Puyo Puyo

[warelander]

I just found this and figured I'd share it, since I find it hysterical :

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=63753674

I like to think that that's just how Ringo sees Yu and Rei in general.

 

[Magma]

A couple random pictures I swiped from the old Puyo Nexus imageboard back in 2010 or 2011 that seem to have gotten a little rare.

 

[warelander]

Ah hey, I saw the one with Satan on his car before, but cut off where the Compile logo is, made me wonder for the longest time if it was official or not.

Speaking of rare art, here's the second Puyo Drama CD cover, without any logos :

and the DVD cover art for Puyo Puyo Live:

I put those on my blog not long ago, because that stuff needs to be kept easily available.

 

[puyokid]

It is a popular trope in Japan as is, I guess that's just when it started to pick up even more? I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough about that to say for sure.

Maybe(?) Just like you, I'm not THAT knowledgeable to know about this kind of this, though I'd be if I said that wasn't vaguely aware that this trope in anime was starting to pick up steam in the late 2000's at the very least. As we know, PP7 was released in that time-frame (2009), BTW.

I just found this and figured I'd share it, since I find it hysterical :

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=63753674

I like to think that that's just how Ringo sees Yu and Rei in general.

Honestly, I don't know what it is, but there's something just gut-busting hilarious to me about Ringo (with THAT face) clutching to Sig (of all people) for dear life.

As for Yu and Rei, I also bet that's how Ringo truly sees those adorable little ghost twins. Still, isn't Rei simply sticking his tongue out REALLY far?

Then again, with how Ringo's so scared of ghosts, and Rei's overall silence in conversation, I guess it makes sense that she'd see him like that at the worst.

Man, Puyo SUN must have been something REALLY special to Compile for them to make SO many pieces of artwork pertaining to that game for 2-3 years AFTER its initial release. Yes, I know the game was ported to various systems over the span of those 2 -3 years, but still.

Satan....in a track suit..........

First of all, I'd actually like to see a modern sequel to PuyoLympics. BTW, were Arle and Witch the only playable characters in that, or were there more?

Second of all...why has SEGA not added this to Quest yet?? Seriously, I'd LOVE to see "Coach Satan/Dark Coach" in a SEGA-era Puyo game!

If I'm being honest, if there was EVER a time for this little guy to make a comeback, it was TOTALLY in Chronicles.

Believe it or not, but I'd actually give anything for this abomination to appear in Puyo, though the chances of THAT happening more than none. Both because of legal reasons AND I doubt SEGA will ever let the Puyo series (as it is now) go THIS far into dark territory. Side note, but in my idea for a Puyo anime, this thing would (believe it or not) actually serve as the series' FINAL main antagonist.

Speaking of rare art, here's the second Puyo Drama CD cover, without any logos :

Oooh! Say, I don't suppose you have the logo-less art of the other Drama CD covers? I'm almost sure I've come across one for the 6th Drama CD volume at some point...

and the DVD cover art for Puyo Puyo Live:

I put those on my blog not long ago, because that stuff needs to be kept easily available.

You're right, stuff like this NEEDS to be kept somewhere...public, so to say.

Still, does anyone know what exactly the live stage show was about? I have a recording of it that I downloaded off of MediaFire, but considering that I can't exactly understand Japanese without English subtitles, well...I think it was just out of habit that I downloaded it to begin.

Well, that and the fact that I'm sure things like this will be insanely rare to find anywhere on the web in the West later on, so I took the opportunity when I got the chance.

 

[warelander]

Honestly, I don't know what it is, but there's something just gut-busting hilarious to me about Ringo (with THAT face) clutching to Sig (of all people) for dear life.

Especially because of how much she contrasts with Sig, who's deadpan as always.

BTW, were Arle and Witch the only playable characters in that, or were there more?

They were the only playable charas, though others did show up in cutscenes :

Here's Schezo.

Oooh! Say, I don't suppose you have the logo-less art of the other Drama CD covers? I'm almost sure I've come across one for the 6th Drama CD volume at some point...

Nope, not as of now, though I always look around for that stuff, so maybe eventually.

Still, does anyone know what exactly the live stage show was about?

The only thing I believe to recall is that the one Puyo that seems to be so significant is supposed to be wish granting, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[puyokid]

They were the only playable charas, though others did show up in cutscenes :

Here's Schezo.

And to add to this, here's the Banshee Trio, Draco, and Seriri:

BTW, I came across quite a little influx of official Witch art from Compile, so I figured I'd share it here, as it'll be more than difficult to come across again:

(BTW, just want to note really quick that this and the piece of Draco and Witch art above are my favorite pieces of art out of all the ones I'm about to post)

 

[Magma]

I always felt like Compile was a talented group of freelancers. Aside from the quality of their gameplay, all the stuff they do would often be wildly inconsistent, especially the art.

 

[warelander]

With how much Puyo/Madou material Compile was pumping out after a certain point I always figured that more often then not, they just took whoever was available at the staff and had them do the art, unless it was a big project like SUN or YON, which got the best treatment and there are a number of recognizable artstyles that popped up here and there, even if they were just magazin illustrations.

Either way, no matter how much the quality varies from style to style (and there a dozens of artstyles) nothing ever got as bad as Final Test or Game Gear Madou 3, I mean what the fuck even is this:

 

[puyokid]

I always felt like Compile was a talented group of freelancers. Aside from the quality of their gameplay, all the stuff they do would often be wildly inconsistent, especially the art.

Speaking of which, I found the official website for one of their artists from the mid-to-late 90's, Rin Kususaga. http://www20.big.or.jp/~a-fun/

For those who don't know, he's responsible for the (occasionally dark) Madou/Puyo comics in Compile's DiscStation magazine. Here's some examples of his work with Compile:

What I wouldn't give to see the current Puyo cast in his artstyle...

With how much Puyo/Madou material Compile was pumping out after a certain point I always figured that more often then not, they just took whoever was available at the staff and had them do the art, unless it was a big project like SUN or YON, which got the best treatment and there are a number of recognizable artstyles that popped up here and there, even if they were just magazine illustrations.

That being said, I still credit EVERYONE who worked on the art for Yo~n. I mean, LOOK at this treasure trove of GORGEOUS art:

How SEGA STILL won't go back to this artstyle for at least ONE future game is beyond me...

Either way, no matter how much the quality varies from style to style (and there a dozens of artstyles) nothing ever got as bad as Final Test or Game Gear Madou 3, I mean what the fuck even is this:

.....I can't even IMAGINE what was going through Compile's head during this game's development. I mean, this game had Arle and Carbuncle go into outer space (LONG predating Puyo Tetris by about 20 years!), and gave her freakin' JETPACK ARMOR (which I admittedly would have wanted her to keep in the series) and a RIFLE. It also marked the start of Choppun's existence in this series, so I guess that should have been one tip-off...

Also, look what I found!

Specifically, it's a model of Kikimora as a mix of her SUN and YON incarnations! If Yo~n had been a 3D game, I could see this working.

 

[warelander]

Yah know I have seen stuff from that series before, but this strip...this strip...

.....I can't even IMAGINE what was going through Compile's head during this game's development. I mean, this game had Arle and Carbuncle go into outer space (LONG predating Puyo Tetris by about 20 years!), and gave her freakin' JETPACK ARMOR (which I admittedly would have wanted her to keep in the series) and a RIFLE. It also marked the start of Choppun's existence in this series, so I guess that should have been one tip-off...

What get's me the most isn't even the game's content itself, but rather how much of a shift it is from the first to Game Gear remakes, because those were faithful versions of MM1 and MM2 that recreated the PC98 dungeon layouts (with some tweaks) quite well, added some things to the story (MM1 introduces Camus, MM2 makes it clear that Schezo would have tried to kill Arle even if she didn't try to escape and gives him an extended role) and didn't stray away from their source much and then Game Gear Madou 3 comes along and makes such a gigantic shift. I dun geddid.

 

[puyokid]

Yah know I have seen stuff from that series before, but this strip...this strip...

I know, right...? Heck, if anyone knows EXACTLY what going on, and could tell me what's going on...I would SO appreciate it. For the life of me, I can't even follow what the hell is going in the majority of these "Compile Club" comics.

Also, you think that Witch/Scylla story is something, there's another one of Arle and Draco, and I just...I just don't know what to make of it, other than Draco (supposedly) being willing to eat LIVE animals, if push comes to shove. If you ask me, it makes that cutscene between O and Draco in PPT all the more..."ominous" in the idea that Draco really WOULD have eaten O considering her circumstances of being lost in Ecolo's domain and the aforementioned Compile Club comic.

What gets me the most isn't even the game's content itself, but rather how much of a shift it is from the first to Game Gear remakes, because those were faithful versions of MM1 and MM2 that recreated the PC98 dungeon layouts (with some tweaks) quite well, added some things to the story (MM1 introduces Camus, MM2 makes it clear that Schezo would have tried to kill Arle even if she didn't try to escape and gives him an extended role) and didn't stray away from their source much and then Game Gear Madou 3 comes along and makes such a gigantic shift. I dun geddid.

Yeah, that surprised me too. You know what I think? I'll admit, I'm probably reaching for a theory here, but I think that a majority of the content found in the GG version of MM3 was initially planned to be contained in its own (completely separate) MM game, Things like the fact that Arle and Carbuncle go off into space whatsoever, Satan disguising himself as a frog for the majority of the game, Arle gaining a RIFLE of all things, as well as jetpack armor. For some reason or another, Compile couldn't make the hypothetical MM game, and as a result, they REALLY wanted to keep said concepts, so they decided to implement these elements into MM3 for the GG, though, I don't know if it was such a good idea. Honestly, I feel that if they kept all this separate, things would have gone over better.


BTW, side note: After almost my entire time of being a fan of Puyo Puyo (and MM by extension), I was beyond hyped to have FINALLY found the website of the chief character artist who was responsible for the GODLY artstyle of Puyo Puyo~n.

Here's her website: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~jh7a-sezk/

As a matter of fact, just last year she did modernized art pieces of Draco and Witch from Yo~n! Here they are:

According to her, this is a modernized version of Draco's prototype look for Yo~n. Supposedly, she was going to wear baggy SHORTS rather than baggy PANTS and her tail would have been somewhat bigger.

And here's Witch:

Apparently, Witch would have looked somewhat younger overall in comparison to what we see in Yo~n.

 

[warelander]

Yeah, that surprised me too. You know what I think? I'll admit, I'm probably reaching for a theory here, but I think that a majority of the content found in the GG version of MM3 was initially planned to be contained in its own (completely separate) MM game, Things like the fact that Arle and Carbuncle go off into space whatsoever, Satan disguising himself as a frog for the majority of the game, Arle gaining a RIFLE of all things, as well as jetpack armor. For some reason or another, Compile couldn't make the hypothetical MM game, and as a result, they REALLY wanted to keep said concepts, so they decided to implement these elements into MM3 for the GG, though, I don't know if it was such a good idea. Honestly, I feel that if they kept all this separate, things would have gone over better.

To be honest, with the massive drop in visual quality I always suspected that Game Gear MM3 just kind of got shoved off onto the B Team, who just did their own odd thing, it could have been the same team who did the GG remake for Arle's ARS story, since the sprite work for that one is very similar and it has weird story changes too.

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, because while MM1 got the most revisions and MM2 started the franchise at large, when taking the ''Episode Carbuncle'' release from December 1989 into account (and is arguably the most iconic Madou title) MM3 really doesn't get much recognition, so maybe it wasn't considered a terribly high priority remake.

BTW, side note: After almost my entire time of being a fan of Puyo Puyo (and MM by extension), I was beyond hyped to have FINALLY found the website of the chief character artist who was responsible for the GODLY artstyle of Puyo Puyo~n.

Here's her website: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~jh7a-sezk/

As a matter of fact, just last year she did modernized art pieces of Draco and Witch from Yo~n! Here they are:

Those are pretty great, honestly a modern Puyo game with that artstyle would be quite awesome.

 

[puyokid]

To be honest, with the massive drop in visual quality I always suspected that Game Gear MM3 just kind of got shoved off onto the B Team, who just did their own odd thing, it could have been the same team who did the GG remake for Arle's ARS story, since the sprite work for that one is very similar and it has weird story changes too.

Oh, yeah...And you know what's worse? At least with the Madou Monogatari A GG remake, the wacky artstyle actually FITS with the childish theme. MM3's GG remake just...well...Let's just say that I might have to agree that Compile's "B-Team" worked on it.

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, because while MM1 got the most revisions and MM2 started the franchise at large, when taking the ''Episode Carbuncle'' release from December 1989 into account (and is arguably the most iconic Madou title) MM3 really doesn't get much recognition, so maybe it wasn't considered a terribly high priority remake.

You may have a point there. If I'm being honest? Not much of that game was really anything THAT unique IMO. Think about it, MM1 had Fudoushi who inflicted 5-6 year old Arle with some TERRIFYING illusions, MM2 had Schezo AND Satan who wanted to steal her magic powers, and wanted to marry her, respectively. I mean, what did MM3 have? Rulue (an expert martial artist young woman with a supposedly vast fortune) and her loyal servant Minotauros (who was really just a monster that had insanely high health).

I know this may sound weird, but I feel that if RULUE was the original MM3's final boss, rather than Minotauros, I feel like it would have been more unique (at least to me) than having her and Carbuncle fight a monster that just has insanely high health. I know the GG remake of MM3 has them battle, but I feel like it was too late by then. As we all know, Rulue trained to the point that magic doesn't damage her as much as one would think, and her martial arts actually do TONS of damage. It's not out the possibility to say that a kick from her would slice Arle's head clean off, so she would actually prove to be a challenge for Arle despite not being a magician.

Those are pretty great, honestly a modern Puyo game with that artstyle would be quite awesome.

Oh, my gosh! If I could, I would ask her if she could actually draw a piece of modern Puyo art featuring the entire current cast. Specifically, I'd ask her if she could draw this:

But in the style of Puyo Puyo~n:

Seriously, if she could draw EVERYONE from the SEGA-era (Amitie, Ringo, Raffine, Sig, Risukuma, Maguro, Klug, Rider, Tarutaru, Ms. Accord, Lemres, Feli, Ecolo, etc.) in this style, I wouldn't be able to contain my hype.

Semi-related, but look at what else I came across:

Seeing Arle, Amitie, and Ringo ALL in Arle's Yo~n armor makes me WAAAAY more ecstatic than I should be, honestly.

 

[warelander]

MM2 had Schezo AND Satan who wanted to steal her magic powers, and wanted to marry her, respectively.

I'd say that Arle and Carbuncle becoming companions for life is a more noteworthy moment, the scenarios with Schezo and Satan are interesting for their darker then usual tone, but without that they'd likely be the same static dynamics that we see almost every Puyo/Madou game.

I mean, what did MM3 have?

It is actually a very direct sequel to MM2's story, with Rulue getting upset with Arle, since she had Carbuncle with her, indicating to Rule that she and Satan had something going.

Also, after the first two areas Arle's fingers actually crack up from frostbite and bleed (even in the MSX version), meaning that she had to look for an antidote, it's actually the only time in the trilogy that we see her visit a town, also the game ends with her and Rulue on good terms...which didn't stick for long, but I'd say the game had plenty interesting stuff.

 

[puyokid]

I'd say that Arle and Carbuncle becoming companions for life is a more noteworthy moment, the scenarios with Schezo and Satan are interesting for their darker than usual tone, but without that they'd likely be the same static dynamics that we see almost every Puyo/Madou game.

Yeah, I guess you have a point there. BTW, could you remind me if Big Kindergarten Kids had Carbuncle live with Arle, or am I remembering that wrong?

It is actually a very direct sequel to MM2's story, with Rulue getting upset with Arle, since she had Carbuncle with her, indicating to Rulue that she and Satan had something going.

Well, I'm aware of how MM3 took place about a month(?) after MM2, but I'm just saying that it almost felt like MM3 was..."lacking" something in comparison to MM1 and MM2. Especially if it got the least remakes/retellings out of the trilogy.

Speaking of Rulue and Satan having something going...well, look at this Tumblr post by JelliPuddi: http://jellipuddi.tumblr.com/post/162060633651/the-topic-of-satan-arle-and-carbuncle

BTW, I made a Tumblr.

https://puyohero.tumblr.com/

So you know...stop on by. I could use the company.

 

[Magma]

From a kid to a hero

 

[puyokid]

From a kid to a hero

And yet, I'm still sub-par at Puyo Puyo...speaking of which, I'm SHOCKED I haven't brought this up yet, but last week, I FINALLY got to play Puyo Puyo Tetris!! Well, granted, it was the demo, but EVERYONE (as in ALL 24 characters) were playable from the very beginning, so I'm still counting it.

That being said, I finally see why PPT is so addictive. I was making chains as Arle and Carbuncle, Amitie, and Ringo like it was no one's business. However, for the strangest reason, when I did a 4-player match as Suketoudara against Draco, Witch, and Schezo/Ecolo, I was getting wrecked so hard...It got worse when I did Maguro/Arle and Carubncle/Ringo vs. Rulue (Darn Exploding Knee...), and Risukuma vs. Satan (Ascension. That's all I'll say).

Still, the most fun I've had with a puzzle game in so long. Heck, it's the first console Tetris game I've played in nearly 10 years. BTW, can I just say that Big Bang mode is surprisingly fun? Cause it really is.

 

[warelander]

Yeah, I guess you have a point there. BTW, could you remind me if Big Kindergarten Kids had Carbuncle live with Arle, or am I remembering that wrong?

He doesn't, the two just happen to cross paths at one point, completely at random.

Speaking of Rulue and Satan having something going...well, look at this Tumblr post by JelliPuddi: http://jellipuddi.tumblr.com/post/162060633651/the-topic-of-satan-arle-and-carbuncle

Ah yeah, I saw that one when she posted it, good read.

BTW, I made a Tumblr.

https://puyohero.tumblr.com/

So you know...stop on by. I could use the company.

*Slaps a follow on it*

 

[puyokid]

He doesn't, the two just happen to cross paths at one point, completely at random.

Ah, OK.

Ah yeah, I saw that one when she posted it, good read.

To think, there really WAS a time where Satan wasn't outright creeped out by Rulue's advances...

*Slaps a follow on it*

Thanks!

BTW, quick question. What do you think about Otomo (Ocean Prince's/Prince Salde's butler) being voiced by Scott Menville? BTW, Scott Menville voiced Robin on Teen Titans. I don't know, the idea's been on my mind all day.

 

[warelander]

Maybe? I do know his Robin, but you already know how english voice actors often don't ring that much of bell with me and he's unfortunately no exception.

Either way, I'm mainly coming in to say that you shouldn't be surprised that you won't hear anything from me these coming two weeks, starting tommorow, I'll be off on vacation by then.