Ryougae Puzzle Game Moudjiya

This arcade puzzler is extremely similar in concept (and execution) to Money Puzzle Exchanger on the Neo Geo MVS. Indeed so similar that FACE (the developer for MPE) was sued by Data East, who owned the rights to Moudjiya (developed by FPS in 1995 and released in arcades in 1996). This contributed to their descent into nothingness.

The major difference between the two is that In Money Puzzle Exchanger, you're shooting money 'upwards' a-là 'Magical Drop'. With this, it descends in a more traditional manner (like Tetris, puyo-puyo etc.).

But there are other gameplay mechanics which differ; for example, you can get an 'upgrade' drop, which upgrades whatever it touches (good for setting up chains / fixing some issues). This drops when you complete your 'cat shaped' meter in toward the bottom of the screen.

It's filled to the brim with extremely cute renditions (in a nostalgic '90's Japan way) of family member tropes in cat form. You'll see drunken grandpa's or uncle's, cute schoolgirl cats etc.) all of which have some nice animations.

The money is in Japanese ¥ denominations, so you have to create clusters of 5 or 2 (i.e; 2 x '50' for them to transform into 100, then 5x100 to get to 500, they disappear when you make a 1000¥ note.). Coins (¥) available are 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500.

Chaining will punish your CPU or human opponent with little blocking pieces (carried by a little thief-styled cat). If you see him coming toward your side, you can try to counter and send him back (similar to countering in twinkle star sprites).

Once your brain gets used to the coin shuffling mechanic, it becomes a pretty manic little game that has a ton of fun modes.

Highly recommended, but very tough in difficulty.