The question for puzzle fans wanting to own either one or the other becomes, then, what differences actually are there? What would justify choosing one version over the other? And the answer to that is, honestly, not much.

So it's an odd historical happenstance that the very same game appeared in two different packages on two different platforms, and it's again reflected here now that both versions are available for Wii Shop download. It was during the 16-bit console war, when SEGA acquired the rights to produce a version of Puyo Puyo for the Genesis system and slapped the Sonic the Hedgehog license on it, while Nintendo also acquired the rights to produce a version of Puyo Puyo for the SNES and stuck the Kirby branding on the box instead. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, the striking similarities of which were created as a result of two companies having the same idea, at the same time, in the same era. Completing linked attacks like that will send garbage boulders across the screen to an ever-present opponent's space, and you win when he, she, or an AI-controlled it gets stacked up all the way to the top.Īnd that's how you play both Kirby's Avalanche and Dr. The trick is to set up chains and combos of multiple matches – put a couple of blues on the bottom, layer some yellows on top, throw in some reds and greens and set it all off in a way that, one by one, the colors fall into place and clear each other out in a single massive move. The colorful creatures, whatever they are, fall onto the screen in pairs of two, where you can rotate them into either horizontal or vertical alignment before they settle on the stack below. Only they're called beans to Robotnik, and Kirby calls them ghosts.

Both are U.S.-localized versions of a Japanese title called Puyo Puyo, a 'falling block' competitive puzzle game that's based on lining up four like-colored blobs to eliminate them from play. And different presentations, and music, and from different past console platforms – but, cutting through the surface layers to find out what's below, the two titles are essentially the very same experience. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine are the same game.

Download kirby's avalanche switch