Puyo Puyo is a 1991 arcade puzzle game by Compile in which players drop pairs of coloured blobs and chain same-colour groups of four or more to send garbage Puyos to their opponent's field.
Developed by Compile and originally released in Japanese arcades in 1991, Puyo Puyo introduced a deceptively simple rule set on top of a falling-block framework. Players guide pairs of coloured gelatinous blobs — Puyos — as they descend into a grid. Any group of four or more same-coloured Puyos touching each other vanishes, and clearing multiple groups in a single drop creates a "chain" reaction that bombards the opponent's board with grey nuisance Puyos. It is that chain-combo system that gives the game its competitive depth: beginner players can win by clearing singles, but experts plan cascading sequences five or six links long to overwhelm opponents instantly.
Puyo Puyo grew out of Compile's earlier Puyo Puyo mechanics first tested in the role-playing game Madou Monogatari, where the colourful slime creatures already appeared. The standalone arcade version retained the cast — cheerful protagonist Arle Nadja and a parade of cartoon monsters — and wrapped competitive versus-puzzle gameplay around them. Sega handled distribution in many markets, and ports followed to nearly every console and home computer of the era, from the Mega Drive and Super Famicom to the MSX, PC-88, and Game Boy.
The game became a major hit in Japan and launched one of Sega's most enduring puzzle franchises. Its chain-combo system proved influential enough to inspire successors across the genre, and Puyo Puyo has seen continuous sequels and crossovers — including the popular Puyo Puyo Tetris series — into the present day. Edge magazine ranked the original among the 100 greatest video games of all time in 2017, recognising its elegant, timeless design.