Puzzli & Super Puzzli 2

Puzzli is a somewhat obscure match-3 style game where the player tosses fishes into a pond. Matches occur when at least 3 fish are connected and at least one fish is at the surface, or top row. The game is super cute and a fun puzzle, and it’s satisfying to get a chain combo (the fisherman spins like a top if you get a certain number of matches in a row). The water level gradually drops as you play, and if one of the columns of fishes is too long to drop, the game is over.

Puzzli hasn’t been released outside Japan. Alekmaul created a homebrew port of this game for Nintendo DS (which he says does not work with emulators) and Mega Drive (which does). The MD port isn’t quite as responsive as the original, but it provides an English-language alternative if you can’t get MAME running. The game was also ported to Colecovision by Michel Louvet for purchase, and he has since provided the source code for those who wish to compile their own ROM. For me, the colorful graphics of the arcade version are a big part of the draw, but this led me down an interesting rabbit hole of Colecovisison paid homebrews.

Puzzli 2 Super is more of the same, but with a caveman theme for some reason.