Deep dive on Puyo Puyo Tetris 2’s new Skill Battle mode

Hello there, everyone! As you may have already heard, we are excited to be releasing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 8, so it’s just about that time to mentally prepare yourself for the fun battles that lie ahead – specifically, Skill Battle, a new mode of play featured in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2!

So, you may be asking yourself, just what exactly is Skill Battle mode? Well, we’re happy you asked!

Introducing Skill Battle mode 

One of the big new additions to Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 over the previous entry is the addition of Skill Battle mode. Skill Battle lets players form a team of three characters from the fantastical worlds of Puyo Puyo and Tetris. Each of these characters brings their own skillset to each match, so the key here is to assemble the right team with the right mix of skills and their effects to maximize your odds of victory. Skills can be activated in battle by expending MP, which is pooled together and shared as a team, as reflected by the green gauge in the middle of your screen.

Here are some important points to keep in mind when forming your overall strategy:  

1. Unlike the other modes, where you lose after stacking Puyos or Tetriminos to the top of the board, players can keep playing, or “battling,” so long as their HP remains above zero.
2. Players attack by clearing Puyos and Tetris lines, which sends Garbage Puyos or Garbage Blocks to their opponent’s board and damages their HP. Before the Garbage Puyos or Blocks are sent, the opponent can see the amount of damage they’re about to receive, giving them the chance to defend themselves with a well-timed chain or combo of their own.  
3. Characters have skills they can deploy to change the flow of battle and turn things in your favor. For example, the intellectual Chief Engineer, Ai, has a skill called “Crestfall” which decreases your opponent’s Attack for a bit. Another character, the adventurer Ally, has “HP Recovery,” which can refill some of your HP. As characters level up, you’ll unlock even more skills to gain that edge you need to win!
4. There are two types of skills: Auto Skill and Special Skill. An Auto Skill is unleashed automatically at the start of battle and increases certain stats of the character equipped with it, while a Special Skill can be activated as players see fit in their strategy. 

What are Item Cards? 

Item Cards are sort of like accessories that will power up your team’s overall stats! Each party can equip up to four Item Cards in a Skill Battle match, so it’s important to create that optimal loadout for each encounter.

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How do I get new characters and Item Cards?   

By engaging in Skill Battles in Adventure mode, you will unlock new characters to use in other modes. You will also earn experience points, which will eventually level them up and improve their base attributes (HP, MP, Attack, Defense, and Recovery). When characters reach specific levels, they will also acquire new skills to use in the Skill Battle mode.

Item Cards are randomly dropped in Adventure mode and can offer a variety of bonuses and special effects when equipped on a team. A card’s effect is generated at random, so players are encouraged to play through the Skill Battle mode to obtain better and even more rare Item Cards create the ultimate team.

Speaking of rare Item Cards, by pre-ordering the Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Launch Edition, you’ll get access to a special set of rare item cards, including three from the world of Sonic the Hedgehog! 

But wait… there’s more!  

After the launch of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, we have plans to provide additional free content updates to the game, including but not limited to: more characters, new game features, and new accessibility options. More details will be shared at a later date, so stay tuned!