Puyo Puyo 4 - Puyo Puyo Party
Platform: Nintendo 64
Region: Japan
Media: Cartridge
Genre: Puzzle
Release Year: 1999
Developer: Compile
Publisher: Compile
Players: Single player, multiplayer
Alternate Title: Puyo Puyo~n Party
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Story

Unlike the previous games where the storyline is rather comical, ~n has a serious storyline, reminiscent of those in the Madou Monogatari games.

Satan-sama is found looking at some books in a magical library when he comes across a black box. He begins to examine the black box before it breaks free from his hands and opens. The next morning a Puyo Circus has arrived, and Arle alongside Carbuncle go to check it out. They are greeted by a mysterious figure in Pierrot, a jester-looking character.

When Arle arrives, something doesn't appear right, and Carbuncle disappears once more. Arle has to navigate her way past a number of foes as before. During her quest Draco, Seriri, Witch and Chiko join up with Arle as they face Schezo and Rulue. Rulue knew something was up with Satansama, and as Arle met him, he appeared strange and unlike his normal self. He freezes the other characters so that they don't interfere. Arle beats Satansama, who wakes up and asks why Arle was there. Satansama explains to Arle that he was brainwashed by a stronger foe, and Pierrot appears afterwards, revealing herself to be Doppelganger Arle. The two have a fight to see who exists in the world, and Arle was victorious.

Stages

Circus Stage Stage 1 - Skeleton T Stage 2 - Archan (Not Available in Game Boy Color) Stage 3 - KikiMora

Valcano Stage Stage 4 - Panotty Stage 5 - Draco (Draco Joins your Party When you Beat Her)

Water Stage Stage 6 - Nohoho Stage 7 - Seriri (Seriri Joins your Party When you Beat Her)

Floating Stage Stage 8 - Suketoudara Stage 9 - Harpy Stage 10 - Witch (Witch Joins your Party when you Beat Her)

Ruin Stage Stage 11 - Dragon Stage 12 - Chico (Chico Joins your Party when you Beat Her) Stage 13 - Schezo

Outside Circus Stage Stage 14 - Rulue

Another Dimension #1 Stage 15 - Satan

Another Dimension #2 Stage 16 - Doppelganger Arle

Gameplay

The gameplay of ~n remains similar to Puyo Puyo Tsu, with a new addition of character specials. As puyos are erased from the field, a power gauge fills up, and as it fills to the top, you can use a special. Each characters special ability differs from person to person, and these specials are very different between the domestic versions and the Game Boy Color version. Each grid in the domestic versions follows Rule Henka, where a preset field and special board rules are implemented. In the Game Boy Color version, whenever garbage was countered, Sun puyos would fall on the screens. This game also featured a few Tokoton modes where you could play on grids larger or smaller than 6x12 on the domestic versions, and featured a Free Battle mode where you could play against any of the other unlocked characters. The art is also vastly different to its predecessors, adopting a more serious tone compared to the other games.