Suika Game / Watermelon Game

Watermelon Game

When I saw the Japanese e-shop exclusive merge game Watermelon Game going viral I decided to get in on that. You can try the comparable Suika Game in the browser, but I wanted to play it as a handheld game and unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) all the clones in the Google Play store are ad-riddled garbage and none replicate the physics just right.

This game was released in 2021 but exploded into popularity this month, sort of like Among Us blew up during the pandemic, but the developers didn’t give any indication they intend to port the game or offer an English translated version. So, I made a Japanese eshop account and bumbled my way through adding 1500¥ and here we are.

This is a 2048 merge puzzle variant but you drop fruits Tetris-style into a bucket. If a fruit lands past the brim, it’s game over. What makes it really compelling is the physics. The fruit jiggle and slide around, which can create life-saving last-minute combos, and part of the strategy is trying to anticipate when fruit might merge down the line. But the physics that make the game so fun also make it very unpredictable, because sometimes if a fruit gets tossed too high it can trigger the endgame, even though the bucket is nowhere near full. Like this:

The wildcard element is what sets this game apart from similar puzzle games.

I wasn’t sure if Donut would go for this one, but they were immediately drawn in by the cute fruit and the physics. It’s just good fun.

Spooky Game

A few days after I took the plunge, Suika Game got a surprise international release along with a spooky purple alternate theme. This game is formally in my puzzle rotation, but I have yet to beat the high score I earned the first day I played, 2700.

The unpredictable physics, which are what make the game fun, also make it difficult to implement strategies.

Many people consider a score of 3000+ as beating the game. After trying several different strategies (like stacking larger fruit up along the sides of the jar, trying to set up combos by stacking apples on pears and oranges on the apples, and working hard to avoid small fruit falling into the cracks), I reflected I achived my highest score when I used NONE of those strategies. I’ve reverted to stacking fruit in whatever ways I find most satisfying.