Teki Paki

Home console conversions of the game, as well as a sequel for arcades were planned and under development, but neither project were ultimately released to the public for unknown reasons.

• Title — Teki Paki • Developer — Toaplan • Composer — Tomoaki Takanohashi • Platforms — Arcade • Released — April 1991 • Genre — Puzzle • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot Teki Paki is a falling block puzzle game reminiscent of Puyo Puyo and Tetris, where the players' objective is to compete for the highest possible score by stacking up incoming block pieces that fall from the top of the playfield as a group of three, while avoiding to completely fill the screen with block pieces but failing to do so after they are unable to enter and fill the screen results in a game over, unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. During gameplay, three square blocks of random colors (red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, silver and gold) are dropped and these blocks can be arranged either vertically, horizontally or diagonally to make them disappear after five or more blocks are connected, while more blocks can be added before disappearing. By dropping the block pieces on top of another group placed in the playfield, one of the pieces is unlocked and players can maneuver this sole piece to fill spaces and aim for a chain erase. When five block pieces are connected, the game enters a new level and each one causes the block pieces to fall faster, with the highest level being 999. There are also two additional special blocks that appear on random occasions; the "Smiley" blocks connects with all the blocks on-screen and the "Bakudan" dynamite that erases all the blocks as well, in addition of granting a 100000-point bonus if players are successful in connecting five of them. The game hosts a number of hidden bonus secrets to be found, which is also crucial for reaching high-scores.

Teki Pakis development process and history have been recounted between 2011 and 2012 by former Toaplan composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura through Japanese publications such as Shooting Gameside. Uemura stated that the project was made "as a puzzle game with the intensity of shooting games". Yuge said that Tomoaki Takanohashi was originally recruited for sound design but he was initially instructed with learning about programming and although Takanohashi disliked this part of his assignment, he served as one of the project's programmers. Takanohashi was also responsible for writing the soundtrack and after listening to his work, Yuge realized that his talents would diminish if he continued programming and the company let Takanohashi focus on the sound instead later during development. Teki Paki was released in arcades worldwide in April 1991 by Tecmo, Honest Trading Co. and Spacy Co. Ltd. The game was first playable during a location test in Japan prior to release and showcased various differences compared to the final version such as the Smiley block piece being a sphere instead of its final form, with Yuge claiming that this early incarnation of the aforementioned block piece was a placeholder and the team already decided to change it before release. Uemura said that the title proved to the popular at the company, with one employee in particular playing it constantly. In September 1991, an album containing music from the title and Vimana was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Canyon, featuring an arranged song from the latter composed by Toshiaki Tomizawa. A Sega Mega Drive conversion of Teki Paki was announced to be under development by Toaplan and previewed in late 1992 through multiple screenshots on video game magazines such as Beep! MegaDrive, but the conversion was never released for unknown reasons and the only remaining proofs of its existence besides screenshots are a promotional flyer as well as a promotional recording featuring the only known gameplay footage of this version. In 2021, the game was included in the Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli compilation for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of M2's Toaplan Arcade Garage label, and as a free download for the physical versions, featuring several additions exclusive in the collection. Teki Paki was included as part of the Toaplan Arcade 1 compilation for Evercade.