G-pinions

After months of pleading, bargaining and whining, I have finally been reunited with my long lost copy of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. I had my first good night of sleep in a long, long time knowing that my precious CD was snug in my PlayStation 2. It's been so long since I was last able to enjoy the gem busting goodness, that the last time I was able to play in on a system I owned, it was my original PSX – which I haven’t had since the summer of ’99.

Which brings me to a story of how Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo came into my possession in the first place.

It was during the summer of '99, probably my favorite summer ever. I was still working in the movie theater back then. In fact, some would say it was the peak of my theater existence. This was before all the great people decided to go away to school or move away, and even the immortal John Piper made his first appearance.

Anyway, I spent almost every day hanging out with a group of my friends from the theater. We would usually go back to my place and just hang out after work. I really don't remember what that entailed... probably cards or something.

Eventually, we moved on to the future: video games. I'm sure we dabbled in games like Perfect Dark and Blitz, as they are super awesome multiplayer. But then my conscience got the best of me. See, there were girls involved in this get together and few girls really love sports games or murder simulators. So, they were kind of left out. I had to do something to change this - to make everyone happy.

So, I went to Funcoland and scoured the shelves for something that girls might like to play. I contemplated Mary Kate and Ashley’s Naked Rasslin' but that's a little bit too girly. But then my eyes spotted the glorious box: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. I had heard of this game. Mostly that it was fun. And, the legends said, girls love puzzle games. And! It was only $20. So, even if no one really liked it, it didn't hurt me.

We spent the next few months playing that game for hours on end, almost every day. We would play until 3 or 4 in the morning. We played every different mode imaginable. We were kind of obsessed.

But then, I gave my PlayStation to my friend Mark in September. It made sense at the time, I didn't play it much other than Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, plus I was getting a brand fancy new Dreamcast. But, that was my only means of playing Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. So, I went without one of my favorite games ever for quite some time.

Since September of ’99 I have been able to play it from time to time. I would take it to some friend’s houses, the ones who owned a PlayStation game system, and we would enjoy it for a few hours and then move on to something else. This nomadic lifestyle happened for quite some time. The game was still fun, but it was getting kind of cranky moving around from place to place. Without a system to call its own, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo became sullen. So, after a few years of this life, I left it with a friend of mine. He loved the game; he would give it a good home. Plus, I was able to visit it whenever I wanted. All parties involved were happy.

As time passed, people moved away again and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was once again left behind. Try as I might, I was not able to actually get my hands on the game. It alluded me for a few years actually, before last weekend, when my friend stopped by my apartment, bearing the nutritious fruits of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Fighting Force.

Now, I have it back.

Anyway, the game is really simple and that's why it's so good. There are four different colors of blocks: red, blue, green and yellow. The goal is to form big blocks of the same color then smash it. Weeeee! And it's so addicting.

And the best part of the game is the hidden character Dan. You know Dan, everyone’s favorite fighter from Capcom's many fighting games. He's the guy in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 who shoots a fireball that goes less than an inch. The most useless attack there is. Unless you're talking about his other super move, which is him signing an autograph and throwing it at you. You can imagine the pain that would cause.

In Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo he has been given another handicap.

The main difference between the main characters in the game is the way they drop pieces on the other player. Whenever you blow up crystals on your screen, you drop pieces on your opponents as punishment. Everyone has a certain drop pattern, usually kind of random. If you drop random colored pieces on your opponent’s side it can do nothing but hurt them. If you're Dan, though, you'll drop all red pieces, only red pieces, which means they can destroy their whole side in one blow. Man, that's the way to play the game.

Other stuff that makes the game one of my all time top 10 favorite games is the complete lack of effort on the part of Capcom. The game is not translated at all. All of the speech is in Japanese, which makes the game infinitely more enjoyable. Because it kind of sounds like real, American words. So you can make jokes about what they're saying! I love stuff like that. Oh, and Felicia, from Darkstalkers fame, meows almost constantly through a match. If that doesn't get your motor running I don't know what will.