A series of 4'-tolylterpyridyl platinum(II) complexes with different arylacetylide ligands, namely, phenylacetylide, 4-bromophenylacetylicle, 4-nitrophenylacetylide, 4-methoxyphenylacetylide, 4-dimethylaminophenylacetylide, 1-naphthylacetylide, and 3-quinolinylacetylide, were synthesized. Their photophysical properties, such as electronic absorption spectra, emission characteristics at room temperature and 77 K, and transient difference absorption spectra, have been investigated. All of these complexes exhibit a metal-to-ligand charge-transfer ((MLCT)-M-1) transition at ca. 420430 nm in their electronic absorption spectra. For ttpy-Ph, ttPY-C6H4Br-4, ttPY-C6H4OCH3-4, ttPY-C6H4N(CH3)(2)-4, and ttpy-Np, an additional solvatochromic charge-transfer band appears at ca. 460-540 nm. This band is sensitive to the para substituents on the phenylacetylide ligand and is tentatively assigned to a metal- or/and acetylide-to-terpyridyl charge-transfer transition (i.e., a (MLCT)-M-1 or/and (LLCT)-L-1 transition). All of the complexes exhibit room-temperature phosphorescence, The emission can be attributed to a (MLCT)-M-3 state except for ttpy-C6H4NO2-4, for which the emission likely originates from an intraligand (3)pi, pi* state involving the nitrophenylacetylide ligand. For ttpy-C6H4OCH3-4, ttPY-C6H4N(CH3)(2)-4, and ttpy-Np, there probably is more than one low-energy state in close energy proximity, resulting in multiple exponential decays. In addition, the triplet transient absorption difference spectra of ttpy-Ph, ttPY-C6H4Br-4, ttPY-C6H4NO2-4, and ttpy-Quin exhibit moderately intense, broad absorption bands in the visible region and extending into the near-IR region, which likely originate from the same excited state that emits or from a state that is in equilibrium with the emitting state. It appears that the electron-rich arylacetylide ligands, especially 4-methoxyphenylacetylide and 4-dimethylaminophenylacetylide, cause a decrease of the emission efficiency and disappearance of the transient absorption. In contrast, the complexes that exhibit positive absorption bands in the visible spectral region of the triplet transient difference absorption spectra show substantial optical limiting for nanosecond laser pulses at 532 nm.