Puyo Puyo

Pairs of colored blobs fall, and Compile's Game Boy puzzle Puyo Puyo pops them only when four of one color connect. The 1991 cartridge is the handheld edition of that first puzzle, and a chain dumps garbage onto the opposing stack. Rotate the pair, nest it, and a linked group vanishes, which can tug the blobs above into another group.

An opponent drawn from Compile's fantasy cast answers with junk of their own. A long chain is how you bury them; a sloppy tower is how you bury yourself. There is no gun and no platforming, only the next pair and the rising ceiling.

The numbered follow-up Compile released later is a different cartridge. This edition stays with the original four-blob rule and with an enemy who will not pause while you tidy the well. Compile's official handheld duel is blob against blob, chain against chain.

A pretty pattern still fails if the fourth blob never touches its color. Garbage arrives as rubble you have to build around. The win is a cascade the other side cannot answer before their pile hits the lid.