Vlcice
06-13-2009, 12:45 PM
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/1982/0001b.png
So it looks like almost no one has ever played Pochi & Nyaa, which is a shame since it's my favourite puzzle game ever. I wanted to let other people know about it, and find other people who do!
So what is Pochi & Nyaa? It's a puzzle game created by Aiky, one of the offshoots of Compile following their bankruptcy. It was created by Moo Niitani, the original creator of Puyo Puyo, but its gameplay is completely distinct. It came out for the Naomi in 2002 and Neo-Geo MVS in 2003, with a Japanese-only PS2 release in 2004; they were all fairly low-key releases that slipped past a lot of people.
So how does it play?
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1231/0003x.png
Puzzle pieces are coloured dogs or cats (depending on whether you're P1 or P2). Unlike Puyo Puyo, these don't trigger when you have a certain number in one spot. Like Puzzle Fighter, you eliminate pieces with a special piece of the same colour; unlike Puzzle Fighter, you can switch between a normal block and a "spiky nyan" at any time by pressing up, which turns both of your current pieces into spiky nyans of the same colour:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/2110/0004w.png
The more points you get for destroying a chain of blocks, the more garbage blocks you send onto the opponent's field, like in Puyo Puyo. However, the scoring system is more complex and interesting than in most puzzle games.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2590/0005q.png
The game counts a path from the piece touching the spiky nyan to the furthest block, counting all pieces along the way. This chain counts as five points towards garbage blocks. But what happens if there's more than one path to reach the furthest piece?
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/6715/0006rgo.png
The game follows both paths at the point where they split, and counts the points from both possible paths. Even though this chain has only one more block, it gets almost twice as many points because it introduces a second 4-block path. You can manage a lot of paths at once, racking up large numbers of points with careful planning and preparation:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1079/0007t.png
So it doesn't just reward you for putting all your blocks in a large pile and making chain reactions; instead it's best to prepare complex series of splits, which can get interrupted by opponents' garbage blocks. It makes it play completely differently from most Puyo Puyo clones since it takes very different strategy, and that makes it a lot of fun!
So go try it! It's a great game. The Neo version has downsampled 320x240 graphics compared to Naomi and PS2, but it's the easiest to get and plays great.
So it looks like almost no one has ever played Pochi & Nyaa, which is a shame since it's my favourite puzzle game ever. I wanted to let other people know about it, and find other people who do!
So what is Pochi & Nyaa? It's a puzzle game created by Aiky, one of the offshoots of Compile following their bankruptcy. It was created by Moo Niitani, the original creator of Puyo Puyo, but its gameplay is completely distinct. It came out for the Naomi in 2002 and Neo-Geo MVS in 2003, with a Japanese-only PS2 release in 2004; they were all fairly low-key releases that slipped past a lot of people.
So how does it play?
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1231/0003x.png
Puzzle pieces are coloured dogs or cats (depending on whether you're P1 or P2). Unlike Puyo Puyo, these don't trigger when you have a certain number in one spot. Like Puzzle Fighter, you eliminate pieces with a special piece of the same colour; unlike Puzzle Fighter, you can switch between a normal block and a "spiky nyan" at any time by pressing up, which turns both of your current pieces into spiky nyans of the same colour:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/2110/0004w.png
The more points you get for destroying a chain of blocks, the more garbage blocks you send onto the opponent's field, like in Puyo Puyo. However, the scoring system is more complex and interesting than in most puzzle games.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2590/0005q.png
The game counts a path from the piece touching the spiky nyan to the furthest block, counting all pieces along the way. This chain counts as five points towards garbage blocks. But what happens if there's more than one path to reach the furthest piece?
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/6715/0006rgo.png
The game follows both paths at the point where they split, and counts the points from both possible paths. Even though this chain has only one more block, it gets almost twice as many points because it introduces a second 4-block path. You can manage a lot of paths at once, racking up large numbers of points with careful planning and preparation:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1079/0007t.png
So it doesn't just reward you for putting all your blocks in a large pile and making chain reactions; instead it's best to prepare complex series of splits, which can get interrupted by opponents' garbage blocks. It makes it play completely differently from most Puyo Puyo clones since it takes very different strategy, and that makes it a lot of fun!
So go try it! It's a great game. The Neo version has downsampled 320x240 graphics compared to Naomi and PS2, but it's the easiest to get and plays great.