Game:

Puyo Puyo (1991)

Duration: 21:37

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"Pitapat" is Fill-in-Cafe's cute but flawed action / puzzle game and one of their earliest works. Released in the beginning of 1992 with publishing handled by Victor Interactive Software (known in this instance under the subsidiary, "Cross Media Soft"), the game sports two cute rabbit-like characters, Pit and Pat, who tackle a few dozen rounds of falling-object mayhem with branching paths. Many FiC regulars worked on the game such as Keishi Yonao on music (who is not credited in the VGMD), Takumi Amano on programming and Maruto and Shintaro Takai on graphics. The game was also released for the PC-98, although that version of the game is even more obscure than this one.

The game has two simple modes: a single player mode and a two player (competitive) mode. The goal of the game is to clear the designated amount of sets (excusable lines) by matching four of the same block vertically, horizontally or diagonally. This task is simple enough on the surface and is easier on some rounds than others, but the game introduces various physical obstructions to make things harder as well as the inclusion of Pat on stages that require more than four excusable lines. When Pat is controlled by the computer, she will make a mad dash to erase anything that has the potential of pairing as four of a kind but as the A.I. isn't exactly perfect, it will sometimes make errors that work in your favor and even cause you to finish a round faster. The time limit is fairly generous on most stages and Pit / Pat don't have many abilities at their disposal but they have what they need. They can push blocks, jump and eliminate a block directly in front of them.

There are also the occasional pick-ups that pop up from time to time designed to help you or give more points. These effects range from flipping the colors of blocks to removing some from play to even eliminating a free line or two, but they're not on screen for long so you have to be quick. The game doesn't just use different colors for show though; the various colors are tied to the game's scoring system and the block's general rarity -- gray blocks are common and give the least points while green are the rarest and give the most points if you can work them into your routine. One final element of the gameplay is that players can wrap the screen if there is an opening on the other side. Here's a quick point chart for blocks:

Gray = 10
Brown = 25
Pink = 50
Gold = 100
Blue = 150
Green = 300

The game is easy enough to play but has one annoying aspect to it: eliminating blocks. When a block is directly next to you, it's not a big deal, but a big component of the game is making mid-air eliminations and the timing for eliminating the ones you want feels imprecise. This really rears its head when Pat appears and where it becomes a bane for the few somewhat difficult rounds, but it's not a deal-breaker overall. The game has simple, decent graphics with a handful of anime-style stills and a great soundtrack but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a must-have or anything... calling it a minor hidden gem would be fairly generous (and, to its credit, it has a very small core staff).

This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.

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