Puyo Puyo Work in Progress for Atari 800 XL/XE

Puyo Puyo never officially saw release on the Atari 800 XL/XE computer. Fan programmer, and Atari Age forum member, “R0ger” is working on fixing that slight oversight. What is awesome about this fan port is just how great it already looks.

For those unfamiliar with Puyo Puyo games here is a quick overview. This franchise belongs to the “falling block” genre that Tetris put on the map. The difference is, here you are not making “lines” across your well. Instead, you are tasked with matching up same color pieces in sets of four or more so they will disappear before your well is filled in completely. Matches can occur up/down, left/right, and diagonally or even in square/rectangle shapes. The real fun comes in when you have learned to set up combos and wrack up amazing amounts of points and set up your opponent for failure with tons of trash pieces hitting their well.

While Tetris was mostly a single player game, Puyo Puyo is designed to be a two player game from the start. If you do not have a second player available the computer can sub in for you with various digital characters that each have weaknesses and strengths that can make progression through the story quite challenging.

R0ger goes into a bit of detail over on AtariAge’s forums discussing graphics modes and goals for this port of Puyo Puyo. It is a great read for those with a programming background, most of it was above my head (I never got past simple BASIC programming myself).

I personally love these ports of newer games to older hardware. It just helps keep the older hardware alive and kicking with modern fans, it can also remind us just how great some of these franchises are.

Head over to AtariAge and check out the progression and while there, sign up and give R0ger some positive support.

This article was originally posted on Retro Gaming Magazine a classic game focused website I own.