Interesting to think about how StarSweep and Meteos are both Panel De Pon inspired games that each take completely non-overlapping ideas and idioms from it, to the point that neither resembles the other in the slightest.
What gets me is that StarSweep already had a foolproof solution for putting pieces below other pieces: just use a cursor to place pieces anywhere! Stop using the Tetris falling-block paradigm when its rules stop making sense!!
But no, this ugly hack is bolted on instead.
Free her
The only big thing missing is selectable protagonists (like Puchi Carat).
The only thing holding Puchi Carat's incredible story mode back is that Puchi Carat is really, /really/ not designed to be 1CC'd. (Not that there's even any reward, but still…)
StarSweep's story mode (in all versions) really is one of the best pick-up-and-play modes out there:
• Decent character designs and music
• Plenty of levels (9)
• Exactly 4 dialog boxes per level (like Puchi Carat)
• Relatively easy to 1CC
• Whole thing is over in 5 minutes
What versus puzzle game CPU matches feel like
• Puyo Puyo: catapult battle with only timber and ropes provided
• Pochi & Nyaa: pistol duel with Metroid charge beams
• Panel De Pon: boxing match while wearing plate mail
• StarSweep: knife fight atop a mountain of daggers
The patients need 50ccs of RotSprite, stat
Benjamin
Benjamin
Welcome to my StarSweep frag vid
Versus puzzle game localisations that awkwardly cram the word "puzzle" into the original title, so people would know it was a versus puzzle game, are just cowardly. That's all I need to say about that. #PuzzleStarSweep #MoneyPuzzleExchanger #PuzzleLeague
Oh, yeah, also THIS exception… it being 8-wide feels especially deliberate because of how you can't fit three blocks lengthwise in it.
Thinking about how StarSweep is a match-2 game AND has Panel De Pon rising blocks AND player-dropped pieces with a "next" box… what a beast.
Playing versus puzzlers via Petal Crash has probably made me distrustful of falling block versus puzzlers… Panel De Pon I like. Puyo Puyo 1? Hmmmm…
StarSweep is the only one I've genuinely clicked with, and that's mainly because you just teleport pieces onto the board.
This track is good too
What with Soldam and StarSweep both having great Game Boy ports of their music, it makes me regret that Puchi Carat's Game Boy music uses the sound chip so roughly (getting barely any value from the noise channel in particular).
StarSweep has a decent handful of strong music, but I'm particular taken with "Island of Rio", which is solid across all 3 platforms due to its solid melody (linking the barebones GB version here to emphasise it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdF6hObIYmY
Leon is a major influencer in:
• Benjamin
This is a rhetorical question, as I understand none of you are capable of answering this, but… why does StarSweep for PS1 have a secret unlockable creepypasta version of Story Mode where almost the entire cast has been replaced with a completely silent entity named "Benjamin"
This one has TWO borders that change when you enter a game mode??
StarSweep – All Shoryukens – Complete.mp4
One interesting thing about StarSweep (1997 arcade game) is that its story mode doesn't have points or a high score board – it only has a speedrun board, ranked by stage completion. Moreover, it doesn't care about 1CC, but counts time across all credits used.
This game's mechanical relationship to Panel De Pon gets wilder and wilder the more you analyse it… the fact that putting your own blocks ON TOP OF enemy garbage is A) possible, B) often optimal, and C) enables a different kind of garbage chaining, is amazing to think about.
After weeks of bafflement, I'm finally figuring out how to play ⭐️THIS⭐️ game (StarSweep) correctly.
Psh… how bitterly ironic… that Citra… is the main character of StarSweep… but you can't use Citra… to emulate StarSweep…
THIS Game Boy Color game has a Super Game Boy border???
StarSweep having a countdown for the delay before you lose by top-out is SOOOO much better than what every single Panel De Pon version does (basically nothing beyond a subtle visual change). (Honestly, the sound design in this game is great in general.)
Can you believe this arcade game has a story mode, but DOESN'T have the ending, at all, except in the PlayStation version? Such a shocking scenario is starting to seem spookily plausible, right?
Today's Fashionably Obscure Puzzle Game Character Of The Day is Doctor J from StarSweep (1997, A- *suddenly realises this character is literally just The Empress from FREAKING Magical Drop* Gdhhghhbhgkl
