Puyo Pop Fever ships for GameCube

Sega announced the North American release of Puyo Pop Fever, the latest in the extremely prolific series of puzzle games from the company's in-house studio Sonic Team. While the game was released in Japan on all current consoles (including the Dreamcast), the stateside version of the game is available exclusively on the GameCube.

The gameplay in the latest version is similar to other iterations of the Puyo Pop series, where players line up colorful blobs, or Puyo, to make them pop. Puyo Pop Fever adds new puzzle pieces and a titular fever mode, which when unleashed, adds even more effects to the onscreen action and speeds up gameplay. While the puzzle game is designed for two-person multiplay, it also includes a lighthearted story mode, where the game's heroine Amitie battles characters in games of Puyo.

Puyo Pop Fever is rated "E" for everyone and carries a retail price of $29.95. Sega will also be releasing the game for Sony's PSP when the device launches next spring.