Taisen Puzzle Dama
(Also included with Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama) - 1994 - Arcade (Japan only)
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the only webpage devoted to Taisen Puzzle Dama - if there's even a single other one out there, it's likely to be a lot better. It's like this: the game isn't emulated in any form, so I can't post any screenshots. Apart from one scan of dubious quality. However, by snagging pictures from Chatting Parodius, which has a couple of TPD references, I can cunningly create the illusion of having extra shots to show everyone. Clever, eh?
Anyway, Taisen Puzzle Dama (Ball Puzzle Battle), henceforth (and previously) referred to as TPD is a Konami Puzzler, released into the Arcades in 1994. Exclusive to Japan of course. I've only ever heard of it because a Playstation port of the game came free with Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama, which turns out to be a straight conversion of TPD.
The original game is similar to Puyo Puyo, Kirby Star Stacker and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. If that doesn't help at all, then know that it involves falling blocks which must be stacked up in groups of the same colour. Manage that and they'll disintegrate and land on your opponent - fail and they'll eventually overflow to the top of the screen at which point you die. There's another type of block which is inert, but becomes 'active' (and destructible) when a bunch of blocks adjacent to it disintegrate. There's a load of typically wacky characters involved of course...I just don't have any pictures of them. Apart from the Penguin, and the non-descript girl who are at the top of the screen. The Penguin is kind of the game mascot...he's pretty cool, for what it's worth. There's also a dog, a hooker, a mad scientist with a metal claw for a hand, a business man, a little boy with a stupid hat, and a martial arts expert. And a couple of line-art figures sit in the very centre of the screen where the scores are and cat-fight while you play. The gameplay is somewhat uncontrolled, and victory does not always fall to the strongest player. While dumping blocks on your opponent is fine in theory, it has a nasty tendency to set them up perfectly for retributive chain reactions of their own. And the nastier your attack, the more likely it is to end up penalising you. Of course, this works both ways - you too can accomplish the most undeserved retaliations. However, the tendency does become for each game to become a slightly tiresome exchange of counter attacks until someone is unlucky enough to die. I'm still not sure whether this makes TPD more or less fun to play...at the very least it means things are always hectic.
What else? Well...look at the screenshots i've taken from Chatting Parodius. Ignore Vic Viper. In the background of both, you can see the little town TPD takes place in...there's the school where the girl attends, and the lab where the mad scientist works. There's a stack of puzzle balls, just like you'd see in the game. And the big, Japanese, make-up guy is the final boss of the game...in Parodius he wears an assortment of crazy hats & wigs, but that doesn't happen in TPD. He may or may not be a robot...probably not, if we're being honest. The Saturn version of Chatting Parodius has rather more TPD stuff in - an entire level to be precise, so check that out if you can - you'll see the Dog, the Penguin and the make-up guy who each form part of a boss-run. While we're at it, here's on last picture of the Penguin I found:
And that, as they say, is pretty much it. I'm glad to have played Taisen Puzzle Dama...it's probably not something most people will get a chance to do. MAME may well emulate the game soon, at which point it'll get some more exposure. I have to say, of all the TPD games, this is the one I enjoy the most. The characters are cool and the music fits well. Definitely a good start to the series.
