Video Game / Puyo Puyo Tetris 2

All spoilers related to the first Puyo Puyo Tetris will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Puyos and Tetrominoes collide once again.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, direct sequel of the first Puyo Puyo Tetris, is a crossover Falling Blocks puzzle game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega; it released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.

Like its predecessor, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 combines Puyo Puyo and Tetris gameplay and, like most Sega-developed Puyo Puyo games, features a full story mode. Its most notable gameplay addition is the implementation of the Skill Battle ruleset from Puyo Puyo Chronicle, a mode with RPG elements where the goal is to deplete the opponent's HP.

Story-wise, the usual spacetime shenanigans reunite Ringo and her friends with the crew of the Starship Tetra. They must again investigate the dimensional anomalies, though this time they are antagonized by a mysterious girl named Marle.

The game received free content updates for a few months after release, the first of which added legendary Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog as a playable character. Other additions include characters from previous Puyo Puyo games, more music and icons, and a Boss Raid mode.

Not to be confused with Tetris 2, an entirely different 8/16-bit game known as Tetris Flash in Japan.

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Tropes that appear in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2:

• A Day in the Limelight
  • Some chapters have a side-story that give focus to one of the side characters; Chapter 2’s focuses on Ess, Chapter 3’s focuses on Lemres, Chapter 5’s focuses on Witch, and Chapter 6’s focuses on Ally.
  • In addition, Chapter 5 also gives Maguro and Ess some focus during the pageant segment
  • The EX chapter focuses primarily on Squares.
• Absurdly High Level Cap: The level cap is 100. The game can be finished quite comfortably below level 20, and reaching level 100 requires beating the final Skill Battle stage in Adventure somewhere in the ballpark of 680 times.
• Ahem: Arle clears her throat in order to wake up Amitie after she falls asleep in Chapter 5.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Like Puyo Puyo Champions, there is a Colorblind Mode, granting accessibility to color-blind players that feel the Puyo shapes aren't different enough, or want to use a specific skin but can't differentiate.
• Arbitrarily Serialized Simultaneous Adventures: Chapter 3 has Arle, Amitie, and Ringo splitting up to help free their brainwashed friends. The player is then given three branching routes to take on the stage select that can be done in any order, however all three must be completed before advancing in the story.
• Art Shift: The game acknowledges Puyo Puyo Chronicle's leap into 3D by rendering the Grimp Forest background in an entirely different style than the rest of the game.
• Ascended Extra: Legamünt and Rozatte from the mobile spinoff Puyo Puyo!! Quest become playable in the third DLC wave.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Ringo and Maguro engage in obviously fake acting in Chapter 6 before battling, not only acting very melodramatically but with both coming up with scenarios such as Ringo overwatering Maguro's cactus and almost killing it and Maguro beating Ringo's grandma so badly at checkers that she becomes too traumatized to eat much for weeks.
  Arle: What kinda third-rate acting is this!?
• Beam-O-War: When neutralizing large amounts of garbage, the characters will clash against each other to see which chain wins out.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Ringo's alternate voice has her borrow voice clips from her fellow Puyo Puyo 7 characters; Maguro, Risukuma, and Ecolo.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Several characters fall victim to brainwashing. Those affected still mostly act in-character, but are taken over by an unstoppable thirst for Puyo battles. Here, Witch, Draco, Suketoudara, Raffina and Feli fall to it, as well as Ecolo (who let himself get corrupted on purpose to lure Ringo). Schezo, Lemres, Sig, and Klug were also targeted for the corruption, but the former two resisted it, and the latter two were implied to be protected by the demon in Klug's book. It's subverted in Rulue's case, as she challenges Arle out of nowhere but was not affected. This even applies to the one causing it all, Marle, who was brainwashed herself by Squares into causing all this trouble.
• Breaking Old Trends: This game breaks the alternating cycle of Arrange Mode-laden anniversary titles followed by lighter, experimental games that started with Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, which was producer Mizuki Hosoyamada's first Puyo Puyo game. It follows the very lightweight Puyo Puyo Champions, has a fraction of the gameplay rulesets that the anniversary games have just like the first Puyo Puyo Tetris, and released a year shy of the series' 30th anniversary. Sega would instead push a major update to Puyo Puyo!! Quest to celebrate the 30-year mark.
  • This is the first game since 20th Anniversary (As that game, Tetris 1, Champions, and Chronicle maintained) to feature a larger roster to have more than 24 playable characters even at the game’s base content across all modes. Chronicle did subvert this with 29, but 5 of them are skill battle exclusive.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  Ringo: ECOLOOOO! Why do you gotta do things we can’t even show to the audience!?
• Brooklyn Rage: Tee’s alternate voice gives him a Brooklyn accent.
• Continuity Nod: Several to the first game.
  • The game begins with Ringo musing about her friends falling from the sky who then sees two people falling, in this case Tee and O.
  • Tee and Ringo’s dialogue before and after their first battle is practically word for word what they said the first time they fought.
  • Tee comments on how peaceful the constellation zone is and how nothing ever goes wrong, cue Ex showing up immediately after just as Ringo did in the first game.
  • Chapter 6 focuses on the characters training to grow stronger in order to face the Big Bad.
  • In addition, like Chapter 3 of the first game, instructions are written for specific battles to be held, two of which have the same matchups; O and Carbuncle, sans Arle due to the two being separate characters in this game, and Ess and Amitie.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Ess’ idea on how to punish Marle for all the trouble she caused is to have her tied up by her feet and then dangled upside down.
• Critical Annoyance: In Skill Battle mode, whenever one side, whether it be the player or the enemy, is at low health a warning sound will play. If one side is at low health and is about to be KO'ed by an attack, the sound will speed up and their screen will flash red.
• Deep South: Ess’ alternate voice gives her a Southern accent.
• Defeat Means Playable:
  • You unlock Marle and Squares in all modes after defeating them in story mode.
  • While they are in the starting roster, several characters such as Rulue and Draco only become playable in Skill Battle after you defeat them in the story mode.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • A minor example of this occurs with Ess. She doesn’t lose her playable status and is still the most prominent crew member of the S.S. Tetra behind Tee and O. That said, her role in the story was greatly reduced compared to the first game.
  • Ally only shows up in an optional side-chapter in the story mode and does not interact with anyone in the cast aside from Marle.
• Department of Redundancy Department: According to Witch, Schezo's name apparently means "gorgeous Adonis who defies the gods". The name Adonis means "gorgeous" in itself.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Marle is merely a victim of brainwashing by the actual Big Bad, Squares.
• Do Well, But Not Perfect: Some of the adventure modes grade you by how fast you defeat an opponent, but others go by final score instead. For those last ones, you actually have to pace your game so that you don't accidentally defeat the AI before you can accumulate enough points to get 3 or 4 stars. This is particularly noticeable in the "Fever" levels, where a skilled player can easily accumulate enough clears in one round to knock out their opponent, but not enough to actually meet the score goals of the level.
• Drop the Washtub: Serilly’s lose animation features a wooden tub being dropped on her head.
• Falling into the Plot: Similar to the first game, the story is kicked off by Ringo joking about her friends falling from the sky, only instead of it being Arle and Amitie, it’s Tee and O.
• Far-Out Foreigner's Favorite Food: Like Tee in the first game, Ess ends up also getting an enjoyment for sweets, specifically marshmallows, after being given some by Lemres.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In Adventure mode, you can use any team of three characters you want for Skill Battle, even if you are actually battling against said character, or, in the case of Dark Marle and Squares, if that character is antagonizing your team. This even occurs when you are playing the mode for the first time in Adventure Mode as Ess can be chosen despite not showing up until the cutscene after.
• Giggling Villain: Marle has fits of giggles as she antagonizes the heroes.
• Guest Fighter: The first post-release update adds Sonic the Hedgehog as a playable character. While he has appeared in the series before via Quest, this is the first time Sonic has appeared in the main series (with English voice lines at that, as Quest was never brought to western shores).
• Hidden Eyes: Jay and Elle and Ringo's losing animations have been switched to have their hair cover their eyes in shadow.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In Chapter 5, Ess criticizes Rulue for obsessing over and only showing her love to the Dark Prince. She immediately asks Zed to back her up on this.
  • In Chapter 7, the Dark Prince makes fun of Squares, someone who was born only recently for being immature.
• Increasingly Lethal Enemy: This is essentially what the Tetris/Puyo matchup has evolved to in this game. Given roughly equal skill levels, the goal of the Tetris player in most cases is to stuff the Puyo player as fast as physically possible, as Puyos hit hard and don't play nice in the hands of a competent player. The presence of Margin Time essentially turns the matchup into a Timed Mission scenario, as Puyo's lethality inflates rapidly under its effects and a competent player can bury a Tetris player fast if the opponent isn't playing well enough.
• Innocently Insensitive: In Chapter 2, Amitie questions how Zed could be Ess’ papa, sending Ess into a rage.
• Info Dump: The first half of Chapter 5 is Marle explaining why Squares merged the dimensions, with battles serving as breaks.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The game shows off Ex and reveals his identity as the Keeper of Dimensions within the first chapter, spoiling the big mystery of the first game for anyone that did not play it.
• Like Father, Like Son: Ess and her father Ex are the only characters that have access to a Terraformer Skill that creates a Tetris gap.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: Aside from adapting the Skill Battle mode from Puyo Puyo Chronicle to the gameplay of Tetris, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is essentially the first game with a new story and a few more characters.
• Mistaken for Gay: In Chapter 6, Schezo mangles one of his lines and accidentally claims that muscular bodies satisfy him. Even when he tries to correct himself, no one buys it.
• Mythology Gag: Sonic has quite a few.
  • One of his battle quotes is "Talk about mean beans!", a reference to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine which was a Dolled-Up Installment of Puyo Puyo released in the West.
  • He also says "It doesn't matter," which was the name of his theme in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Excluding Limit Break, all of Sonic's spells are named after various techniques he has used; Spin Attack (every 2D Sonic game), Homing Attack (most games past Sonic Adventure), Boost (Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Forces) and Blue Tornado (used exclusively in Sonic Heroes).
  • His defeat pose is based on the one he takes when getting an E rank in Sonic Unleashed.
  • Mixed with Continuity Nod, when talking to Squares in the EX Chapter, Ecolo mentions that he could have used his powers to start a circus, open an amusement park, or create a new world. All of these are things the Dark Prince has done before, doing so in; Puyo Puyo~n, Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon and the novel Satan’s Space Amusement Park, and Madou Monogatari and Puyo Puyo Chronicle respectively.
• Nap-Inducing Speak: In Chapter 5, when Marle is telling the others about what she remembers about Squares and herself, Amitie ends up falling asleep. That said, it has less to do with Marle being The Bore and more with Amitie being The Ditz and not understanding any of the complexities of the story.
• Nerf: Tetris was nerfed further by seeing its speed decreased. It still maintains an inherent speed advantage, but an extremely competent Puyo Puyo player now has an actual chance at winning compared to the first game.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: In addition to the usual Puyo Puyo trios of this sort, Ecolo, Dark Prince, and Ex formed one as well. Ex is the Nice, Ecolo is the Mean, and Dark Prince is the In-Between. Ex is rather laid-back and does his best to help the heroes along their journey. Ecolo seems to get all his kicks from messing around with others and tends to be rude to just about everyone, with the sole exception of Ringo. Dark Prince does often cause problems, but they're often a nuisance at best, and he can be affable to others.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Chapter 5-S sees Witch trying to help an amnesiac Marle regain their memories. As a reward she becomes Patient Zero for Marle’s corruption.
• Non-Indicative Name: Marle’s spells all have the Theme Naming of circles, yet her attack animations show her making squares. This actually clever Foreshadowing that she is being possessed by Squares and becomes averted when she becomes White Marle.
• Not Big Enough for the Two of Us: One of Ess' alternate voice clips, which is not used in the game, features her saying “This town ain’t big enough for the two of us!”.
• Ocular Gushers: Several characters losing animations in this game feature them crying a waterfall, such as O and Jay and Elle.
• Optional Party Member: Ally is recruited in Skill Battle after beating the optional Chapter 6-S stages.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Lampshaded. After one of Schezo's usual speech blunders, Arle claims she'd find something to be wrong if Schezo were to be talking properly for once.
• Over 100% Completion: Has a whopping 219% completion that is obtained from getting four stars on all of the stages, four stars are unlocked after getting three stars in all the stages in an Act.
• Pent-Up Power Peril: In Chapter 7, Squares runs the risk of blowing up due to absorbing too much power and not using any of it due to abandoning his original plan of destroying the worlds.
• Powder Gag: Ms. Accord’s losing animation features an eraser falling on her head, covering her in chalk dust.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Marle's outfit is made up of mostly red and black and she is a villain. However, this is only the case when she is possessed by Squares.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Tee lets off a scream that is dubbed "high-pitched" by the Unsound Effect.
• Sdrawkcab Speech: Ecolo speaks backwards in his alternate voice pack in the English version. Considering what Ecolo himself is, it only serves to make him seem more uncanny.
• Shout-Out: After Ess threatens him in Chapter 5, the Unsound Effect says that Lemres is "shaken but not stirred", a reference to how a certain spy prefers his martinis made.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Marle quickly silences Amitie in Chapter 2 when the latter begins trying to tell her how to actually have fun.
  Marle: ...Your mouth.
  Amitie: Wh-What about it!?
  Marle: It’s spewing nonsense. Try shutting it.
• Spelling Song: Happens in Chapter 2 when Ringo finally boards the Tetra.
  Ringo: I'M ON A STARSHIP~! ♪ S-T-A-R-SHIP! I'M ON A STARSHIP~! ♪
• Status Quo Is God: Between Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 and 2, Ringo and co. initially don't remember anyone in the Tetra crew, as if they've met for the first time. To ensure the order between dimensions is sustained, Marle wiped their memories of their previous adventure.
• Stewed Alive: Witch tries to do this to Suketoudara in Chapter 5A by claiming that she made him a nice warm bath in order to help him relax. The fish does not buy it for a second.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Unlike other games after Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, this is completely averted with regards to Fever mode dropsets, as the new characters Marle, Squares, Sonic, Legamunt, and Rozatte all get completely new dropsets instead of borrowing previous characters' dropsets.
• Talking through Technique: Implied. Adventure mode stage 1-2 begins with Maguro understanding absolutely nothing. After the battle Maguro can accurately describe the entire situation. Tee even comments that they are communicating "on another level".
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • In the first game, Jay and Elle only seemed to be on the Tetra to liven things up with their pranks. In this game, it’s revealed they have the power to sense things by holding hands.
  • Ally’s AI in this game is much better compared to her previous two appearances in Chronicle and Champions. Justified as she appears much later in this game.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Tee is a bit more cocky in this game compared to the first.
  • Amazingly, Ess is actually somewhat ruder in this game.
• Took a Level in Kindness: On the flip side for Ess, she delivers a much more heartfelt goodbye to Amitie at the end of the game.
• Twin Switch: Yu and Rei’s alternate voices sees the twin switching roles, with Rei taking the lead and emulating his sister's energy while Yu emulates her brother's quieter mannerisms.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Instigators in this case, Chapter 5-S shows Witch and Draco may have caused Marle to go insane and become overly obsessed with the idea of “fun” by trying to help her regain her memories.
• Verbal Tic: Marle when possessed by Squares says the word "fun" a lot. Lampshaded by Tee at one point.
  Tee: Is [fun] the only word you know!?
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After being defeated in Chapters 1 and 2, Marle runs away. She tries it again in Chapter 4, but ends up getting cornered and stopped by the heroes.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Marle suffers one in Chapter 4 when she begins losing to the protagonists one by one.
  • Chapter 7 also has Squares suffering one after losing to the protagonists one by one and having his views shattered.
• Word, Schmord!:
  • Ess does it in Chapter 4 when Tee and the rest of the S.S. Tetra crew capture Marle.
    Ess: Custody, shmustody. Let’s just tie her feet to the ceiling and let her dangle upside down!
  • Later, Arle tells a certain character "Rules schmules! If nobody is following your rules, then they were probably dumb rules to begin with!"
• You Are in Command Now: After Ex transports Tee away, Ess has to take command of the Tetra in order to find him.
• You Can Talk?: When Ringo, Amitie, and Arle first meet Ai the chihuahua, they are rather taken aback by the fact that he can actually talk. This is mostly due to the fact that when they first encounter him, he is whimpering and barking like an actual dog.
• You Go, Girl!: One cutscene in Chapter 2 has Tee say that he'll go easy on Ringo, Amitie, and Arle before a match because they're all ladies. Since it's the player battling against Tee, he loses.

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