Strategy Guide - Guide for Puyo Puyo 4

           P U Y O   P U Y O    4   :   P U Y O   P U Y O N
              @@@‚Ձ@@‚æ@@@‚Ձ@@‚æ@@`@@‚ñ
                        t  h  e      f  a  q


Puyo Puyon FAQ
Created by: shidoshi [[email protected]]
Version: 0.5

Game statistics:
1-4 Players
Puru Puru pack compatible
6 VMS blocks needed

The lastest version of this FAQ will always be available at:
http://relief-goddess.org

You can also find it on GameFAQs and various other websites.


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This FAQ is still in alpha release and is very, very early and unfinished. 
However, it has been released as the sections already completed may be useful to 
people out there currently playing Puyo Puyon. If you can help in any way with 
the sections of the FAQ that are incomplete, PLEASE contact shidoshi. All people 
contributing information which is used in the FAQ will get proper credit.
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C O N T E N T S :

[ 00 ]   FAQ Terminology
[ 01 ]   The Story
[ 02 ]   Game Basics
[ 03 ]   Menu Translations
[ 04 ]   Characters
[ 05 ]   Super Attacks
[ 06 ]   Stage Information
[ 07 ]   Puzzle Mode
[ 08 ]   Secrets
[ 09 ]   Credits


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[ 00 ] FAQ Terminology
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following terminology is used in this FAQ to help clarify certain things.


Arena : The portion of your screen that your puyos fall into and where
        all of your puyos collect.

Chain : The effect of planning your puyos so that when one combo goes
        away, it will cause another combo to occur, and so on.

Combo : A combo is when you make four or more puyos of the same color
        touch, making them go away.


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[ 01 ] THE STORY
------------------------------------------------------------------------

For now, we'll just say this: the Puyo Puyo circus has arrived in town, and
Arle and Carbunkle decide to go check it out. While Satan is performing
magic, he uses Carbunkle as part of the act, making him dissapear. Arle
loves the trick, but when Carbunkle never returns, she begins to get worried
and sets off to find him.


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[ 02 ] GAME BASICS
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** HOW TO PLAY

This section goes into little real detail about the game, as I expect most 
players have played Puyo Puyo before. If this is the first Puyo Puyo title you 
have ever played, since the game is pretty simple to learn and understand, you 
probably won't really need this section either. But anyhow...

If you've never played Puyo Puyo before, the idea is simple: colored "puyos" 
(little blobs of jelly) fall from the top of the screen into your arena in 
groups of two. Before they touch the bottom of the arena, you can move them 
around, or rotate them to position them in either a vertical or horizontal line 
(rotation always occurs with the puyo that has a glow around him being the 
"center" of the rotation). When one color of puyo sits next to another puyo of 
the same color either horizontally or vertically, they connect together. When 
you get four or more puyos of the same color to connect, you create a "combo" 
and they disappear.

By using strategy, you can make multiple combos go off one after another to 
create a "chain." When you pull of a chain with two or more combos, you send 
penalty puyos over into your opponent's arena. Penalty puyos are clear puyos 
that do not go away when next to other clear puyos. Read the section on penalty 
puyos below to learn how to get rid of them. When penalty puyos are sent to 
either side, they rest at the top of the screen until the person receiving them 
has fully dropped their current falling puyos. If you do a chain while you have 
penalty puyos waiting to fall, it will help to reduce the amount waiting to 
fall.

Puyos always fall from the same point at the top of your screen, and if your 
arena gets filled so that no more puyos can come down, your game is over.


** CONTROLS

The following are the standard settings, and are how the buttons are situated 
unless you go into the Options menu and change them. L, R, and D refer to 
directions pressed on either the digital pad or analog stick.

[L] Move the falling puyos to the left
[E] Move the falling puyos to the right
[D] Speed up the descent of the falling puyos
[A] Rotate the falling puyos Counter-Clockwise
[B] Rotate the falling puyos Clockwise
[Y] Perform the falling puyos Super Attack


** PUYO TYPES

Clear Puyos
Basic penalty puyos. To clear them you must do a "Combo Removal" - this is when 
you clear a combo that is touching the clear puyo. When the combo that is 
touching the clear puyo goes away, so does the clear puyo.

Block Puyos
Doing a combo removal against a block puyo will turn it into a clear puyo (thus, 
you must do a combo removal twice to get rid of them). Sometimes there is a 
number of the block - when you have a block puyo like this, the number tells you 
how many times you must do a combo removal against it before it will turn into a 
clear puyo.

Number Puyos
These puyos are clear with a gold ting to them with a number at the bottom of 
them. They can be cleared with one combo removal, just like a basic clear puyo. 
The purpose of these are currently unknown - anyone?


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[ 03 ] MENU TRANSLATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------------

** MAIN MENU:

- ‚ЂƂè‚Å‚Õ‚æ‚Õ‚æ
  Hitori de Puyo Puyo / 1 Player
  Single player Puyo Puyo

- ‚Ó‚½‚è‚Å‚Õ‚æ‚Õ‚æ
  Hutari de Puyo Puyo / 2 Player
  Two player Puyo Puyo

- ‚Æ‚±‚Æ‚ñ‚Õ‚æ‚Õ‚æ
  Tokoton Puyo Puyo / Time Attack
  Time Attack - Variable sized arenas

- ‚Æ‚±‚Æ‚ñ‚È‚¼‚Õ‚æ‚Õ‚æ
  Tokoton Nazo Puyo Puyo / Puzzle Attack
  Time attack with requirements that you must complete

- ‚Ý‚ñ‚ ‚Å‚Õ‚æ‚Õ‚æ
  Minna de Puyo Puyo / Group Play
  Three or Four player Puyo Puyo

- ‚¨‚Õ‚µ‚å‚ñ
  Option


*** 1 PLAYER

- ?

- Quest
  You play as Arle on a quest to save (?) Carbunkle (the little yellow
  creature) from the clutches of Satan. You must play against and beat
  the characters of the game in a preset order. You begin the Quest mode
  with no Super Attacks, but then gain the Super Attacks of specific
  characters when you defeat them (you choose which you want to use
  before each match). The following characters give you access to their 
  Super Attack (in order):  Doraco, Seriri, Witch

- Vs. Computer
  Versus mode where you choose a computer opponent to play. Background 
  and play settings seem to be random.


*** 2 PLAYER

- Circus Stage

- Volcano Stage

- Aqua Stage

- Floating Stage

- Ruin Stage
  Stage starts with clear and block puyos

- Edit Stage (uneditable)

- Edit Stage (editable)
  Exacts of what each option do coming soon


*** TIME ATTACK

- Play on a 4 x 7 arena (probably the strangest part of the game)

- Play on a 6 x 12 arena

- Play on a 10 x 16 arena

- Play on a 16 x 26 arena


*** OPTIONS

- Button Layout
  Change which buttons do what.

- CPU Difficulty
  Change the difficulty of the computer opponent(s)

- Versus Rounds
  Change the number of rounds for 2 player mode

- Demo Cut
  Turn off the demo scenes (default On)

- Sound
  Change sound from Stereo to Mono (default Stereo)

- Cinema Theater
  Watch all of the cinema scenes that you've already seen in the game

- Ranking
  Look at the Top 5 scores for each mode

- Backup
  Manually save or load (default Save)

- Exit Options


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[ 04 ] CHARACTERS
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** Arle Nadja uƒAƒ‹ƒ‹@ƒiƒdƒ„v@- the Consummate Hero
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Arle Special Sheild"
Arle puts a shield up at the top of her arena, which holds any clear puyos that 
your opponent sends your way for a short time. Don't forget to do some combos to 
reduce the amount that will fall, however, or else you could forget and suddenly 
be surprised with a HUGE drop. ^_^

------

** Doraco Centaru uƒhƒ‰ƒR@ƒZƒ“ƒ^ƒEv@- the Fiery Dragon Girl
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Doraco Burning"
Doraco does a flaming uppercut which clears away her clear puyos.

------

** Seriri uƒZƒŠƒŠv@- the Shy Mermaid
Profile:

Super Attack:
?

------

** Witch uƒE²Âƒ`v@- the Cunning Sorceress
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Rolling Thunder"
Witch clears completely away the highest column of puyos in her arena. One of 
the most useless supers in the game, IMHO.

------

** Chico uƒ`ƒRv@- the Native Elf Girl
Profile:
-

Super Attacks: Name Unknown
Unsure - some puyos just go away. Not sure what the exacts are. Anyone?

------

** Skeleton-T uƒXƒPƒ‹ƒgƒ“[‚sv@- the Skeleton Who Drinks Tea
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Super Dynamic Ultra Bomber"
I have no idea whatsoever. Skeleton-T powers up, but what exactly this does I'm 
not sure of.

------

** Archan uƒA`‚¿‚á‚ñv@- the Young Archery Girl
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Homing Shooter"
Archan shoots away up to twelve of the puyos in her arena

------

** Kikimora uƒLƒL`ƒ‚ƒ‰v@- the Elegant Sweeping Girl
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Let's Clean This Mess!" (my name, not official)
Kikimora sweeps away all of the clear puyos on her side.

------

** Suketoudara u‚·‚¯‚Æ‚¤‚¾‚çv@- the Jolly Fish
Profile:
-

Super Attack: Name Unknown
Suketoudara washes away all puyos of one color (color is chose at random, 
AFAIK).

------

** Panotty uƒpƒmƒ`²v@- the Cheerful Muse
Profile:
-

Super Attack: Name Unknown
Panotty plays a cheerful tune, which clears away any colored single puyos that 
are not connected with another of the same color.

------

** Nohoho u‚̂قفv@- the Frog of Chance
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Gero Gero Chance!" (my name, not official)
Nohoho pulls a slot machine handle, and his colored puyos begin rotating like a 
slot machine, stopping in a new vertical order.

------

** Harpy uƒn`ƒs`v@- the Masterful Songstres...?!?
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Angelic Serenade" (my name, not official)
Harpy sings a song, turning all clear puyos in her arena into colored ones.

------

** Dragon uƒhƒ‰ƒSƒ“v@- the Baby Dragon
Profile:
-

Super Attacks: Name Unknown
Unsure - some puyos just go away. Not sure what the exacts are. Anyone?

------

** Scheze Wegey uƒVƒFƒ]@ƒE²ƒQ²²v@- the Silver Haired Boy
Profile:

Super Attack: Name Unknown
Scheze slashes his arena in an X shape, and any puyos hit are cleared away.

------

** Rulue uƒ‹ƒ‹`v@- the Elegant Woman
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Shin Jyoouranpu"
Rulue gives her arena a series of punches, which flips it vertically, making the 
puyos fall down and re-line up.

------

** Satan uƒTƒ^ƒ“‚³‚܁v@- the Handsome Devil
Profile:
-

Super Attack: "Satan/Saturn Cross" (not sure which it is)
Satan uses his powers to clear away puyos in his arena in the shape of a cross.

------

** Pierrot uƒsƒGƒv@- the Mysterious Clown
Profile:
-

Super Attack: Unknown
-


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[ 05 ] SUPER ATTACKS
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Probably the biggest difference between Puyo Puyon and other Puyo Puyo titles is 
the inclusion of [Super Attacks]. Super Attacks are special abilities that each 
character has which can affect what is going on in the game. Now, thanks to 
Super Attacks, a game is no longer over if you're side is totally full of puyos 
and all seems to be lost.

At one time, a player can have up to three Super Attacks stores. The little 
numeric counter - [SP x.xx] - is sort of your super meter. Each time the counter 
reaches a whole number - 1.00, 2.00, or 3.00 - you are given another Super 
Attack you use. The SP counter increases with each puyo that you clear {and by 
other means?}. The amount that your counter goes up is determined by a number of 
options, most of which I currently don't begin to understand. Right now, I'm not 
sure what determines how much your counter goes up - all I know is that it goes 
up with each combo that you do, and that different characters seem to go up 
quicker.

Each character has a different Super Attack, so in Puyo Puyon, character choice 
is now actually something to consider. For full specifics on what each 
character's Super Attack is, please check the CHARACTERS section.


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[ 06 ] STAGE INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Puyo Puyon, the stage that you are playing on seems to affect gameplay in 
different ways.


** Circus Stage
"Normal" stage.

** Volcano Stage
Clear puyos only drop down onto you one horizontal line at a time, until there
are none left to fall. Good for a frustration factor. ^_^

** Aqua Stage
If you put your falling puyos horizontally, where one will break off and fall 
down, the falling puyo falls much slower than normal.

** Floating Stage
Unknown

** Ruin Stage
Unknown

** Netherworld
Puyos fall slower as on the Aqua stage, but the biggest point to this stage is 
that puyos on each side of your arena can connect with one another. Thus, if you 
have two yellow puyos on the far left side of your arena, and two yellow puyos 
on the far right at a height where they would touch if they were next to one 
another, then they will disappear.@As well, players are unable to use their
Super attacks. This stage seems to only appear after you've beaten the Quest 
mode.

** Edit
You can edit various aspects of this stage in certain modes


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[ 07 ] PUZZLE MODE
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From: Jeremy Goodwin

I've pretty well figured out puzzle mode.

You can play it without actually knowing Japanese, provided that you can
either recognize the characters or that you are not color blind.

The commands appearing on the right side of the screen come in three colors
(possibly more, but I have only seen three) red, blue and yellow.

There is a numeral at the top of the command box, but it just indicates the
number of the command (1st, 2nd, 3rd...) and is not especially important in
gameplay terms.

Red is a command to create a combo as you term it, using that many Puyos 
(there is a numeral beside the command). 

Blue is a command to create a chain with that many levels.

Yellow is a command to remove that many combos at a single time. For instance, 
you have two vertical stacks of purple and green Puyos, three in each,
right next to each other. If you get a purple/green pair, you can position it
horizontally to combo both the green and the purple piles of Puyos. This action
would satisfy a yellow 2 command. Any more than that would require a 
well-orchestrated chain, since all of the combos have to be made at a single 
point in time.

I think that puzzle mode is potentially the most rewarding part of the game, 
and adds a lot of replay value to it for a single player.


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[ 08 ] SECRETS
------------------------------------------------------------------------

** SECRET CODES

** Big Awesome 112-combo Chain (aka the "Puyo Puyo Nudity Code")

For a very interesting little demo, choose the Tokoton Puyo Puyo mode (Time 
Attack)
and pick the option which gives you the biggest playing field. Move to the 
middle
difficulty setting, hold buttons X + Y, and press button A. Now, sit back, and
enjoy. ^_^


** SECRET CHARACTERS


** Carbunkle - the Lovable Little Yellow Thing
How to get: Beat the Quest mode
How to play: Go beyond the "sides" of the top row on character select
Profile:
-

Super Attacks: "Carbunkle Cannon" (my name, not official)
Carbunkle comes out and blasts his puyos, turning them all into a random colored 
puyo (even the clear ones)

------

** Shadow Arle - the Dark Girl
How to get: Beat the Quest mode
How to play: Go beyond the "sides" of the top row on character select
Profile:
-

Super Attacks: "Arle Super Shield"
Shadow Arle has the same Super Attack as Arle.

------

The booklet shows a number of characters from Puyo Puyo Sun that aren't 
available in Puyo Puyon which makes me a bit suspicious. As well, even though 
you can play as Shadow Arle, I'd be willing to bet that you can play as Pierrot.


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[ 09 ] CREDITS
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Compile - for making the game, of course ^_^
Sega - for making the Dreamcast on which I'm playing PP4
Raymond McKeithen II - various translation/menu help
Amisokoy - rgvs poster of the Puyo Puyo Nudity Code
Jeremy Goodwin - Puzzle mode help


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This FAQ is copyright 1999 Pandora's Box Creations. Please do not copy or 
reproduce in part or full in any means, post or distribute in print or 
electronically via any un-authorized sources, or change and/or modify in any way 
without first acquiring permission.
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