| Pochi and Nyaa | |
| Developer: | Aiky |
| Publisher: | Taito Bandai (PS2) |
| Producer: | Masamitsu Niitani |
| Designer: | Tadayuki Kashima |
| Artist: | Ichi |
| Composer: | Daisuke Nagata Katsumi Tanaka Kō Hayashi |
| Platforms: | Arcade, PlayStation 2 |
| Released: | Arcade PlayStation 2 |
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Arcade System: | Neo Geo MVS |
is a puzzle video game developed by Aiky (continuing on from Compile) and released by Taito towards the end of 2003 for the Neo Geo.[1] [2] It was one of the last games developed for the platform, as well as the final Neo Geo MVS title developed by a third-party company. In 2004, it was ported to the PlayStation 2 by Bandai, featuring several improvements and new characters.
The game is played on a pair of 7x12 grids, where the pieces, called Pochis and Nyaas, fall in pairs, similar to Puyo Puyo. Pieces can be moved and rotated as they fall. Unlike many matching puzzle games, the player can accumulate as many pieces of the same color as they want. A falling piece can be changed into a "trigger", which will clear adjacent pieces of the same color and form a chain reaction. A detonation will send nuisance pieces over to the opponent's grid, with longer chains and branching paths increasing the power of the attack. Like in Puyo Puyo, incoming nuisance pieces can be offset by the defending player triggering a chain in response. A player loses when a piece lands in the top-center square of their grid, represented by a skull. The game has a single-player story mode, a two-player versus mode, and a single-player infinite mode.
Pochi and Nyaa was announced under a commercial alliance between Compile and Taito, and was initially scheduled for release in mid-September 2002, running on the NAOMI arcade board.[3] However, the game was repeatedly delayed due to Compile's bankruptcy until finally being released in December 2003 for the Neo Geo, with then-reformed SNK Playmore helping publish the game. Many characters originally announced for the game did not make it into the final arcade version, but were added as additional characters for the PS2 version.
In November 2005, Aiky's intellectual property, including this game, was transferred to D4 Enterprise.
In the sky where several gods live, the dog god Pochi and the cat god Nyaa watch over a festival which occurs every thousand years. During this festival, prospective idols compete against one another, and Pochi and Nyaa bet on the best idols to determine which god will be spoiled for the next 1,000 years.
Prim receives an invitation from God promising pumpkin pudding as a reward, so she joins the Pochi and Nyaa festival and competes against various opponents. At the end of the story mode, a giant pudding appears and covers the city.