Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

"Capcom scores with a fun, easy-to-play puzzle game."

Let's face it, Capcom isn't exactly known for their puzzle games. Street Fighter 2, Final Fight, and Breath of Fire really defined their company's efforts in the days of the SNES. However, when the company did decide to release a game in the Tetris-clone filled waters of the puzzle genre, they instead created an easy to learn and fun effort called Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo. The name itself already intrigued me because it poked fun at the company's own efforts to capitalize off of the SF name just by adding more titles to it. The rest of the game doesn't disappoint, either. It focuses on the ''intellectual puzzle battling'' that the Street Fighters and Darkstalkers perform on their free time. Each player (or one player and the computer) chooses an individual Pocket-Fighter looking character, and each has their own unique abilities in the gem-dropping puzzle game.

Graphics
The game's visuals don't exaclty max out the use of the Playstation's capabilities, but they are clean and colorful (like a puzzle game should look like). The game makes use of different colored gems (and color plays a large role in matching things up and scoring combos- more on that in Gameplay) and they are not an eyesore. It is great to see the SF and DS fighters in their ''Pocket'' form (read: short, squat little brats who are hillariously animated). They even do their ''supers'' in the course of the matches, and these are well detailed and cartoony. My facvorite character, of course, is still Dan...
(8/10)

Sound
The music in the game matches the overall cartoonish feel of the graphics. They range from rockin' remixes of old-school SF background tunes (like Ryu's old SNES level) to new, upbeat techno efforts. Everything fits, and the bass and catchy hooks are there to dig into your head. The real showstopper here, however, is the sound effect quality. Each character has several little noises and taunts they make (in Japanese, which makes it funnier if we Americans try to emulate the taunts) when they are winning the game. There are even a few sadistic laughs from Morrigan along the way. I really enjoyed the use of these taunts to heighten the competetive spirit of SPF2T- and this is crucial to making a game of this type work.
(8/10)

Control
The controls are the standard Tetris-inspired move the block with the control pad, rotate it with the button system. It works and it's functional, but occasionally it gets a little slippery when you are trying to make a tight fit with the block. It's nothing overly frustrating but it is a flaw nonetheless.
(6/10)

Gameplay
Super Puzzle Fighter borrows elements from Tetris and Dr. Mario, and adds a few new things to differentiate it from everything else. The game requires you to manipulate two-colored blocks by rotating them, hopefully keeping blocks of the same color together whenever possible. As these blocks are kept together, you may even form larger gems if you can situate the colors into square or rectangular shapes. Occasionally, orbs of the four colors (red, blue, yellow, and green) will fall, and if you match these ''crash gems'' up with their color, you will break all the connected blocks of that color and remove them from your screen. Your opponent, unfortunately, will receive a number of colored ''number gems'' depending on your characters personal ''block pattern'' (in other words, what type of block you drop on your opponent depends on who you pick). These ''number gems'' take five turns before they may be used in combos, but if they are next to a combo that occurs they will break anyway. Overwhelmed yet? This game is fast-paced fun, but it never escapes your understanding (it's very easy to play and pick right up- but takes time to master). Add this to the variety of characters you can choose (plus a few secret ones) and you have a great game on your hands. It really lends itself well to competitive puzzle play in the way that Tetris never really could. However, it DOES borrow from some older themes so its originality takes a dip.
(6/10)

Story
(N/A)

Replay Value
Boy, does this game have it. Apart from the obvious two-player addictiveness, SPF2T has a ''Street Puzzle Mode'' that is chock full of special puzzle battles that you must win in order to totally unlock the game. The prizes for each battle range from the vanilla (get another color for a character when you choose them) to awesome (unlock Dan, a secret character). This really helps the game out, because you will be playing this mode for a while (and it is TOUGH to master, believe me!). Bonus points to anyone else who can make mincemeat of another player with DAN!
(7/10)

Average (7/10)...Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo is a simple, no-holds-barred foray into competitive puzzle gaming. You will be playing for hours. A great job by Capcom.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/00, Updated 03/20/00