PlayStation Basement #67 - Poy Poy

This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on December 7th, 2019.

Hello once again, and welcome back to the PlayStation Basement. PlayStation Basement is a weekly review of games for the original PlayStation that are somewhat obscure, unusual, or unknown. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral to emphasis the review over just a number. Now, let’s go!

The holidays are approaching for people all over the world, and Thanksgiving was last week in the United States. Have you visited your family, or have they visited you? Have you had friends over or gone to someone else’s house? This is the time of year for gatherings, and today’s game is the game for that.

Poy Poy is a party/arena fighter released by Konami. The game came out in Japan and North America in 1997. In Japan it was known as Poitters’ Point. Europe saw Poy Poy in 1998. This title was developed by Konami subsidiary KCET who worked on many other games for the main company. Poy Poy takes place in some odd future where four people compete in fighting contests in which they try to knock out the other combatants by throwing random objects at them using customized gloves. Boy, is this a weird game!

Poy Poy surprisingly has basically the same cover art in all regions. The art shows three characters running away from the fourth character who is throwing a missile at them. One of the runners is holding a box. The field is a desert full of debris. The Japanese version of the art is kind of washed out. The American art is bordered heavily by black, allowing the characters to pop into the foreground. Harry, the character in the lead, seems larger in this version, the cover emphasizing an individual potential player character instead of the scene. The European art is like the Japanese version but with darker colors (though not as dark as on the American version). All of these covers are straight to the point and really have nothing to hide.

Graphically, Poy Poy is just what it looks like. Characters are very polygonal with flat shading. Objects and environments are generally the same, though some have some basic textures to show rockiness or woodgrain. The character designs are simple and odd. Each one is basically a head on a single-colored jumpsuit with gloves. The heads are pretty nice looking and extremely cartoony. The animations are actually pretty decent for what these characters are. As for the rest, there aren’t a ton of different objects or levels to see, so you ‘ll be seeing a lot of the same.

Poy Poy has a good but small selection of sounds. The musick is tuned to rock, elevator musick, and ska. The sound effects include a selection of bounces, chimes, explosions, clicks, zips, zooms, and booms. Somehow, what sounds like it would be extremely generic creates a very lively world. It sounds like a gameshow that might show the ridiculousness of modernity. The lively and campy announcer adds to this whole experience. These sounds really work towards making Poy Poy a fun game.

Gameplay is what it’s all about. Poy Poy is simple but fun, perfect for a party experience. Each match is a battle between four individuals who throw objects to deplete the health gauge of all of the other characters. There are various objects to throw (trees, rocks, missiles) depending on which stage the battle is taking place on. Each stage also has its own hazards including stomping moai heads (a Konami staple!), laser shooting robots, and a morphing dinosaur. These fights can get pretty chaotic!

Thankfully, the controls for fighting in these arenas are simple to learn. One button allows you to pick up and throw objects. Other buttons allow for jumping, ducking, and some other throws, like slamming an object right in front of you or throwing it behind you. You can also do a special move with the R1 or triangle buttons. This special throw is determined by which glove you have equipped. There are a number of different ones to unlock, upgrade, and choose between. Though there is a simple versus mode, the game also includes a single-player tournament mode that you’ll need your best gloves to compete in.

The single-player mode includes three tournaments to win. The tournaments get steadily harder, and the combatants get better and better gloves. Each glove is ranked by a level. You can upgrade gloves with money gained from tournaments (you get some cash even if you don’t win). Gloves will eventually transform into something different, but similar, if enough money is poured into them. It’s well worth it to invest, as the special moves can really improve your game. Of course, the tournaments are not all about throwing and smashing. Each tournament consists of six matches. Each match has three rounds. You are graded after each of the rounds based on how many direct hits you landed, how long you survived and with how much health, and how many white hearts you collected from crates. Crates contain other random items as well as the white hearts such as health-restoring red hearts, bombs, and speed-boosting or decreasing bonuses. It’s important to watch the whole field for treasures, hazards, and your opponents to make sure you come out on top.

Poy Poy does have some less stellar aspects. The hit detection is odd at times. Objects moving slightly (for example a rock rolling only a little bit) can sometimes count as a hit against a character. There is also no invincibility after being hit, so you can be totally wiped out in one attack if various missiles explode or objects fly into each other; attacks from some vicious gloves can also really drop you quickly. Having to upgrade gloves probably isn’t the best thing for a party atmosphere either, as you need to do some work beforehand to offer some equal capabilities to the other players. Finally, the gloves and characters could use some explanations in-game as to the nature of their abilities. Poy Poy is a wild game for a wild time, though, so I can’t fault it too much for these things.

The PlayStation didn’t have many games I would consider party games, but Poy Poy is certainly one to get if you like this kind of thing. The weird settings and aesthetics combined with the odd gameplay (something we wouldn’t see again until 2012’s When Vikings Attack on PS3) make Poy Poy a solid title. Get your multitap ready and gather some friends and family around. While the Nintendo 64 had Mario Party, Mario Kart 64, and Goldeneye 007, the PlayStation had the sci-fi slapstick of Poy Poy for better or worse.

Poy Poy receives a Good.

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