Trivia / Puyo Puyo Tetris

• Colbert Bump: Giant Bomb's Quick Look of the Japanese version, which helped to show the contrast between the colorful puzzle mashup and Ubisoft's critically-panned Tetris Ultimate, played a significant role in getting western gamers interested in the game and the series in general. The Puyo Puyo team would later admit that they were actually counting on internet buzz such as this to make a case for localizing the game.
• Denial of Digital Distribution: The PlayStation 4 port of Puyo Puyo Tetris did not see a PlayStation Network release (and was therefore only available as a physical disc) until 2019 due to issues caused by an exclusivity license granted to Ubisoft for Tetris Ultimate. When Tetris Ultimate was delisted, a digital version of Puyo Puyo Tetris almost immediately followed.
• Late Export for You: Puyo Puyo Tetris was first released in Japan in 2014, and it took until 2017 to get localized for non-Japanese markets. By then, Puyo Puyo Chronicle had been released in Japan.
• Port Overdosed: Puyo Puyo Tetris was released 8 times in its lifespan with 2 major iterations. More specifically, it was released in all tabletop consoles of the last two generations except the Xbox 360 (though the PS3, Vita, Wii U and Xbox One versions were not released outside of Japan), the Nintendo 3DS (also Japan-exclusive), and Steam.
• Remade for the Export: In a sense, the Nintendo Switch version of Puyo Puyo Tetris qualifies; see Screwed by the Lawyers below for why it took the Switch version for the game to be brought over.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Many blamed Ubisoft for the fact that Puyo Puyo Tetris, a title that western gamers had shown an abnormal amount of interest in, initially did not see a Western release. Elevating this theory beyond Wild Mass Guessing was the fact that nearly every digital, English-language version of Tetris went offline shortly before the release of Ubisoft's Tetris Ultimate. A Tetris Company rep confirmed to USgamer that there was an exclusivity deal in play, but Sega was able to work around this, and eventually announced a western release for the PlayStation 4 (physical-only release) and (then newly-announced) Nintendo Switch in 2017. The reason? The licencing deal didn't include PS4 physical media or the Nintendo Switch overall, which was then only a rumor known under the development name of "NX" when Tetris Ultimate came out. However, this hurt the Nintendo 3DS and Xbox One versions of Puyo Puyo Tetris, where Ubisoft did cover those holes in the contract. Ubisoft's grip eventually loosened in late 2018 with the PC version of Puyo Puyo Tetris and the PS4 game Tetris Effect, and Tetris Ultimate's delisting in early 2019 appears to signify that the contract is over. Not-so-coincidentally, a digital PS4 version of Puyo Puyo Tetris was made available shortly afterwards.
• Un-Cancelled: Puyo Puyo Tetris started development after Puyo Puyo 7, but the project encountered troubles (that Sega has not elaborated on) that caused it to be cancelled and replaced with Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary. Bringing things full circle, Sega was going to put the traditional Puyo Puyo series on hiatus after 20th but changed their mind when another opportunity to create Puyo Puyo Tetris arose, and the rest is history.

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