Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, known as Super Puzzle Fighter II X (スーパー. Executive Producer: Noritaka Funamizu; Producer: Saddy; Theme Song of Sakura.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

by Ty Shughart - July 30, 2003, 12:50 am PDT

'Don't tell me you only play fighting games!'

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo actually isn't a sequel, but just a hilarious title for Capcom's wonderful little puzzle game. It's basically the same game released for the arcade, PlayStation, and Saturn. However, SPF2 is quite well suited to be a portable time-waster and looks nice on the GBA as well.

Need an explanation of the game? Two players (or human vs. CPU) battle by dropping and destroying chains of gems and Power Gems with special Crash Gems. To create a Power Gem, same-color gems must be connected in a rectangular shape. The bigger the gem, the more Counter Gems fall into the opponent's field. If you like the devious combos of Puyo-Puyo, you'll dig this game, too.

Each character has different patterns of gems that they drop on their opponent. Timing and strategy will help you use them to their fullest. Characters have their classic theme music and well-known taunts. And they're soooooooooo cute!

Here's the roster:

• Ryu
• Ken
• Chun Li
• Sakura
• Donovan
• Morrigan
• Hsien-Ko
• Felicia

..and three kickin' rad secret characters:

• Dan (the man!) Hibiki
• Akuma
• Devilot

The GBA version also has a whole mess of game modes:

ARCADE MODE - Beat a series of computer opponents

STREET PUZZLE - Earn Goodies by winning matches

VERSUS MODE - Play against a friend on the same GBA by sharing the controls

It’s just that simple, but only eagle-eyed players will ever even spot this thing.The Disengagement Rune gives you a 6 second invincibility shield after your health drops below 20% — this is insanely useful. Tap R3 / V to re-summon your head, and you’ll collect the blueprint.

LINK BATTLE - Play against a friend with a link cable (you need two cartridges)

MASTER ARCADE - Extra difficult arcade mode

GOODIES - Check out the unlocked stuff earned in Street Puzzle mode

TRAINING DEMO - Dan (the man!) demonstrates how to play

OPTION - Difficulty, game speed, damage, and sound and music volume

The Street Puzzle mode is too cool; there are 48 specific match-ups, which are useful for learning about the advantages and disadvantages of each character's drop patterns. There's also something unlocked for each of the 48 match-ups completed. It's challenging and takes a fair bit of time to complete.

Versus Mode needs a little explaining; Player 1 uses the control pad to move gems and the L button to drop. Player 2 uses A and B to move gems, and R to drop. It works, sort of.. but playing Link Battle is preferable.

The unlocks are fun, too. New colors, win icons, and sound tests can be unlocked for each character. You can even unlock the original vocal song, 'I Want You To Know.' There's also a collection of the wacky intermission scenes, and the three crazy secret characters.

Super Puzzle Fighter II is a fine puzzle game by itself, but the people who will really like it are the ones who appreciate things like Dan Hibiki's crazy shenanigans or win quotes like, 'Don't you recognize me? Cyberbots is Capcom's #1 game!'

Score

Graphics	Sound	Control	Gameplay	Lastability	Final
8	8.5	8.5	7	8	8

Graphics

This game is cute and colorful. If there is any complaint, it's that yellow and green gems might be hard to tell apart in low lighting, but that is rarely a problem anyway.

Sound

Catchy, classic themes for each character make for a nice piece of nostalgia. Characters also have a handful of taunts and phrases. There's a vocal song as an unlockable bonus.

Control

You can move, drop and rotate gems as advertised. Playing a versus game on the same GBA is strange, but still makes a fun novelty.

Gameplay

It's quite good for a competition-inclined puzzler. Some people might say that dumb luck is a large factor, though, since the Crash Gems you get are so random.

Lastability

The Street Puzzle mode takes a while to work through if you're learning to play the game from scratch, and the harder arcade settings will probably take forever to master. Solid two-player gameplay means extra lastability, too.

Final

This is a pretty darn good puzzle game, and it's filled with wonderful goodies for Capcom fanboys. Not a bad buy at all.

Review Page 1

Summary

Pros

• Lots of Goodies to unlock
• Plenty of Capcom fanboy material
• Solid port of a fun game

Cons

• No link play on one cartridge; you need two of the game
• No truly new features
• There's a degree of dumb luck involved

Review Page 2: Conclusion

Worldwide Releases

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Release	Apr 03, 2003
Publisher	Capcom
Rating	Everyone
Super Puzzle Fighter II X
Release	TBA
Publisher	Capcom