I start this review off with an inquiry. Do you think I’ve played every iteration of Tetris? Even with the nice package that is Tetris Forever, there are Tetris games out there that I’ve still never heard of. So, I have another inquiry: Have you played every iteration of Tetris? On every platform? On every phone or tablet? Probably not. Then, there’s Puyo Puyo. A select few may know this as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Some of you didn’t even know that Mean Bean Machine was just re-skinned as Puyo Puyo, just as you probably didn’t know that Tetris Attack was a game called Panel De Pon, which has absolutely nothing to do with Tetris. All this to say, the Switch 2 now has an exclusive Puyo Puyo Tetris game in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, but I am confused as to why.
Jumping right into it is probably the best way to go, as Sega has shoved practically every mode they could think of into this game. As the title screen hits, you can just go into an “endless” version of Puyo Puyo, or a marathon mode with Tetris. Game pops up, and there you are, playing the same games that you’ve played for years. The playfield is a little small for my liking, completely taken over by presentation stats. I don’t understand why Puyo Puyo is called endless when there is a countdown timer. This officially marks the beginning of my frustrations with this game. Regardless, if you do well or not, you do receive in-game currency, but I’ll save that for later.
If you go into the main menu, your modes open up. Adventure mode is your story mode, which doubles as your Player vs. CPU mode. The characters from the prequel are back. In the sequel, characters from both universes have now returned to repel a new threat to combine, and most likely destroy both universes. This is all fine and dandy until the characters reveal that none of them remember each other, even though they practically went through the same thing. Then you make your way through the stages.
As you’re making your way through adventure mode, you will either play Tetris or Puyo Puyo. Sometimes, depending on the character, you’ll switch back and forth in time intervals. The object is simple. Complete lines, or chains, and send garbage to the other player, making them lose. Simple.
There are seven levels of these stages, and the top-down grid view gets a little complicated once the side missions start opening up. Luckily, there’s a shortcut menu that shows you all the levels you’ve done and haven’t done. Kudos to Sega for having voice acting for every character, even though I’m the problem for skipping every single piece of dialogue. This is also how you unlock the characters for in-game use, if you so choose.
If you are reading this, I’ll assume that this isn’t your first rodeo with either of these games, so you can make your way through them pretty quickly. Use that shortcut menu, for your own sanity. I will point out that adventure mode also introduces you to a lot of the other modes.
If you couldn’t care less about the story, there is a solo mode, which again is versus the CPU. There are seven modes here. Versus is your standard, which lets you battle up to four computer players. You can also do endurance mode, which lets you run a gauntlet. The next option is Skill battle. This lets you use the unlocked characters from the adventure mode in a three-on-three team-based battle. During the game, you can use team skills to help you—like fighting spirit to give you more attack power—or you can change all their blocks around. You can only use these attacks if you build a meter, and you build a meter by clearing lines, or chaining, if that’s what it’s called. The easily described Swap mode lets you take on the CPU in a regular battle, or endurance, and literally swaps between Puyo Puyo and Tetris during gameplay.
Party is just like Versus, except items appear during gameplay. Fusion is the most confusing mode for me. At its own intervals, it switches between Tetris and Puyo Puyo, but only by the pieces. The tetrominoes can crush the beans, but I don’t know how it all comes together. It may be a little convoluted for me, and I easily skipped this mode after losing to the computer over and over again.
Big Bang is your puzzle mode in a puzzle game. You take on an opponent, and you’re given a set number of pieces or puyos to clear the board. The more boards you clear by the end of a timer, the closer you get to defeating your adversary. Challenge mode opens up six more modes. That’s right. Six more modes in solo play.
Those six modes are as follows. Endless Fever lets you clear preset chains within a time limit. Endless Puyo is not endless. Tiny Puyo is a tiny version of Puyo Puyo. It’s cute, but that’s about it. Sprint is a mode to see how fast you can clear 40 lines. Marathon is the old clear 150 lines with the highest score possible.
Yes. There are a lot of modes. And all these modes are available in multiplayer, with the same screen on the couch, local wireless, and share play, which is the first of the very few differences between this and the 2020 release of this game.Again, more on that in a bit.
The online modes start with a puzzle league, which is similar to the Big Bang mode, and the versus modes in general. You can then go all Puyo Puyo or all Tetris. Skill Battle lets you use the power ups that you, again, unlocked during adventure mode. You have access to Free Play, which lets you create a lobby, and set your own modes and rules. You can also check your rankings and replays here, if you need those. Apparently, there’s a boss raid mode, but I couldn’t access it, because no one was online to play. Rounding out the main menu, is the lessons menu. This teaches you about the two games, the fusion mode, and the Skill Battle. If you ever find yourself lost or confused, come here.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. All of this seems oddly similar to the 2020 release of this game. Did they just slap an S on the end? Essentially, yes. Let me break down the differences.
In this version of the game, you can use the USB camera to put your face in place of the character you choose. You can also play with another player in the same game board, which means you can blame your “partner” for making those terrible Tetris decisions. Game share is also a feature here, which means you can share the game with another Nintendo Switch locally, or online to another Nintendo Switch 2 via Game Chat. You can use mouse controls, to move the pieces from left to right, and rotate them. You can also “quick drop” pieces this way, but it feels more complex.
And honestly, that is it. Those are the changes. Those are the upgrades between the $40 Nintendo Switch 1 version, and the $40 Nintendo Switch 2 version. There is no upgrade path from the original to the Switch 2 version.
You have to pay for the entire game again to get these features, and both games are available for the same price, at the same time, digitally. I don’t know who to point the finger at for this, but it does lower my rating as the developers have just added a couple features to a game you probably have. Some people will compare this to Puyo Puyo Champions, and I can see that. With Tetris Forever, this, and the first two in this series already available, I don’t see why this exists. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S simply feels redundant. After I went through the adventure mode, and unlocked all the characters, cosmetics, and used my in-game currency to unlock BGM, different skins for the tetrominoes and puyos, and different titles for my profile, I gave up. Nothing I experienced in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S proved the need for the game’s existence.
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
