It really doesn't get any better...No I'm just kidding. There was an HD remix of this game released awhile back on the Playstation Store and Xbox Live Arcade which only adds more modes, but other than that...WE ARE TALKING VIZZED.COM HERE, and on Vizzed.com...it doesn't get any better than this.

SUPER PUZZLE FIGHTER II TURBO! VIZZEDSHOGUNGAMER REVIEW EDITION!

Depth 6:

So, in this review, numbers really don't mean anything. I'm just telling you how much the game has to offer, and it's only play the game alone on three varying difficulties, or play with a friend. However, despite the lack of modes that previous street fighter alpha games offered through button combinations, the game is a small package with a big reward. Playing a gem breaker like this similar to Columns and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, will begin to grow on you and eventually you'll begin to love the game a little too much.

So what is it that makes this game so good with its little amount of depth? Well, it's very simple to figure out, and your techniques can grow as advance as you want them to. Not to mention, you have Street Fighter and Darkstalkers attacking and taunting each other on screen whenever you execute gem breaks. But what is this whole gem breaking concept that

Basically, two block-shaped gems connected to each other vertically fall from the screen. They'll either be the same color, or two separate colors, green, blue, red, and yellow. These are your building blocks to victory. By stacking these in your 13x6 assigned box, you'll be creating strategies and gem break combos for yourself to win a game against your opponent. These gems can also be stacked together in a 2x2, 3x3, and so on with the same color to create what is known as power gems, which increase the amount of gems sent over to the opponents side when broken. Breaking gems would be done by placing the spherical crash gem of a matching color on the gem or power gem you wish to break. This in turn racks up an amount of counter gems that will be sent over to your opponent when they finish placing a gem on their side; a form of dealing damage. Counter gems also have a five turn limit before turning into normal gems of whatever color they are. Rainbow (Diamond) Gems break all specific gems of the color gem you place it on. The goal of the game to make the other player lose, like Tetris, is to fill their gems to the top of their box.

However, aside from the Street Fighter element to this game with characters being able to pull of super moves depending on how many counter gems are sent to the opponent, there are 3 advance concepts that make things more interesting in a match. Chain combos, defending, and counter gem patterns, can be utilized to turn the match towards your favor.

Chain combos are when you have multiple gem breaks occur rather than just one. This would be executed through having multiple crash gems above whatever gems you want them to fall on in order to create a chain reaction of multiple gem breaks. This in turn increases the amount of counter gems sent over, especially when combined with multiple power gems. The concept of chaining multiple gem breaks together has appeared in other games, but the way Puzzle Fighter II does it having an actual trigger rather than blocks breaking when they reach a row of 3 is simply just. In a way, it adds that Street Fighter touch to the game.

Defense may not seem as advanced a technique, but when faced with 30-40 counter gems coming your way, it really is. To defend in this game, thus reducing the amount of counter gems that you receive from your opponent, you must break as many gems as possible within one turn to reduce the amount of counter gems. Sounds simple, but don't forget, your opponent can watch what set up of gems you have in your box and if you don't have any plan of retaliation, that's when they can take advantage and let a plentiful amount of counter gems bring you to your doom. This technique alone allows for more strategies than just offense and gives the counter gem receiving player a chance against even the hardest enemies...as long as they plan beforehand.

Last, you have the Attack Pattern. All characters in the game have their own unique attack pattern, which also happens to be the way characters are ranked in a tier list for this game. Attack patterns show how counter gems will be arranged when dropping into your opponents box. For example, if you were to send over a large amount of counter gems as Chun-Li, her gems will land on the player's side in 2x2 single color blocks. This would be a disadvantage to Chun-li if the player planned for such an attack and had plenty of crash gems to use after the five turn limit. Such patterns sometimes isolate players from choosing certain character that can possibly turn the tables on his or her self, but through careful strategy and experimentation, you might be able to make up for such flaws at times.

As Ryu says, the answers lie in the heart of battle, and in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, the depth lies in the heart of battle. It may not seem as big a present, but open it up and you might just change your mind.

Addictiveness: 7 (in the moment mostly):

This section will be my personal experience with friends I've introduced to this game. Once they started, they couldn't stop regardless of how many times I defeated them in battle. With time, because the game is actually simple to learn with a little instruction, they were already beginning to win some battles against me; and I'd say we played for a good 2 hours. Though, the addictiveness in my honest opinion depends on you, friends, and what kind of a gamer you are. Playing this game alone can become short lived in the moment, but you might find yourself coming back to the game. With friends, you might play the game for a long amount of time, and them stop playing for awhile before coming back to it again. It may just be easier to say, you'll play this less than you practice combos in fighting games possibly.

Difficulty: 5

When I give a five difficulty, I'm not really saying it is simple or difficult, but rather both. The game in general is very simple to get the hang of, but trying to make advanced combos and fight hard CPU or pro players is very difficult. There's not much I can say simply because the game is based on your ability to adapt, strategize, and act quickly when faced with a tough opponent.

One thing I should mention is, from my own experience, I felt the difficulty of the easy, normal, and hard modes perfectly represented what they meant. This in turn is a great feature for those trying to learn the game and then seeking a challenge after.

Sound and Graphics: 10 (I just had to join these two together)

THEME PERFECTION! Both the design of the game and soundtrack perfectly match each other and are together, a piece of art.

There are games that have good graphics and good music, but this game has a good theme thus creating a standard for its unique quality. Basically, Street Fighter and Darkstalkers are designed with a pocket sized, chibi, or super deformed theme. Characters and stages are small, the game is colorful and vibrant, the classic Street Fighter and Darkstalkers themes are remixed to sound cute or childish in some way. The only thing that didn't change was that the original Street Fighter Alpha and Darkstalkers voices were kept, which adds a comical effect to the game. The two are just so in sync to create one big picture you could admire all day. You just have to see it to believe it!

Overall 9/10:

Overall, this is a must play for any fans of old Capcom, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and puzzle breaking games. Being an arcade game, it really doesn't suffer from being short lived at all. There's plenty of cool techniques and strategies that can be employed in game, especially when playing against your friends. What's also cool is, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is accessible to many having well balanced difficulties. The theme of the game also creates a silly environment that's lovable and memorable. Don't miss out!