Soundįinally, let's explore the sound in these retro puzzle series. With that being said, Puyo Puyo features an ever-growing cast of delightful anime-style chums and its colourful backgrounds, wiggly animations, and goofy-looking Puyo pieces that actually have their own personalities depending on their colour really make its visuals pop so it easily wins when it comes to graphics. Mario's visuals have always been simple since its 1990 debut but one thing that's remained fun is watching the little viruses in the magnifying glass taunting you as you play only to see them perish one by one after you clear out all of their colour. With gameplay out of the way, let's discuss the more superficial aspects of these games. Mario is fun even when his brother's filling the prescription Graphics Mario isn't fun as it totally is just not nearly as enjoyable as Puyo Puyo. Anyway, it goes without saying at this point but I definitely prefer playing Puyo Puyo as a multiplayer game. That being said, playing it online is a challenge fit for a puzzle game wizard because, generally speaking, the folks who play Puyo Puyo online are insanely good at it. Efficiently setting your Puyo pieces in place then matching 4 connecting ones only to cause a massive chain reaction and watch your opponent drown in clear garbage Puyo is such a thrilling moment.

However, Puyo Puyo takes things to a whole new level. Mario essentially has you race against a pal to see who can clear their viruses first and the fact that garbage pieces can fall adds an enjoyable push-and-pull dynamic to each match. Puzzle games compose my most treasured gaming moments with friends and I have fond memories of both of these puzzlers. Mario as a single player experience so let's take a look at these games' multiplayer modes and see if Puyo Puyo can overtake the plumber-turned-physician. Meanwhile, playing Puyo Puyo solo isn't quite as enjoyable as the single player modes mainly consist of a basic endless mode and some games in the series have missions which are pretty fun to complete as you play. There's something rather euphoric about slowly drilling down to the bottom of a virus-filled jar and I love doing it every time.

Mario primarily involves ridding the playfield of viruses by dropping coloured pills and matching 4 of the same colour in a row or column. I usually enjoy playing puzzle games competitively but let's start with the single player aspect of these games. Mario and Puyo Puyo have been around a long time! Solo

has been obsessively gaming since the late '80s and is just as passionate about video games in 2022.

There's something about dropping 2-tile puzzle pieces only to set up and trigger a cascade of combos that's super-satisfying so let's take a look at these 2 classic puzzler franchises and figure out which one is superior.

Puyo puyo vs 2