Game:

Puyo Puyo 2 (1994)

Duration: 11:34

26,750 views

0

Considering the date of this game and the platform, Carat is an uncommonly good (read: amazing) puzzle game. It was made by the short-lived developer, Custom, and was released for PC-98 and Sharp X68000 around the same time, and much later re-released/remade for regular PC in 1998 by Bags. In an age where puzzle games neither looked particularly great or sounded particularly good, Carat broke the mold with high-end production values, a great soundtrack with more than just one or two BGMs through the whole game (there are actually quite a few that differ between modes, critical points, etc.) and even a little originality in the gameplay department. Of course, you can kinda tell by the artwork that it's an H-Game (or bears hentai content) too, though the PC-98 version was said to be relatively mild compared to other versions.

Carat feels just like an arcade game and console game mix; detailed graphics and great sound but with all the conventional features you'd expect to find in a console release. You have your staple Normal Mode where you can select your starting difficulty as well as choose from a variety of tile sets. Next, you can choose "Task" mode where each setting differs; Normal is standard, you meet the requirements presented, Hard is one game without stopping, and "Youen Tenshi" or more specifically "Bewitching Angel" mode presents further challenges. You also have a simple Versus mode too, where you can play against a friend and outlast them via the clock or outscore them. Best of three wins! You even have a sound test where you can play the music and sfx. You can unlock CGs from the various game modes.

Carat plays like your standard falling object puzzler (most specifically, like Columns) but with one significant twist; While you can destroy three or more like objects vertically, horizontally and diagonally, you can only destroy objects on the direction you have set. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see arrows which face either up/down/left/right or diagonally. Those directions will determine what you break and you can change them at will, so keep this in mind. Even your savior crown (somewhat akin to a rainbow Columns gem) will destroy either diagonally or in the other four directions. If you are really good, you can change the directions in the middle of chains and make chains from directional/diagonal sets.

This is a simple video showing some of the stuff in the game and mild content (avoided showing more provocative scenes). Carat is highly recommended.

Other Statistics