What is the greatest Tetris-style Puzzle series ever?

[Charlie]

Tetris
For: Over 500 Million copies of Tetris have been sold worldwide. Tetris can be found on everything from Keychains to Palm Pilots. Oh yeah, and video game consoles too. Tetris can be one of the most intense multi-player experiences of any video game on any platform. Tetris is simple to play, yet difficult to master.
Against: Newer versions of Tetris, like Next Tetris or Tetris Worlds are either incredibly dull or outright terrible.

Dr Mario
For: Dr. Mario remains one of the most simplistic drop-puzzlers ever made. Anyone of any age can get into it. The Nintendo 64 version included new modes that finally made the multi-player experience fun.
Against: Dr. Mario is too simplistic. Making combos is not neccesary to win a multiplayer match. In fact, making large combos, while neat, ultimately slows you down more and is not rewarding enough.

Tetris 2
For: More Dr. Mario then Tetris, Tetris 2 is all about breaking the flashing jewels then making lines.
Against: Many find the gameplay to be extremely dull.

Tetris Attack/Pokemon Puzzle League
For: Tetris Attack is the best example of a puzzle game that anyone can get into. If you want to just make lines of three, four, or five, you can do that all day long and still have as much fun. If you want to make large chain reactions it takes minimal practice. Multi-player games of Tetris Attack can be very intesne if both players are of equal skill. And unlike most puzzle games, the series got a major new innovation in Pokemon Puzzle League with the arrival of 3-D puzzles.
Against: Tetris Attack for the SNES suffered from major slowdown if too many chains were going on at once. 3-D mode in Pokemon Puzzle League causes motion sickness in many.

Puyo Puyo (aka Kirby's Avalanche or Dr. Robotnik's Mean Mean Machine)
For: Since it's first incarnations, Puyo Puyo has been the sleeper hit of the genre. Nobody ever lists it alongside Tetris, Pokemon Puzzle, or Puzzle Fighter as one of the elite puzzle games. Like any good puzzle game, Puyo Puyo is simple to get into but takes practice and patience to learn how to perform large combos.
Against: In multi-player modes, it normally only takes one large combo to win, and even skilled players can't recover from a large combo 9 times out of 10.

Super Puzzle Fighter
For: Yet another simple game in concept, this one using cute versions of Street Fighter characters as it's hook. Puzzle Fighter features the perhaps the most intense matches of all multi-player puzzle games.
Against: Often times hitting a large combo will benefit the other player more then hurt them.

Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble
For: Bust-A-Move is deceptively difficult to master. Like Tetris Attack, a novice player can spend all day linking three or four bubbles, while skilled players will spend time figuring out how to make combos. Most Bust-A-Move games feature a very anime-like flavor to them, with bright colors and frightenly addictive music.
Against: Bust-A-Move is more of a shooter then a puzzle game. The series has had very little innovation since it's first title almost a decade ago, despite multiple 'sequels' on over 10 consoles.

Columns
For: Sega's answer to Nintendo's Tetris. Linking different color jewels to form massive chain reactions seems incredibly rewarding.
Against: Dull gameplay overall.

Tetrisphere
For: Not a true Tetris game, Tetrisphere was originally developed for the Atari Jaguar as simply 'Sphere.' Nintendo bought the rights to the game and released it for the Nintendo 64. Tetrisphere is one of the only puzzle games that is more popular for it's single player modes then it's battle mode.
Against: Like Bust-A-Move, Tetrisphere feels more like a shooting game then a true puzzle game. Tetrisphere features the greatest learning curve of any puzzle game in the field of chain-reaction making.

Other
For: Perhaps Yoshi or Yoshi's Cookie is your cup of tea. Perhaps you have glowing memories of Kirby's Star Stacker. Maybe you enjoyed recent titles like Star Sweep for the PSX.
Against: Or maybe you enjoyed Rampage Puzzle League or Wacky Stackers.

[zektor]

What about "The New Tetris" (not to be confused with The Next Tetris) for the N64? I thought it was great. And four player is absolutely awesome!

[Dobie]

Tetris. The original, and still the best. It is easy to learn, but still very challenging for the most hardcore of players. I've probably logged more time in Tetrisphere on N64 than Tetris, but Tetrisphere has such a long learning curve, I think it turned most people off. I initally didn't like it until I practiced a bit.

[Mr-E_MaN]

I personally like tetris for the gameboy the best. Thats the first time I ever played tetris & I still play it from time to time.

[digitalpress]

Puyo Puyo fan here. I find Tetris really boring, though at one time I was decidedly hooked. Puyo Puyo keeps me coming back, it's really the only game of this ilk that I go back to regularly. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo gets second, it's a better two-player game.

[anagrama]

I'm a Columns man myself, always have been.
Though there's always room for a little PuyoPuyo, Tetris Attack or Super Puzzle Fighter.

[IntvGene]

I voted for Columns... assuming that Hanagumi Taisen Columns was also included in with it. Hanagumi Taisen (Sakura Taisen) Columns 1 (Sat) + 2 (DC) were great games.

I was gonna vote for Super Puzzle Fighter, but Capcom has yet to release a sequel to the original game. And, while it was great two-players, it lacked many single player modes.

Puyo Puyo gets the bronze. Puyo Puyo IV was great on the DC!

Here are some import notes: If you like Tetris, try importing Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura(PSX). It was tetris with special moves and character abilities and everything. Highly recommended if you like the series. Secondly, if you are a fan of Puzzle Fighter, the DC one had some minor improvemnents in gameplay, there were two other methods of playing. Fun, but where's my sequel?!

[maxlords]

Puyo Puyo here too! I've been a HUGE fan, ever since I originally got Mean Bean Machine and stayed up ALL night one night making bean jokes and doing game winning chains with a couple of friends. Ah.....now THAT is living, my friends!

[hydr0x]

puyo puyo here (what about magical drop

[Raccoon Lad]

Baku Baku's always stood out as an outstanding title to me. Maybe it's the head-to-head gamelink style gameplay against varying degrees of computer AI.

[hezeuschrist]

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo > The New Tetris (N64) > *

[Arcade Antics]

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is tops in my book. No better 2-player head to head puzzle action out there before or since. The Bubble Bobble Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble series is another fab 2-player series, but the edge definitely goes to SPFIIT for design and implementation.

[shai hulud]

Tetris Attack/Pokemon (eh) Puzzle League/ Panel de Pon

i try to get almost any puzzle game that comes out and this is the series i keep coming back to. If Nintendo Puzzle Collection doesnt get a stateside release you should consider importing once the price drops a little.

[Aswald]

In a way, all action-puzzlers owe it all to Tetris. Would there have been a Columns without it? Bejeweled? Bust-A-Move?

It's a good genre. Question- which home console has the MOST such games?

[scooterb23]

Super Puzzle Fighter's my favorite.

Right after that comes the Collapse series...my sister and I have quite a battle going on that one...although she's not played much since I over doubled her high score...from 1.1 million to 2.7 million!!!

[Videogamerdaryll]

Tetris will always be my #1..I believe it started the genre off.

Bust a Move..is another..favorite,of mine and my wifes..

It seems that games are created now after these two..

Everytime I see a game like these two..I say oh..Tetris/Bust a Move replica..rip off.

But I don't know the true history of this genre..

[Charlie]

I voted for Pokemon Puzzle League... I think it's the better overall game. I didn't vote for Tetris because multiplayer games are too slow paced. I didn't vote for Puyo Puyo because of the 'first to hit a big combo' factor. I didn't vote for Puzzle Fighter because of the garbage-blocks help the other player factor. Tetris Attack/Pokemon Puzzle offers the best balanced game.

[Daniel Thomas]

Those are all really good games, but I have to go with Tetris. I think this is the definitive videogame, so wonderfully abstract, so easy to grasp. I don't think you're considered a First-World country until you have a version of Tetris running around somewhere.

I'd also like to add Klax, Shanghai, and Sokoban to the list. Sokoban has quietly become one of the most influential games of all time -- have you noticed that every game now has one moment where you're moving boxes around? It's almost become required -- I almost laughed when I saw Ryu's warehouse job in Shenmue. As far as puzzle games go, I'd say Chips' Challenge was the best of the box-movers.

Tetrisphere is a realy great game. It has its own mellow sense of tension, as you're desperately trying to find that one puzzle block to connect, and that damned globe keeps getting closer and closer...great stuff, and I'm glad Nintendo rescued it from the Jaguar.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Columns is the best for me...

[Drexel923]

Pokeman Puzzle League for me. I could play that game all day. Tetris is a close second. I always end up going back to the original. After all these years it's still addicting as all hell.