Hebereke's Popoitto

Hebereke's Popoitto is a 1995 puzzle video game developed by Success and Sunsoft and published by Sunsoft, Marubeni, Ludi, and Laguna for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Super Famicom, and mobile phones. The game is a clone of Dr. Mario.

Gameplay
Similar to other falling block tile-matching video games, the core gameplay element consists of player-controlled blocks falling from the top of the playing field. In Hebereke's Popoitto, pairs of blocks, where each block in the pair can be any available color, appear from the top of the playing field and continue to fall until they fall on top of the ground or another block. The pair of blocks are, as long as they're still falling, controlled by the player and can be rotated. When a pair of blocks is suspended, a new pair of player-controlled blocks will fall from playing field ceiling. By lining up four or more blocks with the same color in certain formations the whole formation disappears. The available formations can be straight horizontal or vertical lines or simply just any adjoining formation, depending on the set difficulty level.

What sets Hebereke's Popoitto apart from other similar games is that moving creatures, named Poro-porous, will float suspended in mid-air on the playing field. Sporadically, Poro-porous will move one space right, left, up or down. Touching a Poro-poro with a pair of blocks will as always suspend the blocks, and consequently the erratic behaviour of Poro-porous makes it more difficult for the player to plan ahead. Each Poro-poro has its own color and can be, just as with any other block, destroyed by making a formation with the same color. A game is won when every Poro-poro on the playing field is eliminated. A game can also be lost when the blocks fill up to the top of the playing field.

The difficulty level controls, as stated earlier, the possible formations to build. An easier difficulty level will accept any adjoining formation of same-colored blocks, while a harder difficulty level will only accept straight horizontal or vertical lines. A higher difficulty level will also control the number of different available colors for blocks and the number of Poro-porous that are on the playing field at start.

Reception
Hebereke's Popoitto received critical acclaim from magazines. Super Power rated the game 90%, with Famitsu giving it a 20/40. Club Nintendo Chile included it as part of Información SUPERNESESARIA in its October 1995, citing the game as more appropriate for younger players due to its character design.

Differences
The PS1 version is the most complete package of all three versions, including two different 2 player modes: Popoitto and Popoon. The Sega Saturn version is the original one, while the Super Nintendo version had no voice samples and was in a smaller size compared to Hebereke's Popoon. [weird], missing characters and animations [Like the O-Chan laugh] in the cutscenes and a completely different HUD.

Sony Playstation

Sega Saturn



Super Nintendo



Trivia

 * Despite the game never seeing a release in the Americas (due to Sunsoft USA's bankruptcy), it appeared in the October 1995 issue of Club Nintendo Chile.
 * This is one of a few games in Australia to have the letter in the OFLC rating pixelated.
 * The background in the back of the European PS1 box was actually taken from the Sega Saturn version.