| Graphics: |    3.5 |
| SFX: | 3.5 |
| Music: | 3 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 4 |
| Replay: | 3 |
| Overall: | 3.5 |
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Reading ability: | Not required |
| Company: | Ban Dai |
| Format: | Sufami Turbo |
The Game:
Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 is the sequel to Sailor Moon Super S Fuwa Fuwa Panic on the Super Famicom. I do not own the original, but I have played it a bit via the emulator on my Xbox. At first glance at the screenshots, you may expect the gameplay to this puzzle to be like Money Puzzle Exchanger or Magical Drop. BUT YOU'D BE WRONG!
OK, so you select your character, then you begin the taisen puzzle mode. You will slowly receive a row of balloons that float up to the top of your game grid, or you can speed up the process by pressing up on the directional pad. Not all balloons will be fully inflated, so you will need to press A to shoot them, thus inflating them fully. In Fuwa Fuwa Panic 1, you could pop any balloon you wanted, save for the gray obstacle balloons (think of these as your jama puyos)---those can only be destroyed when you clear a chain of like-colored balloons. Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 mode is more interesting though: the difference is that you cannot just pop any single balloon---you can only pop balloons that have at least one like-colored balloon next to it. I like the challenge of this better. The trouble is not only with the gray balloons, but also with the small balloons that won't pop. Make sure you can shoot them to inflate them before more balloons show up, thus burying them from your shots. You'll have to clear away the balloons below these to get at them.
By popping balloons in large chains, your meter will fill up. When your meter is at max, press the B button for a super attack to mess up your opponent. If you press B before the meter is full, this will be a defensive move whereby Chibi Moon descends and will pop random balloons in each column on your screen.
Powerups will also drop on occasion from popped baloon chains. Some of them will give you a shot that will pop several balloons in a row, while the dark powerups will actually weaken you. Your character will revert to plain clothes for a while, during which you are really limited in your attacks. After a while, you will then transform back into your Sailor Soldier outfit.
Graphics:
Cute cute cute. Animations are nice, SD characters are cute. I don't know who the dominatrix girls are, but then again I haven't seen the later Sailor Moon series. The animation effects are nicely done, during the girls' transformation sequences and also during the special attacks. Mercury's rippling effects are rather hypnotic.
Music/Sound:
Music isn't anything special, but maybe it's the music from the show for all I know. The sound effects are serviceable. As can be expected, the characters talk during gameplay.
Challenge and replay:
The game has a story mode for one player and of course friends can play in 2P mode. The challenge to Fuwa Fuwa 2 mode is much better than mode 1.
Secrets:
Play as Super Sailor Chibi Moon: To use her, as soon as you see the game's title screen appeared with the 'start' prompt, press only the following keys, in sequence: X, A, B, Y, L, R. If you do it correctly, there will be a sound sample is played, and you can play as her in all game modes. If not, you will need to reset the game. ----Taken from Gamefaqs.com.
The Good:
Gameplay is pretty solid, and the Sailor Moon characters are cute as always. I'll always have my short-hair fetish for Sailor Mercury, even though I don't care to sit down and watch the show.
The Bad:
There really isn't much bad to say about the game itself.
Overall:
It's not the most enthralling puzzle game, but it's great. Sufami Turbo units are cheap to come by (I own two actually), so don't let not owning one deter you from getting this game. The Sufami Turbo doesn't have the largest software library, but I'd recommend adding this to your SFT collection.
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