Puyo Puyo(NES) FAQ
version 1.0.0
by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net

Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, 
if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, 
then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad 
about answering e-mail. Sorry.

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My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762

================================

            OUTLINE

  1. INTRODUCTION

  2. CONTROLS

  3. GENERAL STRATEGIES

  4. ENDLESS MODE

  5. MISSION MODE

    5-1. WALKTHROUGH

    5-2. PASSWORDS

  6. CREDITS

  7. VERSIONS

================================

  1. INTRODUCTION

Puyo Puyo is an easily understandable game that's gone through a bunch of 
different ports. Each port has its own distinct features(what, are we in a 
wine cellar or something?) For instance, the GBA focuses on a you vs computer 
story line. The NES version has the option for unlimited play, which gets a 
bit tedious to be honest, or 52 missions. These consist of a structure you 
need to collapse and random Puyos being dropped on you. Sometimes you'll need 
luck to get through, but there's enough challenge in finding the right way to 
lump everything or to establish an algorithm, that the chance doesn't really 
annoy you. Plus the pieces bounce before landing, which allows for some fun 
evasive action and a few less "I meant to put it there" deals.

Puyo Puyo is known as Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on other game platforms 
such as the Genesis. The general strategies here should work for pretty much 
any system, although if there are special pieces, you're on your own with 
them. Also in this FAQ I did not really cover the 2-player mode. The rules 
are the same but the psychology of when to wipe puyos out or how many puyo 
chains to create are beyond the scope of this FAQ. I didn't have anyone to 
play with. (One, two, three, AWWW.)

The premise of Puyo Puyo is very simple. You have a 6x13 well and pairs of 
puyos(beans) fall down. When you lump 4 or more of one kind together--in any 
shape--everything flashes and disappears and everything above it drops, and 
if there are any clear bubbles touching the shape, those vanish. If you drop 
a puyo pair on its side and it balances on the edge, the half that's out in 
space falls down. The game ends when you can't drop any more pieces.

This FAQ uses some basic annotation which I hope is not too confusing. UL/DR 
mean upper left and down right. I also refer to columns 1-6(left to right) 
and rows 1-13(bottom to top.)

Colors in diagrams are also defined as follows:
r = red
o = orange
g = light green
G = dark green
= = grey
b = blue
. = clear puyo

I also sometimes refer to, say, a red piece--that's a piece with >1 red puyo. 
Monochrome pieces have 2 puyos of the same color.

  2. CONTROLS

You can play in 1-player solo or 2-player competitive.
You have the option of endless, which gets a bit tedious, or mission, which 
has 52 puzzles to solve.
Level 1 has 4 colors of beans, rGo=.
Level 2 adds g.
Level 3 adds b.
Level 4 is super fast all the time.
You have a choice of 3 background music tunes, or mute.
You have a choice of 3 sound effect types, or mute. I like the default for 
both of these.
Puyo/Human: If you choose humans for shapes, they link hands or nod their 
heads up or down depending on if they have neighbors of the same colors. 
Puyos use their eyeballs. Unlinked puyos look at you. But a puyo keeps an eye 
on each of its same colored neighbors. And of course it can't have 3 or it 
would vanish.
Items in endless mode can be bigpuyo(2 wide, crushes everything beneath it,) 
carbuncle(causes puyos to change color, usually working its way down and 
through single puyos to maximize your bonus,) or nothing.

In the game itself, your puyo pair rotates around the right puyo, although it 
can be slid in to places if the rotation doesn't work straight out. A rotates 
counterclockwise and B rotates clockwise.

You have a 'next' box, and you can use it to your advantage. You can also 
pre-empt a move before a puyo falls and, on the faster levels, you will have 
to. Rotating is a bit harder to preempt, however.

One thing you need to realize is that puyo pairs come down in a vertical 
orientation. And you can cheat a bit if things get full--this is best in 
mission mode. If you've filled up 12 rows in one column then you can drop a 
vertically aligned puyo pair on there and not give game over. But the game 
keeps track of the puyo in row 14. The only time game over happens is when 
you fill up column 3, row 13.

Puyo pairs bounce a bit before they land and you can often rotate. You can't 
rotate one wedged vertically but you can do anything else--you can even 
rotate and move.

Pausing is also critical in the later stages of the game. The screen doesn't 
wipe your structure, although it does remove the "next" item, and it puts 
PAUSE in big letters to disrupt part of what you've built. Still, it gives 
you a lot of time to think up solutions. And in the giving you time 
department, the game also gives you time when the puyos flash and disappear. 
That's also a good idea.

  3. ENDLESS MODE

Not much to see here. There's just a small tone to tell you when you've moved 
up a level--generally around 225 blocks dissolved. Level 4 keeps going and 
going(hence endless, which is a translation with a bad connotation. It feels 
endless very quickly until you make a dumb slip-up.)

Points are not too tough to calculate or figure, but here they are for 
posterity.

First group of puyos:
40x1, 50x2, 60x3, 70x4, 80x8, 90x9, etc.

Second group:
40x8, 50x10, 60x11, 70x12, 80x16, 90x17, etc.

Third group:
40x16, 50x18, 60x19, 70x20, 80x24, 90x25, etc.

Fourth:
40x32, add 16 to prev multipliers

Fifth:
40x64, add 32 to prev multipliers

No chain's point total or size has an effect on the next one's except for the 
doubling multiplier. All this is multiplied by the level number. Note that if 
you have two clumps that vanish at once, they're all put in the same group. 
The most immediate thing you'll notice with the scores is that a simple 4-
chain is worth four times as much as two separate 4-chains combines.

Level 2 adds g, level 3 adds b, level 4 goes very fast, and the game repeats 
until you lose control.

I kept this section short as general strategies should be more interesting.

  4. GENERAL STRATEGIES

These general strategies could apply to the two player game as well, where 
you will want to go for quick combos(from what I remember of the GBA) and 
avoid doing too much. Bubbles are also more in effect on that one--you need 
to zap them quickly. Getting combos on your side tends to dump pieces on your 
opponents, but waiting for too big a combo dumps stuff on yours. Accept luck 
of the draw, but if you get a monochrome puyo, don't use it on a cheap 4-
match unless you have to.

The most basic general strategy is just to take one color and concentrate on 
it. This is when you're scrambling for any sort of match. Generally it can be 
dumped in something vertical, and you can use several other columns to dump 
puyos. I try to keep two columns on the edge dumped for building a structure 
on the other side, but in any case you should try to match up puyos even in 
the "dump" structure.

There are a lot of ways to combine puyos in a chain, which is the best way to 
get points, but I will focus on the most practical ones.

rgo
rgo
===
rgo
rgo

The one above is a good way to get a huge multiplier. Note that you can't get 
a multiplier of more than 11 without a chain reaction or with extreme luck 
placing two different colors, i.e.

rrr rr <red pair here
   r r
  rr

But the more standard way to get a combo is as follows.

 o
og
og
og < put a green here. Collapses oranges.

Note that if you have clear bubbles below(as happens on mission) you may have 
to take that into account.

 o
og
og
og <g here
..

The above scenario wouldn't give a chain reaction as the clear bubble would 
burst, dropping the solitary orange one square too low.

Augmenting the chain also works.

 ogr
ogrb
ogrb
ogrb < b here

You can also reuse colors, i.e. replace the b's with o's. It may get tricky 
dumping the right colors, but you can probably even stack up stuff on top of 
the solitary puyos in row 4. This gets some extra bonus points(note: the 
further left here, the more bonus points.)

Also note that this sort of chain reaction is the best way to get points, 
since 4 more puyos at the start can double a bonus at the end. The starting 
multipliers are huge and if you get a 4- or 5-puyo at the end, it won't 
matter much.

Other ways to get quick doubles include the following:

 g
 g < fill up with oranges
oo
gg

You can also do things vertically i.e.

  b
  g
  o
  r < red here
ooor
gggr
bbbr

And often when you get these structures you may have to watch that they will 
get disrupted. Also, don't worry about the linearity of these or feel you 
have to conform to this. It's only there to show an ideal version. Others may 
have a slightly bent foursome, and don't shy away from that if you can figure 
it out.

It's almost never a problem to set up for the color you want and then drop it 
in. Because there are six colors, you will only need 10 blocks before an 
assured match(9 blocks could give 3 of each) although along the way you 
should be observant about pairing puyos for later. Pairing puyos vertically 
is slightly better than horizontal because they won't get disrupted by chain 
reactions below. After a while you will probably find it's easier to create 
chains than to get 8-9 at once anyway. And it's a good idea to make small 
chains off to the side if possible while building your big structure.

You will probably get into the habit of capping 3 lumped puyos with a 
different color, and something above that of the same color as the three, 
before chipping away for the double bonus. Occasionally if the pieces fall 
right you'll be able to put another color on top of that, and so forth. 
You'll also want to leave yourself an out if the well fills up 3/4 full, a 
way to reduce things quickly.

As for attacking clear bubbles, you'll want to look at the first piece out of 
the gate as well as the next. If they have a color in common, use it to touch 
as many bubbles as possible. For instance,

bg and gr could make:

 r
 ggb
......

Here you have a way to drop another green to bust another bubble, and you can 
also drop blues or reds to bust something. Placing the g's vertically may 
wedge the board a bit and force you to decide a bit too quickly--or rule out 
the occasional swerving you need to do.

  5. MISSION MODE

There are no points in mission mode. Often there will be preferred solutions 
or indicated solutions from how the starting blocks are set up.

    5-1. WALKTHROUGH

Level M1:

123456

  .
  r...
  brrr
  gbbb
  Gggg
  =GGG
  o===
  rooo
ooorrr

Goal: get 7 at once

Here if you can make an orange or red foursome you win. Any orange should be 
put in the DL. Put the reds next to the one on the left--you may need a few 
of those. You can also, if you have a grey or green in the next box, drop a 
vertical pair in row 2 and then drop another certical so you get a match 
there. You won't get the same spectacular chain reaction, but you will clear 
four blues and reds at once. Anything but a blue can in fact lead you to your 
ultimate goal.

Level M2:

 .....
 ....=
 .oo..
rrr.oo
.ogGGo
ogg===
oGGGb.
o.ggg.
......

Goal: get 23 Puyopuyo

If you get a red, this is over. Because bubbles will collapse to match up 5 
oranges, 4 greys, 5 dark greens, 6 light greens and 4 yellows. Common sense 
piece dropping should work here. You can waste a lot of pieces on the right 
side before continuing with the main part. You may want to try to stack one 
of a certain color up in case reds don't fall for a while. But don't plug up 
the left side--it's a key to winning, unless you're very expert at dropping 
puyos in the clutch.

Level M3:

123456

  r
  r
  o
 oro
 oro

Goal: clear reds

Here you really only require an orange to win. One should come up eventually 
and when it does, it can be dropped in column 2 or 4. The odds against you 
getting an orange eventually are so astronomical that even if you dump things 
on the side and don't try to match you should get a good color eventually.

Column 5+6+1=20 moves, and 1-(4/5)^20=98.85

(If you want, you can lean on column 4 to get a puyo match of a certain color. 
But you shouldn't have to.)

Level M4:

123456

rrr=rr
ooo=oo
rrr=rr

Goal: get 6 at once

It's pretty clear to see what needs to be done. Clear the greys and drop a 
red or orange(rotated appropriately) in the gap. Again, there are plenty of 
places off to the side to chuck pieces before you get what you need to drop.

Level M5:

123456

bgG=or
ro=Ggb
oo..rr
.=oo==
=oGg..
rorroo
r==rbo
=GGGgb
==oogb
rrrogb

Goal: put 12 Puyo

This is actually much much easier than it looks. Because you have at least 
two free rows where you can dump pieces. The solution I like is to just hold 
right. That will cause you to dump puyos in the following places in the 
available play area:

   642
   531
   531

And you're done. Because even though only one puyo shows up on 2, 4 and 6, 
the game registers it as two placed.


Even if this cheat weren't available you could still just shuffle stuff off 
to the side--left and right--and move when the bubbles bounce. That'd get 
stuff in 1-2-3-4-6 and then you could lay the final one on its side.

Level M6:

123456

 Goo=
 r..=
.r..=.
.rGGG.
......
.r..o.
.r.o..
.ro=..
.=..=.

Goal: 2 chains

If you notice, you'll see a lot of possible chains with 3 puyos already 
linked together. It looks like dropping a red puyo down column 1 would do the 
job, but actually it would just cause the green to drop 1 extra--because the 
clear bubble below would break.

However, you can place a green in column 2 or 5. Then dropping a red down 
column 1 or a grey on column 6 would win. Oranges can be dropped in columns 
3/4. If you get a green/red on the first move, you are extra lucky, as that 
makes it easy to win.

Level M7:

123456

G
GG
oo= G
GGrgG
==rgb
G=Ggb
oG==b
.oo=G

Goal: clear clear bubbles

Obviously there's only one bubble here, but it's underneath a heap of stuff. 
The only solution is to get to work chipping away. At the start you should 
have a place for any color. A red can go above the grey guarding the two reds. 
Orange above the three greens--the orange will get lumped later. Since so 
many puyos below are already linked in threes, you can get some continual 
chain reactions.

As for the ultimate goal, you don't need to get to the oranges--you only need 
to clear the greys on the left in order to win--as long as you keep the 
greens just above them untouched. So keep those greens and clear the ones on 
the right instead.

Level M8:

123456

  oo
orrr
rooo

goal: get 6 at once

If you get a red/orange you are lucky. However, it is also possible to get an 
orange and put it in column 3 or 4. Then put the red in column 1 or 2. After 
the reds clear, the oranges clear next. You may have to worry about the order 
pieces come in, but again you can use space on the sides to junk unwanted 
pieces with this strategy(columns 4, 5 and 6.)

Using a red right away could be a big error as you only get five oranges. But 
you can still probably scramble to create all of one color across a row--
except for a gap.

Level M9:

123456

 ooor
orrro
rooor

goal: get 7 at once

Here you will want to leave the original structure intact but clear out 
orange puyos down column 6. Once you get 3, the 5 reds(columns 2, 3, 4 and 
two in 5) collapse and then the oranges above that fall in for a 7-lump. Here 
you have columns 1-5 to dump non-orange pieces, and you can dump the orange 
as the right part of a puyo. It shouldn't take long, and you should get 
matches along the way anyhow.

Level M10:

123456

.    =
..   =
..   =
.....o
r....o
oo=..o
rrr.rr
===.=o

goal: 3 chains

Here you are close to what you want. The left side seems to hold the most 
promise and in fact the way I did things was to make the following structure 
in columns 5 and 6:

56

 o
 = < grey here in 5
r=
r=
.o
.o
.o
rr
=o

Now if you drop a grey in, you win. More is left to chance here than in 
previoous levels, but once you see what to do, you can leave two puyos with 
red on the right, drop an orange-bottom puyo on column 6, and dump everything 
else in columns 1/2/3. You can't really take the time to bore down to get to 
the DR reds directly because of how fast the pieces start to drop after a few 
puyo-combos.

Level M11:

123456

   g
   G
   =g
ggg=G
GGG=o
.rrooG
ooo===
rrrooo

goal: get 9 at once

If you get lucky with a light green/grey this is over(grey on the bottom.) 
Wishful thinking aside, though, you need to fill up column 6 with two greens. 
Then drop an grey in there. The three oranges in an L will drop in and 
combine with the ones on rows 1 and 2.

I played a few times and seemed to get a G-G piece and two moves later a O-= 
piece. If this is a regular occurence then it shouldn't be a problem to dump 
everything irrelevant in columns 1-2-3. You can even make matches, but take 
care matching oranges with the ones you need for a combo. In fact, you'll 
want to keep a O-= piece with the grey left, or you will wipe out the oranges 
you need to link the bottom columns.

Level M12:

123456

bbGo
ggg=or
ooGGo.
==G===
..rr..
GGoooG
==rr==

goal: clear reds

If you had a wish list, it might be to have the chance to clear the blues and 
drop a light green on them. A lot would fall then. The light greens beneath, 
the greens the LG's split, the greys the greens split, and the oranges on row 
2(oranges column 5.) This causes the reds on rows 1+3 to collapse. You 
probably should have the time to chuck things so that this happens. For the 
other red you can just match reds as they come down. There may be some 
scrambling near the end, but try to keep the left rows green until you get 
the blues where you want them. You can leave a lot of junk of other colors 
around, but you just need the big chain reaction and to be able to take reds 
out on the right. Columns 3, 4 and 6 are good for this.

Now there is the matter of clearing the final red or any that may have 
accumulated. Just keep the reds together as much as possible as you go along 
and, if one appears, place it up as high as you can so it doesn't get buried. 
This may not work so well since pieces are dropping fast, so you may need a 
few tries.

Level M13:

123456

o=Gror
ro=rgb
ro=rgb
...G..
ro=Ggb
ro=Ggb
...=..

goal: clear clears

Once you see the solution you might kick yourself a bit. You'll want a red 
puyo and a green one. Once you get them, the clears in row 4 will collapse. 
That causes rows 2-3-5-6 to form more puyo tetrads and knock out the blanks 
on column 1. With 6x6 open squares it should not take too long to do anything. 
And even if you do have to make a match, it won't affect what's underneath 
for a bit.

Level M14:

123456

o
o=Gg
r=Gg
ro=Gg

ro=Gg
ro=Gg

goal: get 6 at once

No matter what piece you get, you should be able to finish this in one move. 
If you get a puyo with a non red color, simply stick that color on top of one 
of the puyos the level started with. The structure will collapse--matching 
oranges, then greys, greens and light greens. The puyo you added will make a 
match of 5 and not 6.

But what if you get a red-red? Then you have to rotate it when it gets to 
columns 4/3 and tab left four times. If you're quick enough it's possible.

Or you can just give up and either try to do things manually(colors across a 
bottom row) or start the level over and realize there's a 96% chance you'll 
get an easier piece.

Level M15:

123456

......
......
.r..r.
......
.r..r.
......
.r..r.
......

goal: place 66 puyos

First a bit of math. We have 4 columns, minus the top one, which leaves us 
with 36 Puyos we can just place as we please(ie hold left then hold right.) 
So they come down rather fast, but if we can get a few matches it should all 
be OK. Also you should be aware of the top-column quirk when things get tight. 
It doesn't have to look pretty when you're done. If you are able to knock out 
a few clear bubbles then you will get done extra quick. Because those give 
you just a little extra space. So if you can get a G-G horizontal, for 
instance, maybe you could take out three bubbles. You may need reflexes an 
you won't get far into the structure. But style points aren't important here.

Level M16:

123456

  G=o
  G.ob
  G=.r
 r.=o.
rrG=or
go=Ggr
go.Ggr
g.=G.b
.o=.gb
go=Ggb

goal: get 42 puyopuyo

A red or green kicks everything out. Well, actually, a green leaves two, but 
you can scramble a puyo from there. If you get a non-red/non-green you can 
just place that one color above where it should be and everything will come 
together. =-b would go in columns 5-6 for example.

Level M17:

123456

  G
  gg
  g=g
 o=og
 go=r
 go=r
 Goro.
 GGroo

goal: 5 chains

This is a very tricky level and subject to chance very often. You'll notice 
if you drop a green in column 1 that you'll get a chain of 3. And you almost 
have a few more. What I like to do is to take out the dark-green at the top 
and put two reds on it. This means you'll get a red in on the chain reactions 
when you're done, if you dump a dark green down the left. Then you'll need to 
dump a grey--either on column 2 originally or just on top of the reds. This 
gets a chain of 6 and leads me to suspect I may be missing something easier. 
But I generally am able to get it to work after a few tries.

Level M18:

123456

b
rrr
bbo
rrr
bbb
rrr

goal: clear blues

This looks like a pretty straightforward level until you realize...NO BLUES 
ARE DROPPED. Therefore only the ones you have on the board can be bunched. 
And if you bunch the 2-blue and 3-blue that leaves the top blue. So you have 
to zap column 5 of reds and then column 3.

So how to do this? Still you just need to get a few reds and drop them. The 
first red you want to drop will be on column 2 or 3 so leave one of those 
open. You will also want to dump vertical junk pieces in columns 4, 5 and 6. 
5 and 6 will be great for junk after this as you only need a red(bottom) in 4 
to connect everything.

Level M19:

123456

  o
  r

goal: 3 chains

You can do this in the standard fashion, setting up something like the 
following:

 rg
rgo
rgo
rgo < drop orange here

Colors can vary of course and you may want to put this in columns 2, 3 and 4. 
So 1 and 6 can be dump zones. You can also use a variant on this--ie not 
everything lined up. But basically get stacks of 3 different colors in a row 
and proceed as above.

Level M20:

123456

===rrr
rrr===
===rrr
rrr===
===rrr
rrr===
===rrr
rrr===
===rrr
rrr===
===rrr

goal: clear greys

The quickest way through this is to leave column 3 open and drop a grey/red 
etc. in there when there is one. Or if you get a red right away you can use 
column 4. The point is that you want to eliminate seven greys/reds at a time 
i.e.

===
  ====
or
  rrrr
rrr

The odds are on your side in general because you can dump colors on the sides. 
You can also save a bit of temporary space by dropping a grey on a red i.e.

=
rrr
===rrr

Then dropping a red will get a grey combo, but it will also disallow a 7-link 
of a grey next time.

Level M21:

123456

r
oo=b
ggro
gGoo
rrrg
GGGg
goog
===b
..bb
rrrg
..gg

goal: chain of 7

Chipping away at the bottom parts seems to give a few chains, but not enough. 
The solution is to touch the orange square near the top of the structure. 
Then everything collapses. So you need to build up a platform on column 4. 
But all this time you need to check to make sure you don't get an accidental 
match over there. You can use 6 to dump stuff that might give matches. Or 
even the narrow part at the top. But sometimes you're just out of luck.

Level M22:

123456

     g
g    g
gg   g
bb ggo
bobbgo
oobobo
===o==
rrrorr
GG=r=G
==rrGG

goal: get 10 at once

Since getting 10 at once is such an unusual occurrence you need to start 
looking for ways to get that. The reds in the bottom would give 8, plus two, 
if you are lucky. But the solution turns out to lie with the oranges. If you 
can drop oranges on top of where the current orange shapes are and then clear 
out the light greens(first) and then drop a blue in column 3, you will have 
it. You may need to ride a bit of luck here, by getting two light greens 
early(if you get one, drop it in column 5.) Also watch for getting a blue 
matchup before its time. But the basic plan is that you can get two separate 
oranges in rows 2 and 4 above the 3-blocks, to make two pairs of 5.

Level M23:

123456

 rrrrr


bbbrr
  b


 . .
 ...
......

goal: clear the blues

No blues are dropped here, and if you just let your piece fall you rapidly 
realize you have an impossible position. Even if you break a bubble from the 
side you'll get something like this:

 b
b.b

No way to get that center bubble. So you need to be creative about how you 
drop your piece.

Hold left to push the piece to the left. When it's at the left edge and falls 
a bit so it's blocked from going right, hold to the right. Once it gets to 
the right edge and is blocked from going left, hold left. The piece will 
eventually bounce to the left. The blues will now fall as follows:

BBB
??B

That'll do it.
Level M24:

123456

   . o
   . r
   . r
   . r
   . o
   . r
 . . r
 . . r
 . . o
 . . r
 . . r
.....r

It looks like there's not too much space in this level, but it's not so bad, 
really. If you consider that, for every red puyo that is dropped, you clear 
off quite a bit, things become a bit sunnier. Here's the logic I used to 
through the level:

The first orange puyo you get, drop it in columns 5-6. Then, if a puyo has a 
red, drop it in column 5. Any which vertical way should work. If the puyo 
doesn't, junk it in columns 1-3, or, if you've already sacked a red, column 6. 
Again, have faith in the odds, because you need 3 reds to take care of 
business, and you have 26 squares to dump puyos before you get your first 
red--and even then you can dump a piece down 5 or 4 if you're desperate. You 
can also concentrate on one color to drop down column 1 or 3 as a 4-match 
will help your odds that much more.

This may leave some mop up work, but as long as you don't bury an orange too 
deep, it shouldn't be too bad. If you get reds before oranges it should be 
pretty easy, so again it's a case of strategizing and riding your luck for 
later.

Level M25:

123456

   rgr
   ror
   gog
   gog
   rgr
   rgr
   ror
   gog
   gog
   rgr
   rgr
   ror

object: clear light greens

Here what I did was to dump all the light greens in column 1. Then I waited 
for a red to come down. That caused most of the light greens to collapse. You 
should be left with the following structure:

 r
 r
 r
 g
 g
 r
 r
 g
 g
 r
 r
gr

Now you will need one more green, at least, and the best way to do this 
appears to be to drop a green in column 4/5 and then drop a red in 5. This 
will blow up one cadre of greens and you have one left. Should be something 
like this:

r
r
r
g
g
r
r

If you get a green puyo, have the light green face up in column 5. Then 
you'll need just one more light green. Otherwise, junk the piece. The odds 
again should be with you.

Level M26:

123456

  bbb






   .

goal: clear clear puyos

You've seen this idea before in level 23. Basically you have to wedge the 
blue puyo with another piece by moving whatever drops 1L and, when it's below 
the blues, 1R. You can even rotate the piece and drop it over the clear puyo, 
so there is a non-blue puyo above and to the left. Make a clump with either 
non-blue adjacent to the clear bubble. You have so many columns to junk 
pieces in, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Level M27:

123456

   g g
   Grg
   =GG
   =r=
   o=o
   Goo
   =GG
   o=G
   rr=
   oor
   ror
   =ro

goal: 4 chains

There look liike a lot of potential chains, but which actually works? I went 
by trial and error, picking off ones further and further up column 4 until I 
got one that worked. There are many ways to do this level, with a lot of 
accidental 3-4 combos, but here's one that worked for me.

Matching just the grey on row 5 almost worked for me. But I needed a red 
below it! So here is my strategy:

Place junk in column 3 for your first move. Place a puyo vertically with red 
on top and anything but red/orange on the bottom in column 3 when you can. 
(Junk stuff in columns 1/2.) Wait to get three grays and put them in column 3. 
And if you get a light green--put it in column 5 to buy space/time. The chain 
reaction the grays give(oranges, grays and then reds) should clear the level 
for you.

Level M28:

123456

=.   .
=.   .
b.   .
b.   .
G. . .
G= . .
G= . .
gG . .
gb . .
gb . .
bg . .
b. . .

goal: 4 chains

This looks like a very stringent level, but all you really need to do is drop 
a foursome in column 3. For this, you can pick any color(if it is in the 
first puyo and the next, that is good to try) and try to drop it in column 3 
with a horizontal puyo. You can then dump rubbish in column 1 or 6(half-puyo) 
or on 4 and 5. You can even make a 2-3 horizontal puyo to save a bit of space. 
You need a bit of luck with the color you first chose, but once you've got it, 
you'll get blues, light greens, and greens.

Level M29:

123456

 .  .
......
......
o=Ggb.
o=Ggbr
o=Ggbr
ro=Ggb
ro=Ggb
ro=Ggb

goal: clear clear bubbles

Once you get down to the grey bubbles it's all pretty easy. Basically 
assuming you have the defenses stripped, you can zap the greys, then the 
oranges, and the chain reactions take care of the other bubbles. It looks 
more logical to sweep left to right, but bubbles start dropping too quickly 
for that.

You may again need a bit of luck, but you can help your luck by concentrating 
one color on column 3 and another on column 2(1-2 and 3-4 puyos.) You may 
need to get lucky with a couple of these matches.Depending on which works, 
you'll need one more match to break in to the actual colored puyos. Then 
you'll need two more of the right color. Tunneling down should be your 
primary concern, although if you have to go off to the side, it's possible to 
get a grey and an orange too. But it's more likely you'll zap the green/grey 
triads or the light green/green triads.

Everything collapses in a perfect world, but in an imperfect world you break 
up the chain dropping stuff to the right. You may have to scramble a bit. But 
just use standard techniques of leaving a puyo open if it's touching clear 
ones and building up slowly.

Level M30:

123456

......
..r...
...o..
..ro=.
..ro.o
..r.=o
...o=o
....=.
.....o

goal: 4 chains

This is doable if you manage to zap the bubble below the top red. So get 
started digging. You may need to have several places to dump certain colors: 
set something up for columns 2, 4 and 6. There seem to be only 3 colors, 
though, which make this level rather easy. As long as you don't touch the top 
red with another clump of reds, you should be able to dig in especially with 
the aid of monochrome puyos.

Level M31:

123456

   bb
rrr==
===bb
bbb==
===bb
bbb==
===bb
bbb==
===bb
bbb==
===bbb

goal: 20 at once

All you have to do here is to wait for a blue or a grey. If there is none, 
you can dump a lot of pieces in columns 1-5. With only 4 colors to choose 
from and 14 spaces, you're guaranteed to have 4 of 1 color assuming you keep 
things together reasonably well. And you can force the issue if you need to 
with the half-puyo trick. Again you may need luck to execute the clear plan, 
but not too much luck.

Level M32:

123456

bgbgb


  GbGb


bgrr

    rr
    bg

goal: clear all reds

Here no reds come along in a reasonable time period, but note how 
everything's about to fall down. You'll need a little rotation here but you 
just need to steer your piece to the right and have it drop, steer it to the 
left edge once it touchees the bgbgb row, rotate as it falls down, steer to 
the right edge, and steer back to the left edge and then to the right when it 
touches the bgrr. There's a horizontal 4-clump. You can't be delicate and tap 
left twice as you don't seem to have the time(or I didn't.)

Level M33:

123456

... ..
... ..
... ..
... ..

goal: get 10 at once

You may have to ride your luck a bit, but I find that the ultimate position I 
want to get is as follows(colors may vary:)

345
b b
b b
g g < drop the green in here
bgb
b b
b b
. .

You have the edges to junk bad pieces, and you can just make 2-3 or 5-6 pairs 
with the colors you have(or 3-4 or 4-5.) Matching up colors may require a bit 
of luck, but this may be the easiest way to do things. And you'll want to be 
sure the blockers in 3 and 5(non-blue in this case) are the same color.

Level M34:

123456

    ..
    ..
   ..
   ..
  ..
  ..

..
..

Goal: chain of 4

A typical standard 4-chain except for some obstacles. I just went with the 
tired old 4-chain here but it doesn't quite work if you have bubbles beneath. 
You need another space.

So, risky:

 orb
 gorb
 gorb
 gorb < g on left here.

better:

 orb
 ===
 gorb
 gorb
 gorb < g on left here.

I paused a lot for this. And used save states too(gulp.) The general strategy 
is in the main section.

Level M35:

123456

rr  rr
ooggoo
==oo==
oorroo
rroorr
oorroo
rroorr
oorroo
rroorr

Goal: clear all reds

Only four colors seem to come down here, which makes things easier. This is a 
standard puyo-removal level and a bit of a break. Place puyos over colors 
they're about to knock off. The load seems to go down pretty quickly if you 
use reds or oranges at the places where you can link together 5 i.e.

      <place red here for future
oo    <place orange here for 5
rroo

And if you get an o-r you can really cut things down.

Level M36:

123456

   r
r rr
rroG
ggrrr=
===o==
GGG=or
===G=o
oooGro
===rr=

There are two objects to completing this level:

1. Clear out column 4 down to the orange bit. Put two greens in there.
2. Clear out column 6 down to row 2, where you drop a red to start a chain 
reaction that will cause 4 greys and 5 greens to lump together after the reds 
do.

Level M37:

123456

..
r.
r.
ro
.o.
r..
ro..
ro..
.o...
r....
r.....
r.....

goal: get 9 at once

If you could zap the bubble between the oranges, that would do it. But you 
have to peel off a layer first. Again, luck helps here, but you can ditch a 
lot of bad puyos--vertically in 1-2 and also in 5-6, maybe even getting a 
match. Having a monochrome puyo helps hugely in your goal, which is just to 
get two clumps.

Here's what the first should be.

r.
ro
.o.1
r..1 and 2 more 1's linking
ro..
ro..

Then, with that color down(or you can plan this beforehand)...

r.
ro
.o
r.22
ro.2
ro..

And you should win in short order. Just be sure that the second color does 
indeed have a path to that bubble you need to pop. Keep columns 3 and 4 as 
clean as possible.

Level M38:

123456


  ..
 ...
....
.....

......
......

goal: 4 chains(again)

See level 34. There's just a little less space now.

Level M39:

123456

rrrg
...g
rrrG
...G
rrrG
...= =
rrr= =
...o o
rrro o

goal: 5 chains

The key here is to drop, above 2 and 3, the following structure:
123
 or
 oG

Then if you activate the light-greens, everything else will collapse as you 
expect...as long as you don't cause anything in 4-6 to collapse. In fact 
there will be a bit of a window when you will need light-greens and there's a 
good chance you'll mess up. But there are enough pieces to pick up that you 
should do OK. a GR or GO early on helps immensely though so you may just need 
to play a few times in a row.

Level M40:

123456

 . . .
 r o r
 . . .
 . . .
 . . .
 . . .
 . . .
 . . .
 . . .
......

goal: clear reds

Immediately start filling up the columns 1, 3 and 5 with junk. Hopefully you 
won't get any reds dropped your way. If you do, make things so you place a 
red on top of a bubble. Getting just one clump, even non-red, helps give a 
lot of breathing room, so if you get a monochrome puyo or even two puyos in a 
row with the same color, a horizontal one would be good. You'll maybe have to 
work on one original red puyo at a time and use a lot of the pause screen, 
and if you dumped a red on 2/6 you'll need to build up a column next to it to 
bring it down.

Level M41:

123456

g    b
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb

goal: put 20 puyo

I don't understand this so late in the game! You just have to put 20 puyos in 
place. So go hard left twice and hard right twice and hard left twice and 
hard left twice. Then sit around. The last two puyos will drop.

Level M42:

123456

b    g
g    b
bgb bg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb
bgbgbg
gbgbgb

goal: put 50 puyo

Level 41 still doesn't make sense in light of this as a simpler version. 
First note that you have 20 puyos you can just sort of place(vertical: 1, 6, 
2 on 2-5.) Some time, you'll need to get a blue or a green for column 4 to 
increase your scope. Maybe you can get a couple. And if you're very lucky you 
can match things up with a g-b. Probably if you play enough times you can get 
away with something slippery like that. Until then though you may need to 
keep work the edges very carefully to try to match other colors.

Best to keep column 4 open as long as possible in any case. And also turn the 
puyo horizontally to leave 4 open for the next color/match.

Level M43:

123456

......
.groG.
.roGg.
.oGgr.
.Ggro.
.or=r.

goal: clear greys
If you get any new greys, schlep them in a predetermined column. In the 
meantime you need to cut down on the other colors too. Try to work columns 5 
and 6 to get rid of 2 colors at a time if possible--the top puyo in 5 and the 
next-top.

This level cycles through slow and fast drops and with a little perseverance 
you should be able to chip away at the puyos. You can actually also work from 
left to right to clear the base puyos as you do have the potential to make a 
quick triad.

Level M44:

123456

 ob
 bobb
 gogg
 GgGG
 oG==
 ==oo
 oorr
 rr.=

goal: get 24 at once

It looks as though you just have to knock out a grey in column 6 at first. 
But that actually gets you only 12. Then it seems that knocking out the 
orange in row 4 will do the trick...but that only gets you 20. What you need 
to do is to fill up the left well with r/o/= and 3 o's and then g, or fill 
row 8 col 4-5, above the blues, with two oranges. Then you knock out the grey.

This again requires a certain degree of luck. The two oranges seem a bit more 
probably although of course you need to clear out a few more on column 1.

Level M45:

123456

.o
r.
ro
r.
.o
r.=
ro=
r.=
.o...
r.=..
r.=...
r.=...

goal: get 9 at once

Here what you want to do is to get something to knock off the top grey triad. 
Then you want to build a vertical foursome that will touch the remaining two 
bubbles guarding the orange puyos. That kills the bubbles on the far left and 
gets a 9 from the reds instead of a 6. Lots of squares here in 5-6 to dump 
stuff that doesn't work. It helps if you get a grey right away but you 
probably don't need too much luck.

Here's what the board looks like when you dispose of the grays:

.
r
ro
r.
.o
r.
ro
ro
.o
r.=
r.=
r.=

You could also just do this the old fashioned way, but pieces might be 
falling too fast i.e.

ooo oo < orange here
   o
   o
   o

But this way is more in the spirit of the puzzle.

Level M46:

123456

goal: 4 chains

Another 4-chain level but now you have a big wedge blocking you. Put 
something down column 3 or 5 to get rid of it.

Level M47:

123456

bg  gb
.g  g.
bg  =b
.=  =.
b=  =b
.=  o.
bo  ob
.o  o.
bo  rb
.r  r.
br  rb

goal: clear blues

No blues drop down so you have to use a little strategy. First, recognize 
that you need to lump 6 blues together on each side. And you need to be 
careful about what you lump where. On the left side, you can afford to take 
out the reds and then oranges. On the right, you can do the same thing. If 
you are very lucky you'll be able to take out greens on each side and greys 
on the right, but in any case you will probably still need to make a 4-
vertical taking out one or two of the remaining bubbles. Be sure it takes out 
only the bubbles you want to.

Also, note that once you clear one side, you have space to dump junk so the 
other can get completed. You may need to get red/orange/green in the right 
order to get things started, but you probably will. There are only four 
colors left with blue and light green out, so you don't have to worry about 
too much junk. Every color except grey has a purpose to start out, so you 
should have a good first move any way you look at it.

Level M48:

123456

goal: get 11 at once

Possibly the best way to do this is as follows:

b
b b
b b
o o
bob
b b
b b

The oranges(in this case--colors can be anything) will be the toughest to 
place but be sure to put these in columns 2-4 so you can determine what goes 
in 3(i.e. you can chuck pieces off to the side of each blue tower.)

Level M49:

123456

......
GGgrGG
==bggG
o=bgG=
oobrrG
...roG
GGGg=G
gggr==
rrrooo

goal: 6 chains

If you work things out you'll see that touching the green triad in the UR 
brings down the house, as long as you can get rid of the greens in the UR. 
This may take a few tries, so that you get the pieces you want. It requires a 
4-clump in the UR and then a green and then a light green. Again, luck plays 
a part, but once you know what to do it's a matter of time.


Level M50:

123456

   r
   gr
  gro
  =Go
  rGr
  =oor
r =ogr
r.r=Go
r.ooGg

My pattern:

1. Put a red on 5, first
2. Put a grey on column 2
3. Put a red right above the grey
4. Put two oranges above that

Use 1/3/4 to junk unwanted pieces as necessary. Then drop a red down column 6 
and watch the fireworks.

Level M51:

123456

 =Ggo
 o=Gg
 =Gg=
 o=Gg
 Gg=.
 Ggor
 =GgG
 o=Gg
 robG

goal: clear blues

Basically it's tough to whittle things down here. Pieces keep coming down 
quickly. I'd try to do something on the left first with the two greens lumped 
toggether. Then on the right if you can burst the bubble, you have two lighh 
greens. But it is tough going. Save states were made for a level like this, 
where the controls are a bit twitchy anyway. Because you have to get rid of 
everything before attacking the blue, but there are new blues dumped all 
around. I say, don't worry about the blues until you've cut down the main 
bits.

Level M52:

123456

goal: clear the blues

You will note that with no blues falling you need a complicated pattern of 
trick clumpings to clear them out. There are 9 on the left and 7 on the right. 
Note the 7 must be had all in one go. But the 9 can be disposed of a bit more 
easily, with a big combination.

First thing to do is dump a grey down column 4. Then you need to dump a red 
in column 5. Don't let any reds get below this. This will cause a 4-blue 
clump(column 4, 1-2-3 and column 3, 3) after which the reds will collapse 
along with the bubbles, leaving five blues left to collapse.

Now the right side remains. It should look something like this:

123456

    b
    oo
    bo
    bb
    rr
    rb
    bb

Now the picture you want in mind for the end is

123456

   ob
   goo
   gbo
   rbb
   grr
   grb
   =bb

With this, you just put greys on the bottom or wherever so that the grey in 
column 4 gets clumped, and you are done, because the orange and red both 
slide down one, making 4-clumps and causing all seven blues to come together 
at once. It isn't always as easy or straightforward as described. You may 
have to get rid of some debris, and there's always a possibility of making a 
match before you want to, which would be fatal.

Fortunately the pieces are slow here and you have no light greens or blues 
falling. So you should be able to set up the trap-door taking out the orange 
and red clumps after a few tries.

    5-2. PASSWORDS

If you work through the game you'll probably get different passwords than I 
do. These are the passwords to get to/start on level X.

Note the weird Japlish "Now password."

2. 875F
3. 785F
4. HD32
5. B08F
6. 5050
7. 2B58
8. J881
9. 693G
10. 31G0
11. 96G8
12. 058J
13. DF35
14. GDGD
15. FHGD
16. 1934
17. 4886
18. 845D
19. 7J5D
20. HF36
21. B584
22. 5858
23. 275J
24. J083
25. 6D3J
26. 3GG3
27. 9FG1
28. 0J83
29. D63J
30. G9G9
31. F3G9
32. 1D37
33. 4089
34. 8257
35. 7557
36. H637
37. BJ89
38. 5J5J
39. 245G
40. J58H
41. 6F38
42. 3HG1
43. 9DG5
44. 088H
45. D938
46. G6G6
47. F1G6
48. 1F3B
49. 458D
50. 548D
51. 7054
52. H93B

One thing you'll note is that you can often flip two digits to skip a level.

End of FAQ proper

================================

  6. VERSIONS

1.0.0: Sent to GameFAQs 3/14/2005, completed.

  7. CREDITS

CJayC for creating GameFAQs.
The folks on the FAQ board who brought my NES FAQ completion topic to 500--
and Devin Morgan's continuation of it to 200+ as of this writing. You guys 
are very cool.
The FCEU folks for creating such a good emulator. The save states helped 
immensely.
The usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, too, because 
they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, 
Masters, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, and others I forgot.