Puyo Puyo 1991

About

The first game in the popular puzzle series, released one year before the "Action Puzzle Game" arcade title that would turn it into a household name.

Story

The main game of Puyo Puyo is played against at least one opponent, computer or human. The game itself has three modes, Single Puyo Puyo, Double Puyo Puyo, and Endless Puyo Puyo. In Single mode, the player takes on the role of Arle Nadja, a 16-year-old female spellcaster that has the pleasure of foiling the Dark Prince's plans. The Dark Prince wishes to take over the world, and Arle stands in his way. As such, Arle must first however battle her way through 12 opponents before facing the Dark Prince. With the exception of Rulue, they are not sent by the Dark Prince, and mostly they just want to pull shenanigans with her (for Rulue, she fell in love with the Dark Prince). Once Arle has beaten the Dark Prince, the world is saved, so she can return home. As in all main Puyo games, the story mode consists of playing Puyo matches against a fixed sequence of characters in one of three courses. In Double mode, two players play against each other. In exactly the same fashion as before, by out-chaining one another, the player tries to fill up their opponent's grid. Since the rules of sending so many garbage blocks made games short-lived, no matter how many chains are sent, Compile added the rule of Offsetting in Puyo Puyo 2 and onwards. This lets players counter opponents' attacks with chains of their own, sending any garbage blocks back to them as a result of overflow. In endless mode, the player must continually match puyos to get the highest score they can. In Mission mode, the player must complete 52 missions requiring the Puyos on the field to be eliminated by using limited pieces.

What is happening now

Puyo Puyo is a tile-matching puzzle game that debuted on PC-9801 hardware in the early 1990s, establishing itself as a fixture of arcade and home console puzzle gaming. The series has since appeared across numerous platforms, from the Famicom to MSX2 systems. The game recently saw a new release with EGGCONSOLE "PUYO PUYO" arriving on Switch in late August 2026, bringing the classic puzzler to Nintendo's current hardware. This port continues the franchise's pattern of reintroduction across modern systems, introducing the straightforward matching mechanics to contemporary audiences.