Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Puzzle Fighter is a puzzle game which is similar to the Sega arcade game Baku Baku Animal.^[6] As in the Capcom arcade game Pnickies, 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. When gems are eliminated, "garbage blocks" called Counter Gems 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. 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. The diamond is supposed to create half the number of Counter Gems as a normal chain reaction. However, there is a bug that allows players to bypass this reduction.^[11]) The diamond piece appears every 25 pieces.

Puzzle Fighter borrowed rules originally found in Puyo Puyo 2 called Sousai (Garbage Countering). This will allow a player to counter and negate garbage being sent by the opponent with chains of their own. Sousai can also be used to send garbage back to the opponent, known as Garbage overflow.

During the game, super deformed versions of various characters from Capcom's two main fighting game series (Street Fighter and Darkstalkers) act out a comical battle based on how the game is going.^[6] Every time one player sends Counter Gems to their opponent, their 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.

The Dreamcast version of the game adds three separate modes: X-Mode, Y-Mode and Z-Mode. Whereas X-mode is the original 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 they rotate already-placed pieces, similarly to Tetris Attack.

The puzzle fighters on the roster are crossing over from Capcom's two major fighting game sequels that were recent at the time, such as Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge. A spin-off that uses most of these character sprites called Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix was released in 1997.

• Ryu from Street Fighter
  • Ryu is an eternal warrior. He searches the world for opponents, but the person he competes most against... is himself. Ryu strives for fighting perfection. Every battle is an opportunity for self-analysis and reflection; to refine weaknesses and strengthen already powerful attacks. Puzzle Fighter proves that Ryu is just as serious when it comes to strengthening his mind. Unfortunately, Ryu lacks creativity, and the Attack Pattern that he has devised for himself is the second most easiest in the game next to Dan's red only pattern.
  • Ryu's attack pattern is, without question, the easiest attack pattern to counter in the entire game (next to Dan). With six solid columns of unchanging color, opponents of Ryu find themselves with ready made towers of linked gems that they can crash for tremendous damage. There's two distinct ways to counter Ryu's attack pattern. One is to align your own tower of Gems next to where one color is naturally bound to fall, creating a large Power Gem in the process. Another is to build bridges of red and yellow gems from the left side of the play field to the right, which allows you to destroy one side of the tower and watch the reaction cascade down, over, and back up the other side. Truly, selecting Ryu is something player's only do to handicap themselves against weaker players.
• Ken from Street Fighter
  • When it comes to fighting, it's hard to beat Ken. He exudes confidence, and believes in his ability to beat all challengers. So naturally, when it comes to Puzzle Fighting, Ken is just as sure that he can puzzle fight with the best of them. He may not have been the most disciplined before he left home to train in Japan as a young boy, but after his experience under Gouken's tutelage, and befriending the quiet but powerful Ryu, he returned home with a greater sense of self. Deep down inside, however, he always longs to prove himself against the greatest rival he has ever known; his friend Ryu.
  • In the hands of a novice, Ken is terrible. In the hands of an expert, Ken is near unstoppable. The problem with Ken is that chip damage results in a flood of small red Counter Gem blocks, which will quickly amass and create a large red Gem chain, or Power Gem, which can be saved up by an opponent, and used to instantly wipe Ken out. However, large drop of alternating rows of color can be devastating to opponents. Uneven playfields create few to no opportunities for chains or Power Gems at all. A good Ken player will save Crash Gems for particularly huge amounts of destruction and flood an opponent with a difficult situation to dig out of, rather than sending small amounts of red Counter Gems that are easily countered.
• Chun-Li from Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
  • Chun-Li has been a mainstay of the Street Fighter series since her introduction as the world's strongest woman since 1991. She has appeared in just about every Street Fighter franchise, and then some. Her design, combined with her indomitable spirit, has catapulted her popularity to the top of the list alongside Ken and Ryu.
  • Chun-Li's attack pattern is not as easy as Ryu's, but it's not much better. The biggest problem with it is that it results in the automatic creation of a number of power gems for the opponent if a large number are dropped on a relatively level surface. Even when it's not, the green and red Counter Gems tend to create links, making it easier to return punishment back to Chun-Li. For chip damage, she's not much better, as the near constant pairs of red, green, and blue tend to create large columns in the opponent's play field. Chun-Li's best tactic is to bombard opponents with one large drop, followed by continuous chips to overwhelm the opponent before he or she has a chance to clear out the initial drop.
• Sakura from Street Fighter Alpha 2
  • Sakura is the young competitive school girl who seeks to train under Ryu, after seeing him foil armed robbers with just his fists. She loves to compete and strives to be the best at everything she does. So naturally, she enjoys a good round of puzzle fighter as well. Her spirit is almost unstoppable—even in defeat, she makes sure to learn how she can do better the next time and win. Sakura may be young, but she is fast becoming one of the best puzzle fighters around.
  • Sakura's attack pattern have been described as a mix of Ryu's attack pattern on the outside, and Ken's attack pattern in the middle. While an accurate description, it's not much better than Ryu's, and has considerably less potential than Ken's. Sakura's attack pattern has the same weakness as Felicia; opponents can easily counter it by positioning green Gems to the left and yellow Gems to the right. When Rainbow Gems arrive, landing one on top of a blue Gem typically results in a large red Power Gem being formed in the middle. It can be tough to win with Sakura. Chip damage just sets opponents up for a large red Gem, and large attacks are still vulnerable on the sides.
• Morrigan from Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
  • Morrigan simply loves conflict. It's not about a victory for her, it's about the effort expended and the pain inflicted. She loves that, and thrives on it. She's also a playful flirt. She enjoys toying with her opponents as much as she enjoys fighting them. As a succubus, she has many powers, most of which are not fully understood. She has an ability to quickly alter her appearance from her original outfit to that of her opponents, which she does, again, for fun.
  • Morrigan certainly has one of the better attack patterns after Donovan and Ken. With three different colors in her bottom row and a complete change in columns after two rows, Morrigan can punish players with both chip damage, and large attacks. Small attacks result in a variety of colors being dropped. Large attacks may commonly result in Power Gems being created in the middle, but rarely ever chains. Countering Morrigan can be a little difficult, but even arranging towers of blue or yellow Gems along the sides can help create counterattack opportunities. Alternatively, opponents may choose to amass red Gems in the center, with hopes of creating a large Power Gem.
• Donovan from Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
  • Donovan is the mysterious Dhampir, half-man half-vampire, as well as the Vampire Hunter. A practitioner of a very mystical form of Buddhism, Donovan wields an enchanted sword named Dhylec.
  • Donovan's attack pattern is considered one of the stronger, if not the strongest, attack patterns in the game. Expert match-ups are dominated by Ken and Donovan players. While Ken is only deadly in expert hands, even weaker players can do relatively well against opponents as Donovan. This happens for a number of reasons. In small doses, Donovan's pattern appears as weak as Ryu's. However, with only two colors dropping, players may find it hard to take advantage of the solely red and yellow bands that build up if they receive a lot of blue and green Gems. On the other hand, when Donovan does a lot of damage, the bands are interrupted by green and blue Counter Blocks which, if they land fairly close to one another, can form chains, if not Power Gems, but not very big ones. Building towers of red in the even columns, or towers of yellow in the odd columns is a good strategy to counter Donovan's attack pattern.
• Hsien-Ko (Lei-Lei in Japan) from Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
  • Hsien-Ko's innocent nature belies her deadly abilities. As a hopping corpse of Chinese legend, her power is only kept in check but the talisman that accompanies her, a form that is taken by Hsien-Ko's twin sister Mei-Ling. Should the talisman ever be absent, Hsien-Ko would lose control of the immense power within her, and kill indiscriminately. Hsien-Ko fights only when necessary, and is driven by the desire to save her mother's soul.
  • Hsien-Ko's pattern is great for chip damage, but terrible for large attacks unless they completely overwhelm the opponent. Any attack up to 12 blocks does a decent amount of disruption to opponent's chains and Power Gem attempts. However, a large attack that doesn't force an opponent to lose, will put Hsien-Ko in a dangerous position. Her large stairways of Counter Gems quickly become fodder for new chains and counterattacks that can be returned to punish Hsien-Ko. If you're going to send a large number of Gems with Hsien-Ko, check to see that the opponent's field is either very uneven, or already full of blocks.
• Felicia from Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
  • Felicia is probably the second most popular Darkstalker warrior after Morrigan, judging by the number appearances she has made outside of her original series. She is presented as a good-natured optimist who only sees the best in people, and she wants to be a star. Puzzle Fighter shows off her light-hearted sense of humor, as well as her penchant for taking cat-naps after a battle.
  • Felicia's pattern is pretty decent against average players, but expert players can exploit it rather easily. With just a tiny amount of chip damage, Felicia still drops four different colors on her opponents, enough to screw up long-term plans for wide chains and Power Gems. With a full damage attack, even Power Gems are unlikely unless the middle four columns are even. Chains will definitely form on either outer-column, and this is where counter-attack experts will thrive. By restricting green blocks to the left side of their play field, and yellow block to the right side, players can take advantage of Felicia's continuous column drop of green and yellow Gems. Opponents of Felicia are advised to use Rainbow Gems primarily on red or blue Gems, in hopes of creating a large central Power Gem out of the remaining color.

• Mei-Ling (Lin Lin in Japan) from Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
  • Mei-Ling is the elder twin sister of Hsien-Ko. In order to aid her sister in battle, she transforms herself into a talisman and attaches herself to Hsien-Ko's cap. Without the presence of this talisman, Hsien-Ko's powers would grow beyond Hsien-Ko's ability to control, and she would rampage with no ability to stop herself.
• Anita from Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
  • One day on one of his many journeys, Donovan came across a young girl named Anita. She was an orphan, who was almost completely emotionless. Shunned by her orphanage as a witch, she exhibited a strange and unexplained power. As Donovan came onto the scene, Anita was threatened by a hideous monster. Coming in and easily dispatching the monster, he too is feared by Anita's cowardly guardians. As Donovan turned to leave, Anita began to motion towards Donovan without any words. The people explained that Anita had never exhibited any kind of emotion or word ever since her family was slaughtered by an unknown Darkstalker. Nonchalantly taking his sword Dhylec and slicing off the head of Anita's doll, he proved to the people that Anita's heart wasn't lost as she showed anger at Donovan decapatating her doll by responding with a violent psychic force. Donovan easily subdued the attack and told Anita that anger was the quickest and most easily summoned emotion, and that her anger was proof that she could still heal her own heart. With no where else to go, Donovan welcomed Anita to accompany him to not only find herself, but to help Donovan fight off the evil Darkstalkers as Anita had the unique ability to find them as well. Donovan would help Anita have her revenge and not follow the same troubled path as he. Donovan couldn't figure it out, but he felt that Anita was special, and that she had to be protected. Thus, Donovan became Anita's guardian, and the "bane" of evil everywhere. He felt the presence of an oncoming evil on the horizon and knew Anita felt the same. Anita also has kept that headless Doll ever since.

• Dan from Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams ^[12]
  • Dan is an overly confident boastful fighter with relatively poor abilities and skill. As a result, his depiction in Puzzle Fighter is pretty much the same, and the reason he is so poor should be obvious: his drop pattern in one solid color of red. If Dan does not quickly wipe out his opponent, most of the time his opponents will counter with one of the largest red Power Gems and links available in the game, for an unstoppable defeat.
  • It takes very little to realize why Dan is so bad. His Attack Pattern consists of nothing but row upon row of red Counter Gems. If these gems don't over take his opponent very quickly, then they transform into what is essentially Dan's death sentence. Even a considerably large drop by Dan can result in favorable conditions for his opponent, unless the precious red Crash Gem that they so desperately need fails to appear. This can lead to interesting results, with Dan players lucking out as their opponents stop focusing on moves that could help them win, and pay too much attention to the gigantic vein of red Gems in their play field. Winning with Dan requires a small miracle, but it's also the ultimate insult.
• Akuma (Gouki in Japan) from Super Street Fighter II Turbo^[12]
  • Akuma is a man with no compassion. In order to become the greatest fighter that he could possibly be, he had to sacrifice his own humanity. Now he wanders the earth looking for worthy fighters to engage in combat... to the death. His fighting philosophy applies equally to his puzzle fighting. No one is spared when Akuma attacks. Akuma has perfected his Attack Pattern to optimum levels. He uses it without mercy at all times.
  • Akuma's attack pattern represents the epitome of the ultimate attack pattern. With no naturally occurring chains or Power Gems, opponents can only get lucky by having staircases in their play field that cause some of the Counter Block colors to line up. However, as a sacrifice for reaching this perfect attack pattern, Akuma suffers a penalty that only allows him to send 70% of the usual amount of Counter Blocks that another fighter with a weaker pattern would send. There is no clear way to counter Akuma's pattern. If Akuma sends an opponent small amounts of chip damage, players might be able to counter by placing green Gems in the second column from the left, and red Gems in the second column from the right.
• Devilotte from Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness^[12]
  • Devilot is the secret boss of Puzzle Fighter. Unfortunately, very few players outside of Japan even recognize who she is. This is because she is from a game that did very poorly in the arcades outside of Japan, and it was only ported to Japanese consoles. She is a boss character of the game Cyberbots, a game which allowed players to select any combination of pilot personalities along with a number of fighting mech-units. Devilot is something of a spoiled child, the product of a union between space pirates. As a result, she feels entitled to go around beating up other mech-units and stealing them for parts or for her private collection. She is accompanied by two odd looking characters, Dave the scientist and Xavier the wizard, the three travel back in time from the future of 2099 to challenge the leading and unbeatable Puzzle Fighter. Cyberbots unpopularity is the subject of one of her win quotes, "What don't you recognize me!? Cyberbots is Capcom's #1 game!"
  • If Devilot's attack pattern looks similar to Akuma's, that's because it is similar. It's the mirror image to be precise. So it has the same strengths and next to no weaknesses that Akuma's attack pattern has. As a result, Devilot also suffers from the same penalty as Akuma: she only sends 70% as many Counter Gems as other fighters would for the same amount of Gem destruction. Nevertheless, that 70% can still be extraordinarily difficult to handle, since it creates almost no opportunity for chains or Power Gems to occur naturally. You might be able to counter a weaker player by positioning red gems in the second to left column, or green gems in the second to right.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on their August 1, 1996 issue as being the sixth most-successful arcade game of the month, outperforming titles such as Tekken 2.^[32]

The arcade game received positive reviews upon release. Reviewing the arcade version, a reviewer for Next Generation commented: "The gameplay is ferociously competitive, unfairly addicting, and as intuitive as riding a bike (once you've got the hang of it), and due to luck factor, the favor swings numerous times from winner to loser and back until the very last gem drops". Additionally praising the cutesy character art and the Capcom in-jokes incorporated into the backgrounds and soundtrack, he scored it four out of five stars.^[27] Computer and Video Games compared it favorably with Tetris and Columns, but said the "big difference is the way that gems of the same colour made into squares will join to make one giant bonus gem." They said that, "when it's this much fun, it's well worth a go."^[33]

The Saturn and PlayStation versions received generally positive reviews. Shawn Smith, Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly commended the game's kid-style characters, addictive gameplay, and elements of fighting game strategy. However, Dan Hsu and Sushi-X both criticized that it is too easy to drop a large number of unremovable blocks on an opponent's side, making the game too unbalanced, and Sushi-X deemed it overall average.^[16] Glenn Rubenstein of GameSpot was pleased by the fighting game strategy elements, graphic style, hidden in-jokes and Easter eggs, and replay value, and recommended it for puzzle game fans.^[18] GamePro's Para Noid was enthusiastic about the game, writing: "The one-player modes are entertaining, but the two-player head-to-head mode is where you get intense puzzle action, providing hours of enjoyment. Street Fighter and puzzle-game fans alike should definitely give this game a look."^[34] Major Mike of the same magazine likewise said that the game is addictive fun, particularly in two-player mode.^[35]

Unlike Dan Hsu and Sushi-X, a Next Generation critic argued that the ease of dropping stacks of blocks which cannot be removed until they turn back to regular gems adds to the excitement and strategy of the gameplay. However, he criticized the dull-witted battle quips and said the Street Fighter characters are out-of-place, suggesting they had only been included for their marketing value.^[7] Contrarily, Stephen Fulljames commented in Sega Saturn Magazine: "Puzzle Fighter's main strength is its World Warrior branding. Without it, it would be just another puzzle game, and a slightly flawed one at that. With it, it becomes an altogether more worthy product." He praised the selectable characters, fighting game elements, various play modes and graphics, while criticizing the player's overdependence on the appearance of trigger gems.^[31]

Electronic Gaming Monthly named the Saturn and PlayStation versions a runner up for "Puzzle Game of the Year" (behind Bust-A-Move 3) at their 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.^[36]

In 2004, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time.^[37]

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is a downloadable game in the Puzzle Fighter franchise for 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 four players 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")^[38] Mode which rebalances several characters' drop patterns for better competitive play.

On June 10, 2019, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was released on Xbox One through backwards compatibility support of the original Xbox 360 version.

• Several characters were rebalanced by having their gem drop patterns altered.
• Crash Gems now have elemental visual effects associated with them. Red gems are now Fire, Green gems are Wind, 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 the player or their opponent was to losing the match. HD Remix does not feature this.
• In addition to the standard difficulty selection (Easy, Normal, and Hard), home console ports of Puzzle Fighter let the player alter the default speed in which gems would fall (marked by a number of stars up to five). This setting was removed for HD Remix.
• New game modes were added. X is the original Puzzle Fighter with original drop patterns, X' is the rebalanced version, Y is a connect-three based variant of the game, and Z is a completely different pre-generated rotating block style game.
• A challenge mode called "Street Puzzle" was available in the original home console ports of Puzzle Fighter. In it, the player was tasked with defeating specific characters as a means to unlock bonus content. HD Remix removes "Street Puzzle" mode entirely, as well as most of the bonus content it would unlock. What little bonus content was not cut from HD Remix is available from the beginning of the game.
• Dan's "Saikyo-Ryu Dojo" Tutorial has been removed, which was an attractive demo in the arcade version and a tutorial mode accessible from the main menu in previous home releases. In it, Dan would provide a comedic demonstration to show the player the basics of playing Puzzle Fighter. In HD Remix, it has been replaced with a four-page text-only tutorial under "How to Play" in Options.
• The original Puzzle Fighter contained a number of different "Win Taunts" that a character would pick at random to say to the losing player after a match. HD Remix 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 in the background have garbled colors.
• The "diamond trick" glitch has been eliminated. Attacks using the diamond are always at 80% strength instead of 50% (used normally) or 100% (using a glitch).
• Ken's stage is now a beach featuring chibi versions of other Street Fighter characters. In the original Puzzle Fighter, his stage was the city street setting from Street Fighter Alpha.
• Ryu's stage is now his snowy stage from Street Fighter Alpha 2. In the original Puzzle Fighter, his stage was a night time version of his stage from Street Fighter Alpha.
• There is now a gem editor mode which allows players to create their own custom drop patterns. The custom patterns are only allowed in specific gameplay modes.
• An online multiplayer function was added.

• Official Capcom website