Suika is the puzzle gift that keeps on giving. The viral Watermelon Game that launched a thousand non-Switch-exclusive clones has added another promising offering to its line-up of Suika-like twists on the simple fruit-merging game.
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Developer Zankai’s Suika Shapes swaps out fruit for the polygonal comforts of squares, hexagons, pentagons and more awkward shapes such as zig-zagging Tetrimino-like L, W and T-pieces. There are over 19 different shapes in all, getting as wild as teardrops, hearts (added for Valentine’s Day) and double diamonds.
The aim is otherwise the same, as two shapes of the same colour will join together into a bigger piece, making it trickier to cram all your pieces into the frame without spilling over the top and losing. Manage to merge enough shapes together, though, and you’ll achieve the perfection of making a watermelon.
Suika Shapes mixes up the basic mode with modifiers that allow you to swap your current shape with whatever’s next in the queue – like holding a piece in Tetris – making the pieces extra slippery or bouncy, lowering gravity, and letting you charge up the shape before you drop it to fire it with extra force into the frame.
The modifiers join five variant modes on top of the standard suika, including a race against a rising floor, transforming shapes, a slower increase in size for marathon games, a map with a spinning wheel in the middle and a stage with awkward pins that pop out each time you drop a shape.
Best of all, in my opinion, is the addition of both online and local multiplayer co-op, letting two players drop shapes in each half of a super-sized frame.
Suika Shapes packs a lot onto the basic Watermelon Game, and only costs £3 or so over on Steam if you’re looking for a new way to lose a lot of hours again – this time, with a friend!