Puzzle De Pon Platform: By Mike Mertes

Many people would look at a screenshot of Puzzle De Pon! and automatically assume that its a Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move game. In actuality, it is not. Don’t feel bad though, despite having played Puzzle De Pon! for years; I thought the differences in the games were simply in name alone.

Both games share a similar mechanic – Players shoot randomly colored balls upward on-screen to matching colored balls. When three of the same colored balls are connected; they disappear from the level. The differences between the two games start right after that, however. In Puzzle De Pon!, players are tasked with releasing a token plate trapped by the color balls to beat the stage. These tokens vary in form and symbol, and due to their shape, colored balls can be difficult to connect without precision aiming. In Puzzle Bobble, players are tasked with clearing out all the colored balls in a stage to complete it, with no token plates to contend with like in Puzzle De Pon!