he objective of the game Puzzle
Fighter is to fill your opponent's side with gems/blocks. If
your side or your opponent's side becomes filled, the game
ends. There are four types of gems/blocks 
that one must become familiar with:
regular, crash, counter and crystal. The regular, crash, and
counter blocks come in 4 colors: red, green, yellow, and
blue. Regular gems are square and have a solid color. Crash
gems are round and are of a solid color. Every turn, you will
have control of a combination of either two regular, two
crash gems, or one of each. The position of these two blocks
can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise. Where the two
blocks inevitably fall is controlled by the joystick, much
like Tetris. When laying blocks, one tries to connect regular
blocks of the same color. Crash blocks have a different
function than regular blocks. Crash blocks will destroy all
regular and crash blocks that are
touching it. For example, if a red crash block touches just
one of the many regular red gems in a string of regular red
gems, than the whole string is destroyed. Also, if you lay a
blue crash gem next to a blue crash gem, both gems will be
destroyed.
What happens after you destroy some of your blocks? They are
used to attack your opponent of course. You attack your
opponent in the form of counter blocks, which were mentioned 
earlier as one of the four types of
blocks. Counter blocks have a colored number that counts down
every turn, starting from 5. Therefore, for every block that
you lay down, the number decreases by one, ie. from 5 to 4.
When the number on the counter block reaches zero, the
counter block becomes a regular gem of the same color.
Counter blocks cannot be destroyed by a crash gem of the same
color, nor any other crash gem. A counter gem, however, will
be destroyed if a regular or crash gem adjacent to it is
destroyed. Obviously, after a counter gem becomes a regular
gem, it can be destroyed in the normal manner. Depending on
which character you use, the pattern in which counter blocks
are laid on your opponent will differ.
The last gem to be mentioned is the crystal gem. This gem
appears as a multicolored diamond. It is laid like any other
block. The crystal gem will eliminate all blocks, including
crash and counter, of the color that it lands on. Therefore,
if the crystal block lands on a yellow crash, counter, or
regular gem, then all yellow crash, counter, and regular gems
will be destroyed. Be aware that the attack strength of a
crystal gem is weaker than that of using a crash gem.
There are two ways to increase attack
strength in Puzzle Fighter. The first method is to arrange
regular gems of the same color into rectangles or squares. If
you manage to do this, the individual regular gems will fuse
to create a larger gem. This larger gem is more powerful than
if the same number of regular gems were destroyed seperately.
You can continue expanding these "larger gems" even
after they have fused.
Another method is the chain attack. During the play of the
game, you can attack twice or more in one turn. If you
destroy one gem, and another crash gem that was not touching
its same color came in contact with its same color as a
result of the first reaction, you would be able to attack
twice. There would be two separate breakages in the same
turn. Of course, you can have more than 2 chains. In fact,
having three or more is not uncommon.
At your first time playing Puzzle Fighter, try an familiarize
yourself with the different types of gems, and also practice
creating the "larger gems" because they are
crucial. Chaining is a harder technique, but you can
experiment with it as well. If possible, play with a friend
who has also not played before. Most of all, have fun and
don't be discouraged.
