Review by: Matthew Hamilton

Tenchi Muyo is an incredibly popular Japanese Anime series that has spawned a TV series, a movie, toys, and video games on several platforms. For those who haven't seen it, Tenchi Muyo is the story of a young man, Tenchi, who holds mythical strength deep within himself - of course, he is fairly unaware of this and is a bumbling fool most of the time, especially around the several beautiful women that live with him and his grandfather. How the women got there is a story in itself. Finally there is Ryo-oki, a spaceship that manifests itself usually as a fluffy half-cat, half-rabbit creature with an obsession for carrots. If this sounds too weird, it is, but watch the show, you'll understand.

Anyway, the latest game to draw on the marketing power of the Tenchi franchise is fairly standard Puyo Puyo fare. It does, however, have a few wrinkles that makes it worth a look, especially for Tenchi fans.

The game uses the standard puzzle-game format, two columns next to each other with some distracting graphic in-between -- in this case it's Tenchi, waving Japanese flags like a cheerleader for the all-female cast.

The columns however have a few spacers inserted at the bottom so that the blocks when they fall do not stack in a square fashion but sit on a diagonal from each other - this wrinkle provides a great many more opportunities to make connections and clear pieces in the standard puzzle-game way.

In addition to the standard colored blocks, there are hearts that fall down. These are essential because you can lose by having your column fill up with water (you drown) - the water appears when the other player makes a few combination moves. The hearts will reduce the water level when they are joined up. There are also anchors, which will hold blocks down under the water level, which is important since normally, the blocks will float on the water, making your playing area even smaller. Finally there are Ryo-oki shaped blocks that when combined twice in a row, triggers a fairly spectacular super move that will make your opponent less than happy.

Of course, while all of this is going on, there are some incredibly good character animations and sound effects that accompany combinations as you make them. A really nice feature, one not seen often in these games, is that while your character is doing something in an animation, your blocks stop falling so you can watch without getting into trouble for not paying attention.

The voice samples are great, and the music is a nice variety of funky Japanese pop that stays with you for hours after you turn the Saturn off, rubbing your eyes and wondering where the time went.

To conclude then, Tenchi Muyo Puzzle, import only at this time (and unlikely to make it to the US since it is so Japanese in nature i.e. cute to the extreme) is a great addition to any puzzle game or Tenchi fan. Those of you who haven't tried either may want to give it a look, particularly if you are looking for a good two player game.