• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sega reskins Puyo Puyo Quest for western launch

Well, this definitely ruined my day. Transforming Puyo Puyo into... Cranky Food Friends? Are you serious?

Transforming Puyo Puyo derived mobile cash cow into... well another mobile cash cow.

If you really want Puyo Puyo there are plenty of great console/handheld releases and importing isn't hard.
 

@MUWANdo

Banned
Puyo is a thing in Japan but not here.

Puyo isn't a thing here because Sega hasn't released the vast majority of Puyo games outside of Japan; the last one to come overseas (not counting VC releases of old games) was Puyo Pop Fever way back in 2005.

Someone in Japan is convinced that foreigners can't handle Puyo and I don't get it at all.
 
Puyo isn't a thing here because Sega hasn't released the vast majority of Puyo games outside of Japan; the last one to come overseas (not counting VC releases of old games) was Puyo Pop Fever way back in 2005.

Someone in Japan is convinced that foreigners can't handle Puyo and I don't get it at all.

The time for Puyo Puyo to get popular was the 90s when every other Tetris clone came out.

That ship has sailed.
 
Transforming Puyo Puyo derived mobile cash cow into... well another mobile cash cow.

If you really want Puyo Puyo there are plenty of great console/handheld releases and importing isn't hard.
Believe me, I imported PPT for both PS3 and PS4. Love that game to death.

The thing is, ANY form of Puyo Puyo being released in the west would've been a win in my book - whether that be a mobile, non-traditional Puyo game or not. For them to go well out of their way to strip the Puyo name and charm out of it is just insulting.
 
Puyo isn't a thing here because Sega hasn't released the vast majority of Puyo games outside of Japan; the last one to come overseas (not counting VC releases of old games) was Puyo Pop Fever way back in 2005.

Someone in Japan is convinced that foreigners can't handle Puyo and I don't get it at all.

Yeah I know SEGA is responsible for Puyo being unknown here, but a mobile game (with different gameplay as far as I can tell) wouldn't have changed that.
 
Puyo isn't a thing here because Sega hasn't released the vast majority of Puyo games outside of Japan; the last one to come overseas (not counting VC releases of old games) was Puyo Pop Fever way back in 2005.

Someone in Japan is convinced that foreigners can't handle Puyo and I don't get it at all.

it's typical japanese company stuff.

changing jet set radio to jet grind radio for some reason.

calling it dr. robotnik's mean bean machine or kirby's avalanche for some reason.

you know it's a shame cos in the earlier days of video games they didn't mind releasing these kind of obscure games. I think just after the times of namco's katamari damashii is when things started going downhill.. "they can't handle these japanese games"
 

Sir TapTap

Member
it's typical japanese company stuff.

It hasn't been a huge thing since gen 6 at the latest though, this is like gen 5 "hide the japanese!!!!" level of absurdity right here. It's really weird to see Sega still do this while localization (without content changes) seems to be bigger than ever with more and more "oddball" games coming over without issue. Hell Sega even brought Miku over with good success but they still won't bring puyo.
 
It should be pointed out that the original game isn't really much like Puyo Puyo at all. This is also the second western generic mobile game SEGA is putting out, the first being Puzzle & Glory (a Puzzles & Dragons clone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IkginKUOk

This. The game itself isn't much like Puyo Puyo anyway, so it's not really that scandalous a swap, especially given other circumstances, like the style of game and the audience that actually plays these games on mobile.

Furthermore, while it would be nice for it to keep its Puyo branding, I can see the rationale behind such a switch. It's likely that the majority of people who care about Puyo Puyo in this market are the same people who aren't going to touch mobile games due to the stigma surrounding F2P on the platform. At least Sega can chase after the equivalent audience outside of Japan that this game is aimed at, rather than have it be released into obscurity.

From a creative point of view, this sucks, but I can see why Sega Networks did it.
 

BiggNife

Member
Sega's refusal to give Puyo Puyo another chance in the west is just a massive bummer.

I had a lot of fun with Puyo Pop Fever for DS a few months after the system launched, it was one of the few games at the time that had a single cart multiplayer mode that was actually pretty well featured. I was hoping we'd get the sequel with online play but nope :(

Kinda tempted to import Puyo Puyo Tetris 3DS now that it's relatively easy to play region free.
 

RM8

Member
I mean, it's not like they had any alternative if there are licensing issues. The game is pretty boring IMO, for what is worth :p
 

vg260

Member
I'm only vaguely familiar with the original, but I dunno, I kinda like it better.

I can relate much better to that cranky coffee cup.
 

Tizoc

Member
I mean, it's not like they had any alternative if there are licensing issues. The game is pretty boring IMO, for what is worth :p

Wasn't it among their top grossing mobile games in Japan for a few years though?
 

Gunstar Ikari

Unconfirmed Member
A mostly-recycled rant post regarding the fuckery surrounding this series...

There are essentially 12 normal Puyo Puyo games. ("Normal" as in contains the characters and has competitive gameplay.)
-Puyo Puyo (arcade)
-Puyo Puyo Tsu
-Puyo Puyo Sun
-Puyo Puyo~n
-Puyo Puyo Box
-GBA Puyo Pop (Minna de Puyo Puyo)
-Puyo Pop Fever
-Puyo Puyo Fever 2
-Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary
-Puyo Puyo 7
-Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary
-Puyo Puyo Tetris

The West has received four of these plus the N-Gage game, and that's giving them credit for bringing over the first arcade game (we don't actually know who published that one) and Tsu (which was only the Neo Geo Pocket Color and untranslated Mega Drive version). The last one, outside of the aformentioned Mega Drive rom dump, was in 2005-2006.

On top of that:
-They went to the trouble of porting the arcade translation to the Game Gear version of the first game...and still kept the Game Gear version in Japan.
-Mean Bean Machine
-Half of the games that did come over weren't even published by Sega. (SNK/THQ/Atlus stepped in.)
-Only two versions of Fever were released in North America, one of which was brought over by Atlus. It was ported to damn near everything in Japan and Europe.
-The English version of Columns Deluxe strips the characters out of the Puyo Pop half of the game. (It was originally a port of Puyo Puyo~n.)
-We couldn't even get the Compile character in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory.
-Hell, we can't even get their cash cow mobile game. [edit]Cranky Food Friends, thanks Sega! /s

It's easy to feel like someone within Sega doesn't want filthy westerners (especially Americans) to see much of this series.
 

Aki-at

Member
This is pretty silly, why go to the effort to change the asethics to that of a new IP?

If I had to guess I bet the Western branch thought the original was too "girly" otherwise I don't see what made them change the art so drastically. I liked the current art direction of the series ._.

Wow, that's dumb. Hasn't SEGA been doing poorly on mobile?

What? No! They're like the sixth biggest mobile publisher in Japan and possibly the world. They've got 5 titles that generate $20 million a month for them.

Puyo isn't a thing here because Sega hasn't released the vast majority of Puyo games outside of Japan; the last one to come overseas (not counting VC releases of old games) was Puyo Pop Fever way back in 2005.

Someone in Japan is convinced that foreigners can't handle Puyo and I don't get it at all.

The games haven't sold well either. Though I always thought mobile devices suited the market in the West.
 

Gunstar Ikari

Unconfirmed Member
For people that don't know, my avatar is a Puyo character, so expect lots of salt from me lol

Licensing issues in the West.

There are no licensing issues with Puyo Puyo. The issue with Puyo Puyo Tetris is (probably) Ubisoft. This is happening because Sega doesn't want anyone from the West to see anything from this series. Hell, I'm surprised that the Sonic Runners tie-in was carried over.
 

Tizoc

Member
For people that don't know, my avatar is a Puyo character, so expect lots of salt from me lol



There are no licensing issues with Puyo Puyo. The issue with Puyo Puyo Tetris is (probably) Ubisoft. This is happening because Sega doesn't want anyone from the West to see anything from this series. Hell, I'm surprised that the Sonic Runners tie-in was carried over.

Curious, but why do you see SEGA of Japan not wanting their series released outside of Japan? I'm getting a similar vibe like that about the head of ARIKA too.
 

MrDoctor

Member
What? No! They're like the sixth biggest mobile publisher in Japan and possibly the world. They've got 5 titles that generate $20 million a month for them.
Yeah, looks like I was thinking of sales overall. Mobile is the one area where they're succeeding.
 

Gunstar Ikari

Unconfirmed Member
Curious, but why do you see SEGA of Japan not wanting their series released outside of Japan? I'm getting a similar vibe like that about the head of ARIKA too.

I wish I knew. The most logical guess that I can think of is that Sega toyed with the idea for a bit when they received the series in 1998, Puyo Pop Fever turned out to be a mega-bomb, and they then decided that westerners don't "get" the series and swore to never bother with us again. But the stuff involving Puzlow Kids/Mean Bean Machine makes it seem like Sega pretty much never thought that it would work.

Maybe it's the characters? They were stripped out of Mean Bean Machine, stripped out of Columns Deluxe, stripped out of this game, and the cast was almost entirely new in Puyo Pop Fever. The N-Gage game and presumably the arcade game (again, we don't know if that was them) are the only Puyo games published by Sega in the west with more than two of the original cast members.
 

Aki-at

Member
Curious, but why do you see SEGA of Japan not wanting their series released outside of Japan? I'm getting a similar vibe like that about the head of ARIKA too.

It's not SEGA Japan not wanting their series to be released globally. It comes down to wither SEGA America/Europe want to take on the risk and localise a product. The Western branches get a surprising amount of freedom.

They're at the point where it's almost three separate companies.

Yeah, looks like I was thinking of sales overall. Mobile is the one area where they're succeeding.

SEGA portion of the company is doing well in the past couple of years, the decline in sales was due to Sammy only selling 102 pachislot machines instead of the usual 80,000 since some machines were delayed.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I'm glad I bought Puyo Puyo Tetris when I did. It's a fantastic game. This however, is localization on a business side. Ubisoft handing out lifeless Tetris ports while mobile games come out looking like this. I don't see why all mobile gets are matching games. No one is going to complain because the majority probably sees nothing wrong with this because we don't live in a Bust a Move or Street Fighter Puzzle society. They're newcomers who download anything and this probably cute enough to get a download. While we aren't necessarily fooled by its intentions.
 

Koren

Member
Same.
The design is utterly garbage.
I agree, but to me, the current Puyo design is vastly inferior to the original one, with the Madou Monogatari cast.

I enjoyed Puyo and Tetris, but the last true Puyo game for me is Puyo Pop on GBA :/
 

Koren

Member
The N-Gage game and presumably the arcade game (again, we don't know if that was them) are the only Puyo games published by Sega in the west with more than two of the original cast members.
The first GBA game (Pop, not Pop fever) has the original cast...
 

nakedeyes

Banned
Puyo Puyo Tetris will actually never make it to US due to the Tetris license. Regardless of Puyo localization desires. Sega made PPT, but only Ubisoft is currently allowed to publish Tetris games in U.S. ..

Rest easy knowing Japan will never get Ultimate Tetris though lol..
 

pants

Member
Wow, sounds familiar:
qoaeipP.png

My favorite 'puyo puyo' game to this day
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
All this effort and there's still a conspicuously Japanese piece of food in the very first screenshot.
 
Wasn't it among their top grossing mobile games in Japan for a few years though?

This and Chain Chronicles have been one of their most successful mobile games in Japan.

So of course when they are brought over to the West, they are handled pretty damn terribly lol
 
Watch this game do poor and make sega think we dislike this stuff when it would have probably done better with the puyo visuals.
 
Top Bottom