Hebereke's Popoon

Hebereke's Popoon is a 1993 puzzle game developed and published by Sunsoft. It is the first spin-off title in the Hebereke series, being similar in style to Puyo Puyo. Its first released was on the Super Famicom on December 22, 1993 in Japan, and was later released in Europe in between 1994 and 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System PAL Version. An arcade version was also released on June 1994 in Japan, being developed by Success and published by Sunsoft and Atlus.

Gameplay
Super Nintendo



Arcade



Hebereke's Popoon is a block-grouping game closer in style to Dr. Mario and Puyo Puyo than Tetris. There are eight playable characters, each having different abilities. In story mode, the player is forced to choose Hebereke and must play against Oh-Chan. After defeating Oh-Chan, the player is allowed to choose between Hebereke and Oh-Chan in the next match against Sukezaemon, and so on, until the player has "unlocked" all the characters. Each match consists of a single-round. A defeated player may elect to resume play by using a continue. In the  game  mode, all characters are immediately available to either player and each match is the best of three rounds. Players can also select a handicap level (from 1 - 5) to increase or decrease the difficulty of the game.

In each round, pairs of Popoons of various colors (the set of colors varying with the character(s) chosen by the player(s)) descend from the top of the screen. These can be rotated and placed by the player. The immediate aim is to create groups of three blocks of the same color arranged either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. When such a group is created, the member blobs blow up, disappearing from the screen. Any blobs above the disappearing group then drop to fill any resulting empty space.

Each time a player successfully creates a group, a piece resembling the head of the player's character will drop on the other player's screen in a random position. These "heads" can be removed by the other player by placing a blob of the same color as the head such that it touches the head either horizontally or vertically. Both the head and the blob will disappear from the screen, in much the same manner as group of blobs, though no head will appear on the first player's screen as a result.

A player can sometimes cause multiple groups to disappear. This can happen simultaneously if the placement of a pair of blobs immediately causes two groups of blobs (or heads) to form or it can happen in a chain reaction, as the formation and disappearance of one group causes the dropping of any pieces above it, which can result in the formation of another group, and so on. If the groups in either process are of different colors then this is said to be a combination or "combo". The colors in a combo (or even a group) appear as small tiles in the lower of two panes in the middle of the screen and above the score-box.

While a combo of one color (simply an ordinary group) causes a single head to appear on the opponent's screen, a combo of two colors causes a full row of heads to appear on the opponent's screen. Combos of three and four colors are much more dramatic, the precise effect depending on the player's character. Upcoming heads or special effects are kept track of by symbols placed by the players' characters in the upper of two panels in the middle of the screen.

A notable feature in Hebereke's Popoon is the constant bevy of sound effects as each player's character celebrates each group or combo by making nonsense sounds or yelling Japanese phrases.

Reception
Hebereke's Popoon had received mixed reviews. German game magazine M! Games gave the game a score of 63 out of 100, with Famitsu giving it a 23 out of 40.

Legacy
An arcade version was released on June 1994, known for its rarity. It's very different from the SNES original, containing only the versus mode [But with story and all characters playable] The screens in this version are also different, very notable in the continue screen. Also has a completely different HUD.

Super Nintendo



Arcade



A sequel titled Hebereke's Popoitto was released throughout 1995 and 1996.

Trivia

 * HPopoonRoyArcade.pngestingly, the arcade version contained an unused sprite for what appears to be Roy Koopa from the Super Mario series. Due to it being located in the graphics bank for the cutscenes, it is estimated that it was a placeholder.
 * There were rumors of an American prototype, which was taken from an unknown source, being taken from a ROM site, being downloaded by one of the wiki's admins (Guscraft808Beta2, also known as LucianoTheWindowsFan). An article about it was made on Hidden Palace, though it was later deleted after it was considered to be a ROM hack, thus debunking this rumor.
 * The HUD from the Arcade version would later be reused in Hebereke's Popoitto for the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn.