[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o we’re nearing the release date for Puyo Puyo Tetris on the Nintendo Switch in the NA and PAL regions. The full game hasn’t been released in these regions yet, but it has been out on most systems in Japan since 2014. With it becoming available to so many new players, this may be a good time to review what we can expect from the game when it becomes available to American and European players in the coming week.

While a demo of the game has been on the eShop since the recent Nintendo Direct, it only covers a small variety of gameplay modes, including solo and multiplayer versions of both the Versus and Swap modes. Of these two, Versus mode lets players each choose between Tetris and Puyo gameplay to battle it out with up to four players or against a CPU. Meanwhile, Swap chooses one of the two at random to start with and forces players to swap games after a short amount of time.

It doesn’t seem like much, but this alone can keep people occupied for hours. Many players wondered why they should buy the full game, however, there’s a lot more that you won’t get to see otherwise. You may see some modes sprinkled around the main menu, but aside from the in-game picture there isn’t much to tell us how these modes play. Thankfully it’s out in Japan, which gives us plenty of resources to see how it all works.

First, the mode I was most curious about, Fusion mode, is exactly what it sounds like. This mode combines Tetris and Puyo Pop onto one grid and gives you random blocks of both types. You can only clear the Tetris pieces by filling in a line with blocks, while Puyo blocks can only be cleared by other Puyos. As the game continues, the strategies and timing become more refined and rely heavily on skill to keep from backing yourself into a corner. This game play mode allows for some crazy combos utilizing both styles simultaneously. Garbage blocks can be cleared the same way as they are in Puyo, but perhaps more interestingly, Tetris blocks will crush them when they fall. Any Puyo blocks they pop will reappear on top, but garbage blocks don’t. This should make for some interesting strategies and create some unexpected comebacks.

There’s also a Party mode where if you lose, the grid resets to empty instead of knocking you out of play. You lose a lot of points for each restart however, which really hurts your chances of having the highest score and winning the match. Like Versus mode, you can pick either Tetris or Puyo playstyle. While you’re playing, item blocks will drop onto the board, and when you clear a line that they’re in or a group of Puyos adjacent to them it activates the item, which can do anything from giving you a bunch of single-block tetris pieces, to making it difficult for your opponent to see their board.

There is a single-player Challenge mode which includes the classic Sprint, Marathon, and Puzzle-type play, but things get interesting in Big Bang Mode. This mode allows you to pick a style between Fever (Puyo) and Lucky Attack (Tetris). The game will then set up a puzzle board for your game. In Lucky Attack you must clear a line with every block until there are no more lines to clear, while in Fever, you have to build the board up so that when you start clearing Puyos, the chain doesn’t stop until you’ve emptied the entire board. It looks challenging, but with practice, players can hold their own against an opponent. At the end of each timed match, whichever player performed the best will inflict damage on their opponent and drain the health meter at the bottom of their boards. The last man standing wins.

This last mode for the full game is somewhat hidden. When playing alone, you can choose to challenge not one CPU but all of them in a continuous gauntlet-style game that continues until the player finally lose a game. It’s like a survival mode, challenging you do see how many CPUs you can beat.

That’s all the modes I can find as of right now. The game launches on the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 in North America on April 25th, and in the PAL region on April 28th. It looks like it’s a fun puzzle game that can entertain for hours, whether you’re playing with a group of friends or playing by yourself, and should definitely be considered for people who are fans of either game. Below, you can find the trailer for the game on the Nintendo Switch. Enjoy!