consoles, but let’s be honest. The true test of any puzzle game is how well it entertains

you on the road. It’s been that way since Tetris. The short-burst, pick-up-and-go action

is ideal for handhelds. (And, well, for making people on the bus wonder what the hell you’re

doing.) So it was only natural that Puzzle Fighter, full name Super Puzzle Fighter II

Turbo (though there was no regular-speed, and there was no Puzzle Fighter 1) would eventually

be adapted to the up-and-coming Game Boy Advance. And while porting a PlayStation game to the

GBA seems kinda ridiculous in hindsight, the one part that made it intact was the gameplay.

So at least they had their priorities in order.

For the maybe fifteen of you out there who haven’t played Puzzle Fighter yet, four

colors of gems fall from the top of the screen all Puyo Puyo style, though just collecting

a bunch of them together isn’t enough to remove them from your side of the screen.

They’ll just weld themselves together into more and more imposing configurations. Instead,

you need to connect a Crash Gem - those spherical looking ones - to gems of the same color,

which make them shatter and make a huge mess and make your super-chibi Street Fighter or

Darkstalkers avatar character in the middle there actually do something. Mind, there’s

no health bar or anything, you’re just flinging garbage blocks onto your opponent’s side.

But unlike Puyo and somewhat like Puzzle League, these impediments can not only be removed

by creating a reaction near them, but will eventually turn into real gems that can make

for delayed-reaction combos, further punishing your opponent for throwing that crap over

here in the first place.

Some aspects are rather weak in this Game Boy Advance version - the graphics are grainy

to the point that the included artwork is pretty much illegible, the sound effects are

repetitive and every color, sound test, and other unlock involves having to take down

a vicious computer opponent. But you’re on a train, or a long car ride, and you’ve

got nothing but time. And you don’t care how weird you look, throttling your GBA (or

PSP, with the Capcom Puzzle World collection). And as vicious as that computer opponent is,

it’s still damned fun, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in this turnabout-laden

game. That is, until your girlfriend reveals herself to be a tenth-level Super Puzzle Fighter

II Turbo grand mast...erm... mistress, capable of decimating the fiercest of opponents with

distressing ease. You think you know someone...