About Gem Fighter
A red gem lands beside another red gem. Nothing happens. That's probably the first thing to get used to in Gem Fighter: matching colours are the ingredients for an attack, but a matching crash gem is needed to set them off. Until it arrives, the pile stays put. You control the board on the left, dropping and rotating pairs while the other player works on the right.
Once a group breaks, the gems above it drop into the empty space. Put another crash gem in the right place and that drop can start a chain. It feels a little like leaving a trap for the next falling piece. Big clears put counter gems on the opponent's board, though you still have to look after your own. The match ends when one board is too full to accept a new pair.
How to play Gem Fighter
Leave yourself room to play and make the other board run out of it. A clear can remove incoming pressure as well as sending an attack across.
- Choose PLAY, then VS CPU for a solo game. The next screens ask for a difficulty and a fighter. VS PLAYER is for two people at one keyboard. CPU VS CPU runs a match you can watch.
- Move a pair before it settles. Turn it if the colours would fit better the other way round. Soft-drop gives you more time to check a placement than hard-drop.
- Group ordinary gems by colour and keep their matching crash gems accessible. A crash gem buried beneath the wrong colour won't help until you uncover it.
- Look at what will fall after a clear. Two smaller clears in succession can be more useful than waiting for one perfect block. Use REMATCH at the end if you want another round with your selection.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Player 1 movement | A and D move the pair; S soft-drops it. W or left Shift commits to a hard-drop. |
| Player 1 rotation | Z turns one way, X the other. |
| Player 2 movement | Left and right arrows move; down soft-drops. Up or Space hard-drops. |
| Player 2 rotation | Comma and period turn the pair. A solo player can use the arrow-key controls too. |
| Pause | The Menu button opens pause, restart and quit options. |
Click or tap inside the game before using the keyboard. The fullscreen button below the player gives you more room; the restart button reloads the game.
Tips for a better round
- Leave a low column somewhere. A high wall across the whole board gives you very few places to send an awkward pair.
- For a power gem, build a filled rectangle of one colour. A bent cluster with a missing corner doesn't count.
- The next-pair preview is worth a glance. It may already contain the crash gem you've been waiting for.
Questions about Gem Fighter
Where is the online mode?
There is no online lobby in this edition. VS PLAYER means local play, with both players at the same keyboard.
Do the fighters change anything?
They have different attack patterns. Start with one, learn how your clears work, then try another from character select.
Can I slow things down while learning?
VS CPU offers EASY, NORMAL and HARD. EASY is the sensible place to learn the controls; there is also a spectator mode if you want to watch first.
