To eliminate the blocks, you need to cover them with a block which would beat them in a game of Paper Scissors Rock. For example, to destroy paper, you cover it with scissors, and to destroy scissors, you cover it with a rock.

All blocks obey gravity, so in the scenario shown to the right, the rock block would fall and destroy the scissors block, and at the same time, the scissors block to the right would destroy the paper block beneath it, and continue falling, and destroy the rest of the paper blocks in succession. The empty spherical blocks are eliminated in a different way: If any hand-shaped block being eliminated is in the same row, column, or diagonal as an empty spherical block, and the only blocks between the hand-block and the empty block are other empty blocks, that blank block is destroyed. For example, as the scissor to the right fell and destroyed the paper blocks beneath it, all of the blank blocks on the board would be destroyed as well. Purple spherical blocks are the same as green ones, except that purple ones can not be eliminated in diagonals.

Alternatively, if any 6 identical blocks are in the same horizontal or diagonal row on the board, those blocks are all destroyed. It all sounds very complicated, but it is much easier to understand when you are actually playing.

First of all is the bucket of water. For those not familiar with the Ranma series, the plot is that all of the main characters except Akane fell into some magical pools of water, and as a result, whenever they are splashed with water, they change form. Ranma turns into a girl, Genma turns into a panda bear, Shampoo turns into a kitty cat. In Ranma Puzzle, you can hit the Y button to use a bucket of water. You drop it on any block on the board, and all of the blocks of that type vanish (yes, even blank blocks) and your opponent is transformed. Generally, people in their transformed states are slower, and have lower offense, but have higher defense.

In the picture to the right, the player pictured has just received over 100 blocks of garbage, which is most of the purple blocks and the hand blocks which are near the top. You can see that at the end, only about 12 blocks remain, because almost all of the blank blocks destroy themselves. It is this random aspect of garbage which keeps Ranma Puzzle off of my list of favorite puzzle-fighting games.

Remember that it's OK to have a few air bubbles in the middle of a big combo - For example, the scissors in the scenario to the left will all be destroyed if a rock is dropped on them, because as the top scissor is destroyed, for example, the two air bubbles beneath it (as well as the air bubble to the right of it) will be destroyed because they are in the same column (and row) as it.

Try not to drop blank bubbles on top of columns which you plan on destroying, as this makes them very difficult to destroy! For example, you can see on the right that the three rock blocks are easy to destroy, but the the two paper blocks can't be destroyed, because the blank bubble is occupying the square where a scissor would need to land. If I wanted to destroy the paper blocks, I would need to put a paper block on top of the blank bubble, and then put a scissor on top of the whole thing.

It's an extremely good idea to stretch your combos so they go all the way to the top of your screen. If you don't go all the way, then your opponent might drop a garbage block on top of a combo-column, which is extremely bad, as I have already explained.

If your stack reaches the top, and you're about to die, don't forget to use your bucket of water. You can drop the bucket on a blank block, which will destroy most of the garbage on the screen, and keep your opponent from attacking you for a while.

If you line up 6 identical hand blocks in the same row or diagonal, they all disappear and you get an extra bucket of water. Try to get this to happen early on in the game, before your screen gets too cluttered.

Remember which character you are playing as, and play with a strategy which suits them! Mousuu will not send any garbage unless he eliminates 6 or more blocks in the same combo, so try and go for huge combos with Mousuu. On the other hand, Shampoo does the best when she is eliminating small amounts of garbage, so don't try to set up large combos so much with Shampoo.

Getting 6 hand blocks in a row horizontally or diagonally eliminates the hand blocks, sends about 20 garbage, and gives you an extra bucket of water! These extra buckets of water last until you use them. So if you earn 3 extra buckets of water your first round against a person, and don't use any, you will start the next round with 4 buckets of water.

There is a large variety of characters, all of which play very differently. Genma has a very high offense, but is extremely slow, and his combos, even after they are set up, will sometimes take 6 or 7 seconds to set off. Shampoo and Mousuu, on the other hand, are extremely quick, and combos will never take more than a split second to set off, but their defense is lower. The characters are well balanced and still very different.

However, the garbage sending is completely random. Setting up combos takes skill, but after you send your opponent 100+ garbage, it happens much too often that all but 12 blocks of that garbage line up and get destroyed randomly. Puyo Puyo and Tetris Attacks drop special garbage blocks which can not line up with regular blocks - I think this game needed something similar. Still, it's a fun game, and because of the random aspect of garbage, even a beginner player can take on an advanced player and beat them. If you can find a copy, I would say it's worth buying. Click on the sweaty panda to go back to my main puzzle fighting page.