Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing doesn’t contain a story. The only real story element is that help Patchy break records on the scoreboard, which isn’t much of a story at all. I think this is a bit of a missed opportunity, as it would be nice to have had some kind of back story about Patchy. But being a puzzle game, it’s not too surprising that there isn’t a story here at all with this game.
Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing is a puzzle game as the name of the game suggests. You are given a board with pieces that drop from the top of the screen. The goal being to match four pieces in a row to clear the pieces from the board. This is achieved by using the cursor to select a piece, then select a spot to move the piece and it will then move into position.
The way the game plays is pretty simple, but it’s in this simplicity that you will find a lot of enjoyment and fun with this title. One of the main draws to this game is the fact that unlike other puzzle game this pays homage to (looking at you Tetris Attack), you can select to move the piece anywhere on the board. You aren’t restricted to an adjacent piece or within the same line as the piece you select.
Because of this mechanic, it makes the game very fast paced and a lot of fun to play, especially in short sessions. This is one of those games that you can pickup and play a round for just five minutes or you can try and draw out the game for longer, the choice is completely up to you.
One of the really neat things about this game is that it features achievements. You can go to the achievements screen and see what it takes to unlock it. This gives you incentive to keep playing to unlock them all.
Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing is a puzzle game. You won’t find fancy graphics here, but what you will find are detailed puzzle pieces and a wonderful, though slightly animated Patchy. This gives the game a charm that is nice to see in a puzzle style game. Instead of boring blocks, you have detailed sea creatures and a cute dog to help cheer you on.
Performance with this game is rather surprising. Yes, it’s a puzzle game but you could still have issues with the way the game plays depending on how it’s optimized. Well with Matchy Patchy Puzzle Surfing, it is very well optimized and performs very well. The game like I said earlier is very fast paced. You won’t get any slow down at all, not even flickering of pieces is present here.
What you’re getting with Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing is a very optimized and detailed puzzle game that looks really good on the Game Boy.
The only other thing I will mention about the graphics is the fact that there aren’t many colors here. I think this is another missed opportunity. There could have been great use of colors here and this should have been made as a Game Boy Color only title. Or at the very least, have a Super Game Boy border and have it use the color palette of the Super GameBoy much in the same way Hermano does.
Because it’s a puzzle game, there isn’t much in the way of a sound track. Though what is here is rather enjoyable to listen to. The music fits the game very nicely and the sound effects are alright. I was expecting to hear an annoying tune for the background music as you played and maybe even a horrid sound effect when you selected a puzzle piece or cleared a set of pieces. But thankfully, this game exceeded my expectations in that regard.
Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing is a very enjoyable puzzle game. It has a lot going for it with the great animation and some rather fun and challenging achievements to unlock. Because the game is made for the Chromatic, I am hoping that we eventually see an update to the cart that gives a bit of a back story to Patchy and takes advantage of the Super Game Boy; allowing for a nice border and makes use of it’s color palettes.
If you enjoy games like Tetris Attack, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game. It’s a great puzzle game that everyone can really enjoy and have fun with.
A review copy was provided. You can purchase Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing here.
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.