I’m not sure I would normally gravitate to a puzzle game in an arcade. The hockey arena that was in town when I was growing up had a Tetris machine for a little while. If I remember correctly. I remember there being a crappy-looking version of Tetris somewhere, but I might be thinking of Pang and confused the Taj Mahal for the Kremlin. Look, I obviously know the difference now, but as a child in the 1990s, I wasn’t quite so worldly.

Anyway, I didn’t commonly see puzzle games in arcades…

Wait, the arcade cabinet in the arena was definitely called Pang, which is unusual since I think it was called Buster Brothers in North America. I have to wonder if the arena was getting bootleg games. That would explain why I can remember that its crappy-looking cabinet stands out in my memory.

What were we here for? Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo? Yeah, that wasn’t at the hockey arena.

Actually, I think the first time I played it was a few years ago. I think I heard of it, but I’ve never really been a puzzle game kind of girl. I don’t dislike them or anything, I just don’t tend to gravitate toward them. I definitely never saw it in arcades, either.

Capcom was riding high in the ‘90s. Street Fighter II had basically poured jet fuel on the fighting game genre, then lit a match. Throughout the decade, they had brand synergy comparable to Nintendo or Konami. Just before they started crossing over with Marvel Comics in 1996, they mashed some of their fighting game franchises together in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. Before you ask, there wasn’t a Puzzle Fighter, nor was there a vanilla Puzzle Fighter II. They were already making fun of themselves for their escalating nomenclature for Street Fighter II.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (I feel obligated to type that out every time) is what it says on the tin. Or rather, it can be deciphered from what it says on the tin. It’s a 1v1 gravity-block puzzle game incorporating characters from Street Fighter, Street Fighter Alpha, and Darkstalkers, and on consoles, you could get a character from Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness. Unfortunately, there’s no Final Fight and, therefore, no Mike Haggar, which automatically ensures this won’t be getting a 10.

The rules aren’t really that unique, but they’re fun all the same. There are coloured gems that fall, as well as orbs of matching colour. If an orb touches a gem of the same colour, it will exchange any connected same-coloured blocks for points. If you stack coloured blocks in four-cornered units, they’ll combine into a bigger gem, which are maybe worth more points. I don’t know. I didn’t pay that much attention to score.

You can dump locked gems on your opponent by creating combos and eliminating lots of gems. Locked gems have a timer (based on turns) on them and can only be destroyed by clearing out adjacent blocks. Once the timer runs out, they revert to normal gems and can be taken out normally with the glowing orbs.

Finally, there are diamond-like gems that, when dropped on a normal block, clear out all other blocks of that colour. Each character also has a super attack pattern, where if you create that pattern on the board it does… something. Listen, my long-term memory is reasonably reliable. Short-term is a lost cause. If I can remember a person’s name five minutes after they introduced themselves, it’s probably because I found it amusing. There is no chance that I’ll remember a 6×4 pattern of coloured blocks. As such, I have never pulled off a super attack. I’m sure they’re amazing.

That’s it. That’s the rundown. The best part about it is the chibi representations of characters like Chun-Li, Sakura, and Morrigan. No Talbain or Zangief, unfortunately. While you’re busting gems, they have a little battle in the middle of the screen.

It would eventually spin off to Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, which is literally just a fighting game starring the chibi characters. It’s a spin-off of a spin-off. Also, it has Zangief.

The levels also progress like a fighting game. There are eight stages (one for each character), and then you face off against Akuma. As is customary, the difficulty increases as you progress through the matches. This last time that I played, I managed to clear the eight regular stages on a single credit, but then Akuma is really good at spontaneously filling your screen with garbage. It took me a few tries, but I made it. If I was playing in an arcade, I’d still have money left over for a hot dog.

I’m not really sure how to critique a puzzle game. Not an arcade one, anyway. If this was on console and had some amazing meta-game, that would be different, but I’m not sure how to slap a score on falling blocks.

I’d probably also be able to critique one that was really terrible or really great. Wordtris, I could totally tell you what a pile of garbage that is. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is competent, which can be boring to talk about.

My usual way of deciding this is based on how much I recommend a game, in which case, I totally do. Especially if you love Street Fighter or Darkstalkers. The sprite art is really charming, and the backgrounds are cute takes of some classic areas where you would often throw hands. The gameplay involves falling blocks, and putting them in effective spots is pretty satisfying. It doesn’t have Mike Haggar, but Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo manages to still be worthwhile without him. Somehow.

7/10

This review was conducted on a Nintendo Switch through a digital copy of Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. It was paid for by the author, but they were once provided a PC version by the publisher.