The company behind the EGGCONSOLE series of retro reissues, D4 Enterprise, has revealed it will be reissuing Compile's MSX2 action puzzler Carbuncle Pi (かーばんくるぴ) on Nintendo Switch. The game will be released on December 25th (in other words, Christmas Day), and will cost $6.49 on the Nintendo Switch eShop.
Carbuncle Pi, as noted in the announcement, is a Puyo Puyo- themed variant of Nyanpi (にゃんぴ)— a title which was originally released as part of Compile's Disc Station DX 3 disc mag in 1990. It was released in 1991, as part of Disc Station #24, and swaps the cat protagonist of the original game for Carbuncle, the Compile mascot, who is a character that appears extensively across both the Puyo Puyo and Madou Monogatari series.
Much like the original game it is a reskin of, the objective here is to pop several balloons to reach the end of the stage. But whereas, in the original, the exit of each level is marked by a trash can, in the new version, this has been humorously swapped out for Carbuncle's friend, the spellcasting warrior Arle Nadja.
We first came across the news on social media, thanks to Gosokkyu, who noted that D4 Enterprise actually released an expanded version of Nyanpi in the past, likely referring to the Nyanpi Collection (released for MSX2 and Windows in 2021 as part of Project EGG). This is a version of the game that contained over 200 additional levels taken from other Disk Station releases and an editing function to make your own levels, and is currently unavailable as part of the EGGCONSOLE series on Switch.
As a result, this release could potentially be a sign of things to come for the service, or perhaps, we're all just reading too much into it, and the company just wanted to release something Puyo Puyo-related to gain some attention. Only time will tell.
Alongside the announcement, D4 Enterprise released a short description of the title, which you can read below:
"This game is a Carbuncle version of "Nyanpi," an action puzzle game featuring a cat as the main character that was included in "Disk Station #24" released by Compile in 1991. Players control Carbuncle to collect all the gems placed on the map and reach the girl to reach the goal and proceed to the next stage.
"The rules of the game are quite simple, but mastering it requires a bit of skill. Consider your jumping ability and route, and sometimes use gems as footholds... Control Carbuncle carefully!
"There is no time limit, and you can start over as many times as you like, so you can sit back and enjoy this game at your own pace. Puzzle game fans will definitely want to complete all 20 rounds."