2820: Et tu, Puyo Pop?

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Et tu, Puyo Pop?

Made by: Dr. Manny

Explanation

This comic is a reference to the Puyo Puyo series. The TV Tropes article quoted in the author's notes already provides an adequate explanation of the basic gameplay, though variants of that standard rule do exist; for example, Puyo Puyo Tsu (tsu, in addition to being a pun on two, translates to master in Japanese) introduced the now-standard "offsetting" mechaninc, where Nuisance Puyo that are in reserve have a chance to be countered and sent back to the opponent; likewise, Puyo Pop Fever introduced the titular Fever mode, where readily-prepared chains of Puyo are cleared at a rapid pace.

In the strip proper, Garfield is having trouble sleeping due to the presence of three of that series' characters - Arle, Amitie, and Ringo - who are presumably engaged in a Puyo Puyo match. The title of the strip refers to Julius Caesar's infamous final words in Shakespeare's play of the same name.

The western Puyo Pop naming convention was already being phased out by the time this strip first ran. Although this strip beat Puyo Puyo Tetris's western release on 2017-04-25, the tendency for western releases to use the Puyo Pop naming convention had long shown signs of weakening beforehand; the last time the Puyo Pop brand was used for a western release was the European Nintendo DS release of Puyo Pop Fever on June 23, 2006. Untranslated import Virtual Console releases of Puyo Puyo 2, the only western releases of full titles in the series between Fever and Puyo Tetris that weren't re-releases of reskinned versions of the original Puyo Puyo from the mid-1990s, kept the title as is; additionally, the Puyo Puyo 39! minigame from Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, released in North America on September 8, 2015 (more than a year before this strip was released), also kept the name of the minigame as-is in western releases, the first time the Puyo Puyo name had been retained for a translated release since the obscure translated version of the 1992 arcade release of the original Puyo Puyo.

Explanation

Quoth TV Tropes:

"Puyo Puyo, known as Puyo Pop outside of Japan, is a series of competitive Falling Block puzzle games originally created by Compile and currently owned by Sega. The object of the game is to flood your opponent's board with Nuisance Puyo by making chains with several multi-colored Puyo, which explode when four of the same color are connected."

I'll leave the rest to them.

Original strip: 1991-08-11.

Transcript

{Garfield does a crossword in the first panel, writing the words fat; lazy; proud; Garfield; Puyo; Pop; and finally, Fever.}
{Garfield is laying uncomfortably in his bed. This goes on for the next three panels.}
Garfield: *sigh*
Garfield: It's no use.
Garfield: I can't sleep.
{Arle, Amitie, and Ringo are there with a group of Puyo.}