Everybody makes mistakes, and, when it comes to video game journalists, we're probably at the top of that list. But with the arrival of online publishing, it's become easier than ever for us writers to issue corrections whenever we do screw up, thanks to the ability to constantly update and alter our work.
Unfortunately, though, this wasn't really the case for our predecessors working in print back in the '90s, who often had to live with their mistakes — no matter how bad or embarrassing they could be.
The reason we are saying all this is because a review of Puyo Puyo SUN for the Sega Saturn seems to be doing the rounds online again (thanks to the YouTuber Kenny Lauderdale) where the author made the strange and hilarious error of accidentally renaming the game to "Ijidkijidk SUN" after misinterpreting the Japanese hiragana for Puyo Puyo ("ぷよぷよ") for a bunch of letters from the Latin alphabet.
To give the writer the benefit of the doubt, it's easy to see how something like this could happen, as journalists often have to review things outside of their comfort zone and quickly get up to speed while staring down a tight deadline. So the writer or editor may have never heard of the other versions of Puyo Puyo and may have been operating on very little sleep. But it seems kind of bold of the person putting the finishing touches together to simply assume that they could take a look at the Japanese logo and try to pick out English characters that aren't really there like it was some sort of odd Japanese Rorschach test.
While no source for the review was originally given in the screenshot being shared around, we quickly identified it as being from the first issue of Saturn Power. This was a short-lived UK Magazine, which launched in June 1997 as a successor to Sega Power, but only lasted for 10 issues before its parent company Future Publishing pulled the plug.
The review in question was part of a small collection of import reviews — all from a single writer (who shall remain nameless) — with the game scoring a respectable 84%, despite the magazine's struggles to get its name right.
Did you read Saturn Power back in the day? Do you remember this review? Let us know in the comments!