Ludography
Puchi Carat cover

1997 · Taito · Arcade · Puzzle

Puchi Carat

A 1997 arcade game developed by Taito (now SquareEnix) subsequently ported to PlayStation and Game Boy Color.

Released
1 October 1997
Platforms
ArcadeGame Boy ColorPlayStationPlayStation 3PlayStation PortableWindows
Genres
ArcadePuzzle
Developers
Taito
Publishers
—
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Action
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CERO AUSK 0
Languages
English (UK), Japanese

About

Puchi Carat (プチカラット, Puchi Karatto) is a 1997 video game by Taito.

›Story

The basic storyline centers around the world of "GemStone", where science and magic coexist. Twelve precious gems are stolen, each one coming into the possession of a person with high magic powers. These people dominate the world. Each of the game's twelve characters has an individual story that follows his or her quest to collect all of the gems in order to realize his or her personal dreams.

Keywords

  • competitive
  • playstation network
  • shared screen
  • digital distribution
  • block-breaking
  • psone classics
  • playstation tv support
  • backwards compatibility

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The general objective of Puchi Carat is to destroy gem-like blocks using a ball and paddle. Gems "fall in" from the top of the play area one line at a time and are connected to each other either horizontally or vertically. Hitting a gem with the ball will destroy it, and if the destroyed gem causes other gems to no longer be connected to the top of the play area, they fall off, scoring bonus points. Destroying a special flashing gem also destroys all regular gems of the same color in the playfield. There are also metallic blocks that take more than one hit to destroy.

The player controls a paddle at the bottom of the playfield, which can move left and right to bounce the ball back upward. Unlike in most other Breakout-style games, missing the ball does not cost a life or end the game, but rather adds more lines of gems to the top of the playfield. Gem lines will advance on their own after a certain amount of time, as well as when the playfield is cleared entirely or drops below a certain number of gems. If the gems advance across the line at the bottom of the playfield where the paddle resides, the player loses and the game is over.

Story

The basic storyline in Puchi Carat centers around the world of "GemStone", where science and magic coexist. Twelve precious gems are stolen, each one coming into the possession of a person with high magic powers. These people dominate the world. Each of the game's twelve characters has an individual story that follows his or her quest to collect all of the gems in order to realize his or her personal dreams.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Puchi Carat on their February 1, 1998 issue as being the seventeenth most-successful arcade game of the month.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Arcade1 October 1997Japan
PlayStation25 June 1998Japan · Europe 31 December 1999
PlayStation 3Digital Compatibility Release24 September 2008Japan
PlayStation PortableDigital Compatibility Release24 September 2008Japan

Editions and related releases

Included in
Taito Memories JoukanTaito Legends 2
Ported as
Puchi Carat
Built on it
Puchi Carat

Games like this

Collections3 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.