The core gameplay was really fun that it produces many clones and starts its own genre that is "match-three games".
Columns was the basis of a line of development of tile matching games based on shifting or swapping tiles.
It'd be then perfected in "Colors Game" (1999) then getting perfected more and popularized in Bejeweled series (2001-2020).
And "match-three games" as type of gameplay getting more popular after Bejeweled gameplay was used in Puzzle Quest series and Candy Crush Saga (2012).
Despite having to introduced the mechanic first, Columns sadly is not popular as the most financially successful "match-three games" of all time that is Candy Crush Saga.
I see. So graphicaly Columns 4ever is using Puyo Puyo's cheerful and cartoonic approach?
Yes, as well as the characters being "likeable" as Puyo Puyo characters... but at the same time I have the storyin mind which preserves the ancient world setting.
I mean, "cute anime girls" is a tried-and-true successful method. While Puyo Puyo has some guy characters (Schezo, Klug and Sig), Arle Nadja is the poster girl for the franchise followed by Amitie and Ringo, with major characters or most side characters being female. Plus, the "six best friends" formula was inspired by
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and
DC Super Hero Girls. But also it is to coincide with the fact Columns games have six specific-coloured gemstones, so it all fits in a way.
>Scratches my head.
I dunno why I'm going through all this planning over a game I'll never make. I mean, I probably have more of a chance making Columns 4ever than I do my Golden Axe fan game. I imagine recreating Columns gameplay in Unity won't be that difficult (though if I ever decide to put the game up on Itch.io it depends if Unity's upcoming runtime fees or if Sega are lenient to fan games other than Sonic.)
I also keep having second thoughts if a Puyo Puyo × Columns gameplay could even work! Tetris was slightly modified to work for Puyo Puyo simply by making the five tetrominos colour-coded to the five puyo colours. Columns have six colours to that means either an orange puyo is introduced or orange gem is removed. (For a Puyo Puyo × Columns story, I do have a possible explanation on how the Puyo Puyo characters crossover and how the orange gems are absent but again I dunno.)
EDIT: I forgot there were orange tetronimos.
Also, I dunno if I should make "crush" (when the playing field is raised, limiting your space) should still a manual button-triggered function or make it automatically like "garbage puyo" are.
