this game will be released in the Americas and European regions for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Images
The default Mino skin: