Puyo Puyo

Puyo Puyo
The front cover of the Mega Drive version of the original game.
Genres	Puzzle
Developers	Compile (1991-2000) Sonic Team (2001-present)
Publishers	Sega, others
Creators	Kazunari Yonemitsu
First release	Puyo Puyo October 25, 1991
Latest release	Puyo Puyo Chronicles December 8, 2016

Puyo Puyo (ぷよぷよ), previously marketed under the name Puyo Pop in North America and Europe, is a series of tile-matching video games created by Compile. Sega has owned the franchise since 1998, with most releases after 2001 being handled by Sonic Team.

The first Puyo Puyo title was developed by Compile released in 1991 for the MSX2 and Family Computer Disk System; the latter release was published by Tokuma Shoten as a pack-in for their Famimaga magazine. The puzzle game features characters from the 1990 RPG Madou Monogatari 1-2-3, also developed by Compile. The titular gelatinous puzzle pieces, later known as simply Puyo, were Madou Monogatari's equivalent of the Slime monsters from the Dragon Quest game series. The game includes "Endless" mode, where the player attempts to amass a large score, "Mission" mode, where the player is given a pre-configured board and must attempt to satisfy conditions, and a two-player competitive mode.

Compile and Sega collaborated to create an arcade version of Puyo Puyo that released in October 1992 for Sega's System C2 hardware. Unlike the previous release, this title focuses entirely on competitive play; the single-player mode consists of a gauntlet consisting of either 3, 10, or 13 computer opponents, while the multiplayer mode allows two human players to battle each other. The game was ported to several major platforms in Japan, with the Mega Drive becoming a bestseller. The game was followed by Puyo Puyo Tsu in September 1994, also released for Sega System C2.Tsu adds the ability to counter the opponent's chains; additionally, it changes the single-player gauntlet from a linear structure to a roulette-based structure that requires the player to pass certain score thresholds to advance. Like its predecessor, Tsu was also released on a variety of home platforms. In 2004, it was included in the Sega Ages 2500 line of PlayStation 2 games.