Puyo Puyo Fever (Puyo Pop Fever outside of Japan) is the fifth game in the Puyo Puyo series released in 2004, and developed by Sonic Team. It is one of the only games released outside Japan, and the last game to include an English release until Puyo Puyo Tetris.
Sonic Team began this project to keep the series alive, but redesigned the entire package into something of its own, adding new features, new cast characters, and gameplay elements along the way. The artwork was changed drastically, the line has gone from thin lines what Compile usually does, to bold lines and cartoony style that closely resembles Sonic The Hedgehog series. Compile, the original creator of the Puyo Puyo series, played no part in the creation of this game, as they had gone bankrupt prior to the release of Sonic Team's first Puyo Puyo game, Minna de Puyo Puyo. Despite their absence, the protagonists of the original Puyo Puyo games, Arle and Carbuncle, are included in this game and are playable characters, Arle being "lost" from her own world and Carbuncle being a hidden boss.
A new addition to the game mechanics is fever mode. Fever mode occurs when a bar in the middle of the screen is filled up. To fill the bar, one must offset (or counterattack) the trash being sent to the field by the opponent. Every chain, which is a single popping of puyo, will fill one space in the fever meter until it is full, which is when fever activates. In fever mode, a pre-designed chain will fall onto an empty field. In a limited amount of time, one must find a trigger point in the puzzle, which will cause a large chain to go off and attack the opponent. Once a chain is made, another puzzle falls, bigger and more complicated than the previous one. This keeps occurring until time runs out, then it returns the player to his or her original field.
Playable characters
| Video Games |
|---|
| Main series: Puyo Puyo • Puyo Puyo Tsu • Puyo Puyo SUN • Puyo Puyo~n • Puyo Puyo Fever • Puyo Puyo Fever 2 • Puyo Puyo 7 Compile-era |