#arcade
Puyo Puyo Pachislot Information: Part 1 - Intro, Plot & Trivia
For the past two years I’ve been looking into Puyo Puyo Pachislot, so it’s time to start summarising it! This post will cover what a pachislot is, machine specifications, plot and some trivia about the assets used.
Intro
Puyo Puyo! Pachislot is a Puyo Puyo themed pachislot game.
What is a Pachislot? A Pachislot is a Japanese arcade machine used for gambling tokens, they are based off of pachinko machines, however pachislot machines are more similar to slot machines. Gambling is illegal in Japan, so the machine rewards you with tokens or balls which can be exchanged for prizes and cash instead.
Specifications
パチスロぷよぷよ！(Pachislot Puyo Puyo!)
Release Date: 5th December 2011
Publisher: Taiyo Elec (タイヨーエレック)
Licensed by Sega
Plot
The plot revolves around Amitie climbing the same Tower from Puyo Puyo Fever 2, to find Ms. Accord’s flying cane.
On her journey, she encounters the cast of Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary. They are fought in a Puyo Battle or a game of Golf. They can be encountered by them running up behind Amitie, walking into Primp Magic School/O’ Share’s Shop, or met by chance.
At a certain point, Amitie will be met with three doors to choose from, One of the doors will lead to outside and Amitie will fall from the Tower, which is game over. If the correct door is chosen, Amitie will continue running up the stairs.
Partially unconfirmed: Schezo may be met in one of those doors.
When a game over happens, Amitie is sent back to Primp Magic School where Ms. Accord can be seen.
Eventually, Amitie reaches the top. She fights Popoi and then meets with Ms. Accord who hits her with her Popoi Hammer. Carbuncle is also encountered at the top, this seems to be based on score or chance.
There is also a scene where O'Share judges two characters, not yet known how this happens. It can happen with Klug, Sig and Raffina.
Assets
Puyo Puyo Pachislot mostly uses assets from Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary, the sprites used in battle, loading screens and manzai are from that game. The soundtrack consists of Puyo Puyo Fever ½ and Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary. The animated scenes are specially drawn for the pachislot, as are the static scenes of Amitie outside the Tower and the Golf scenes.
It seems that Puyo Puyo Pachislot was not entirely made by Sega, which is why the animated scenes are there.
There are some sound effects and original voicelines made just for Puyo Puyo Pachislot, an example is when Amitie falls from the Tower.
Ending
Part 2 will cover gameplay and some resources to watch gameplay.
Red Earth, 1996.
A good way to describe this very rare arcade game is “He Man and the Masters of the Universe meets Street Fighter II.”
Red Earth is one of only a few Capcom fighting games from the 1990s that was never released on home consoles, so if you can find a working machine, you’re in for a real treat. The game is set in a mythical 1400s that looks more like He-Man’s Planet Eternia (in fact, everything about this game reminds me more of Masters of the Universe than Street Fighter II), and it has a single-player mode with two unique attributes: 1) you acquire attributes and more damaging weapons as you continue in the game, including things like immunity to poison attacks or a cooler sword, and 2) it has a single-player mode where you fight monsters instead of just other playable characters.
The signature character is Leo, a warrior-king who turns into a monster, like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and who longs to be human again. Personally, I think he is making a big thing out of nothing, since all the Disney fangirls I’ve met think the Beast was far more interesting looking before he turned human, and his restored human looks were something of a letdown.
The other characters include a ninja, a Chinese martial artist who might just be Chun-Li’s ancestor, and a cute girl-witch. As the appeal of the game is the single player (which may be why it was never a famous tournament fighter), it has Ninja Gaiden-esque cut scenes where each character experiences levels out of order and has a different story. Nowadays, a story mode is expected for fighters, but it was quite revolutionary then. If anything, the game suffered from being too ahead of its time.
Post link
Godzilla, Mechagodzilla and King Ghidora ad ons replace the flimsy 2D plastic versions that came with the game. I particularly like the Godzilla, a 2009 Bandai reproduction of the original 1954 version which suits the game perfectly.
