Tucked near the Pictochat stage of Nintendo World Touch! DS, with its blaring manzai act and hastily scribbled notes, was a rather ugly puzzle game from a new game developer whose name would draw blank stares from all but the most hardcore.　The game, Meteos, comes via a collaboration by Q? Entertainment founder/producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi and features design by ex-Kirby/Smash Bros. designer Masahiro Sakurai. The talent this duo lends gives Meteos the potential to be one of the most enthralling multiplayer puzzle games of all time. After spending 20 minutes playing the game and another 15 speaking with one of the designers from Q? Entertainment, Meteos is definitely the best puzzler in the works for the Nintendo DS.

Every game needs a story, and Meteos is no exception. Meteors of unknown origin are bombarding the planet, and the DS stylus is the only weapon between you and planetary destruction. The top screen shows four planets (the closest to the touch pad representing the player) and a silhouette of their current game board, while the bottom screen contains the game screen itself, along with a score an information bar, score, and player avatar. The puzzle board has 10 columns that are filled with multicolor blocks that streak down from the top of the screen like meteors.

The player has no control over where these pieces fall, but by using the stylus, is able to control their position vertically in the column. The simple goal is to create a line of three, either vertically or horizontally; however, as with any great puzzle game, it is much deeper than that. Each different colored block has a different propulsion rating, so depending on the number above blocks above your created line, it is possible that you just wont have the juice to lift them above the red line at the top of the screen signifying their return to space.

Going even deeper, points are rewarded proportional to the number of blocks you send back into space, meaning the staggering lines to increase thrust and points. One particularly adept gamer at Touch! DS Osaka was clearing the screen consistently and scoring well above 30000 points on the 5-minute time attack, while most others were scoring one tenth of that. The L and R buttons can also be used to control the speed of the pieces falling, since jetting the meteors back into space as quickly as possible will play a key component in single player as well as multiplayer. The 30000+-point scorer was playing at a much higher speed than most, enabling him to make the staggered combos needed to clear the whole screen. Adding to the depth is the variety of different pieces, including time bomb meteors and other special blocks. While the graphics may be under whelming, the key here is the gameplay, and the level of depth found in single player is only surpassed by the prospects for multiplayer.

What is most exciting about Meteos is the multiplayer mode, of which little was known until now. A full explanation was gleamed off a friendly Q? Entertainment employee. Supporting up to four players, Meteos' multiplayer mode is best described as a fighting puzzle game. On the left hand side of the touch panel, the names and color representations of the 3 other planets on the top screen are selectable, enabling you to aim the blocks you are sending back to space towards one of your opponents. Sit and ponder this for a second. Multiplayer Meteos will be a game of ganging up and shifting alliances, where paying attention to the speed of your board, the condition of your opponents, and your current target are all critical to success. Helping in this is the fact that each planet is represented by different shaped blocks (the colors are the same) and a dancing Meteo avatar who bops along to the rather excellent disco inspired sound track. You will also know who is firing at you by watching the top screen, where meteors propelled into space are tracked towards the target and result in rather satisfying aural and visual explosions. Another bit of new info is that Q? Entertainment plans on including single cart wireless multiplayer, which may do wonders in bringing the excellent Meteos experience to others.

At only 50% complete, there is still time for the team at Q? to add more polish and surprises; yet, even if it were released today, the game would probably become a favorite (in a tight battle with Kimi No Tame Nara Shineru) of those who are clued in enough to purchase a game that does little to show off the graphics capabilities of their new toy. To say I am excited about Meteos is an understatement, and along with Q? Entertainment's also excellent PSP puzzler Lumines, this new company is well on its way to becoming kings of the next-gen handheld puzzler. My only regret is that I didn’t have a chance to get knee deep in multiplayer as it was unavailable at the Touch! DS show floor.

-JP Kellams
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