| Graphics: |    3.5 |
| SFX: | 3.5 |
| Music: | 3.5 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 5 |
| Replay: | 4 |
| Overall: | 4 |
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Reading ability: | Not required |
| Company: | Konami |
Background:
I found this game for only $8 at a used books and media store called Bookmans in Phoenix, Arizona. There are three locations in Arizona: this one (the newest), Flagstaff, and Mesa. They buy and sell used import video games. I've sold some of my import games there if they don't sell for much on eBay to make them worth the bother, and I've also made some incredible finds there as well, such as Rainbow Cotton for the Dreamcast for dirt cheap, even though it goes for quite a lot on eBay. A lot of their Super Famicom games are fairly mediocre and are well picked over, with games remaining that nobody seems to want, such as Sim Earth, Nobunaga's Ambition, dull-looking mahjong titles, and boring games like the Satellaview Derby Stallion 96 game. This puzzle game looked interesting, so I picked it up for only $8, and I had trade-in money. Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai is an early '90s anime I'd never heard of before. I don't know if there is a fansub for this anime (a quick search didn't show any results), so I really don't know much about the show. The art style isn't very attractive, and in fact it looks fairly badly-drawn. But since it's a unique style and not a cookie cutter, generic anime style, that makes it admirable, at least. Perhaps, like Touch, the show could be a decent watch once I get over my dislike of the art style.
The Game:
The game is a solid, Puyo Puyo-esque puzzle fighting game. It seemed fairly familiar, and it's because Konami has used the Taisen Puzzle Dama game over again with different licenses. I already own the game in the form of the Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama game for the Sega Saturn.
There are four colors of smiley-faced damas: red, blue, green, yellow. Fairly basic, yet it's easy for a color-blind person like myself to comprehend the colors. Have 3 of one color touch and they will clear, so set up your chains accordingly just as you would in a Puyo Puyo game. The damas come down two at a time and can be rotated. These damas can come regular and they can come in blocks. You must remove regular damas that are adjacent to the blocks to free the damas from the blocks. When you clear a chain, you will send blocks over to your opponent's side and vice versa. The patterns of the dama blocks that are sent over depends on the character being played, so each character will require a different strategy to play against.
A story mode is also included, naturally.
Graphics:
The graphics are pretty decent. It's the art style I'm not a big fan of.
Music/Sound:
Music and sound effects are pretty decent, and so are the voice acting sound samples.
Challenge and replay:
As with any puzzle game, challenge can be quite high. When you think that matching only three damas in a row is too easy, you can increase the number of damas required to clear them away.
Secrets:
Enter the Konami code at the title screen (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A), then press Start to unlock two characters. ---Courtesy of Gamefaqs.
The Good:
The customizable gameplay is great and adds variety and challenge.
The Bad:
Not too much negative to say about this game, although I'm sure a lot of the game's charm is lost if you are unfamiliar with the anime and the characters.
Overall:
The Taisen Puzzle Dama series is basically the same game, but with different characters inserted, whether it's Tokimeki Memorial or Twinbee or what have you. This is the only Taisen Puzzle Dama game on the Super Famicom, as far as I know. The game is basically a Puyo Puyo-type game with its own unique twist.
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