It was created by Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, the founder of Compile, who was inspired by certain elements from the Tetris and Dr. Mario series of games.

In Single mode, the player takes on the role of Arle Nadja, a 16-year-old female spellcaster that has the pleasure of foiling the Dark Prince's plans.

Once Arle has beaten the Dark Prince, the world is saved, so she can return home.

This lets players counter opponents' attacks with chains of their own, sending any garbage blocks back to them as a result of overflow.

In endless mode, the player must continually match puyos to get the highest score they can.

[citation needed] An English-translated version of the arcade original was created and released internationally which replaces the original voice work, changes many of the characters' names, and removes the wings of the Harpies (which are called Dark Elves in the English version).

In 1994, a port to the Game Boy was developed by Winkysoft, published by Banpresto and released on July 31 under the original name.

Before the series was branded as Puyo Pop internationally, the Genesis version of the first game saw release outside Japan in 1993 as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine in North America and Europe; this version omitted the characters and setting of the original release, replacing them with characters from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series.