A 5-year-old game repackaged in a $40 suit.
Almost five years ago, I reviewed Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 for the Nintendo Switch. If you want to know about the basics of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, a launch title for the Switch 2 in 2025, I implore you to go read that review because, well, it’s basically the exact same game. The Switch 2 version does a great job of leveraging new system features, whether it’s the novel mouse control-focused mode or the incredible use of GameShare that lets you play multiplayer across multiple screens locally and online. But at the end of the day, this is a $40 version of a game that first came out five years ago on a system that is backwards compatible with the Switch 2 and was as low as $8 on the Switch eShop in April.
It appears from the outside that some of the Switch 1->Switch 2 upgrades aren’t the cleanest prospects. Nintendo is able to do $10 and $20 upgrades and repackaged retail versions of their Switch 1 games or even some impactful free updates. For a third party, it seems like a clumsier process, especially if your game isn’t from 2025. A $40 slightly enhanced version of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S might have been the best that Sega could do, but even if GameShare is super neat, it’s hard to fully recommend this version to anyone but those desperate for a brand new Switch 2 game or sicko die-hards for quirky puzzle games with some neat RPG mechanics.
Puyo Tetris Doubles, the newly added multiplayer mode, is really neat, but it has landed for me as more of a novelty than a must-play. The two-vs-two mode has each team with their own board and pieces, desperately trying to communicate with each other to effectively drop their pieces to complete chains and win. Despite this being the new hotness, I found myself revisiting the silly story in Adventure Mode and the cool depth in Skill Battles instead of toying more with mouse controls and the new multiplayer mode. And guess what? Puyo Puyo Tetris is still a great concept. Puyo Puyo and Tetris are still incredible puzzle games and the fusion of the two is oftentimes electric. The expansion of multiplayer via GameShare is awesome. Stll, the value and cost of entry for this Switch 2 game is a barrier for entry. This is a great game let down by the harsh realities of a new console launch.
