Pokémon Puzzle League

Pokemon Puzzle League is really just a revamped version of Tetris Attack with a Pokemon theme. The game is challenging and is about raising multicolored blocks. To clear the blocks you must align 3 of the game colors, needless to say, the more blocks you clear, the bigger the bonus. The game has a 2 player mode with garbage. When my sister and I play 2 player versus, our games last for over 6 minutes. It's an intense game that has been played by my 8 year old sister to my 50 year old Mom. The Pokemon theme takes characters from Pokemon Blue/Red/Green/Yellow as well from the animated series. There's also some voice work, mainly taunts when clearing lines. The voices are provided by the same people from the cartoon series. 9/10

This is the Nintendo 64 remake of the always excellent and perennially poorly marketed game originally known as Panel De Pon, but known more popularly as Tetris Attack (and, no, it has nothing to do with Tetris).

The difference? Tetris Attack made rather poor use of a completely irrelevant Yoshi franchise in order to spur interest in this very intense, demanding puzzle game. Pokemon Puzzle League makes very good use of the Pokemon franchise in order to do the same thing. The cutscenes are great, the sound effects are classy and well-integrated into the gameplay, and the game graphics not only feature all the iconic Pokemon the kiddies know and love, but sport a head-to-toe Pokemon "feel," recreating the distinctive use of color and shape that has made the TV show immediately recognizeable.

Be warned, though. This game is very difficult. My little sister got it for her birthday, and, upon bringing it to me so we could play it together, found it to be too much for her. This is the ultimate twitch-puzzle; sliding the blocks around looking for matches of three that fall into place, forming "combos" and "chains" that can be over ten moves coming is hard enough, but doing it in real-time can be overwhelming.

You'd expect me to say that the Pokemon franchise doesn't change the fact that the game is out of reach of most players, but it actually does. There's something about the hilariously simplistic voice samples (Pokemon can speak, but they can only repeat their own names) that turns the frenzy of this game away from "maddening" and toward "madcap." And there are all sorts of bells and whistles to make you feel good about yourself; a "combo" causes your "character" to utter some trademark one-liner or other, and a "chain" causes your "Pokemon" to shout in triumph in increasing ecstasy, culminating in a trumpet fanfare for exceptional plays. It all just makes you smile, and that's a good thing, because that is what games are supposed to do.

All in all, I'd say this is a soundly above-average puzzle game, with more to recommend itself in terms of Look & Feel than Dr. Mario 64. So, if you're digging through the Funcoland shelves looking to fill out your N64 collection, give this one a try. Nobody ought to be selling it for a very high price these days.

This game is, put simply, fun. The goal of the game is to swap pieces on the screen with each other to line up sets of three or more pieces of the same color to remove them. It sounds simple, but it really isn't. The only way to do well is to master either combos (clearing sets of more than 3) or chains (clearing one set such that gravity pulls down another set immediately after), or both. This, combined with the constant lines of new pieces rising from the bottom can create a peaceful low speed game, or a frantic high speed game, depending on what level you're playing at. What's more, there is a cylindrical "3D mode" which gives the player more playing area to work with, and more tiles to keep from rising to the top of the screen. Also, there is a VS mode where the player can make combos and chains to drop "garbage" on their opponent's play area so that his pieces rise to the top first.

One thing that makes this game unique is the anime cut-scene intro. Even though I'm not a fan of the Pokémon TV series that this intro is based on, it's a pretty cool trick on the N64, considering that the cartridge didn't have nearly as much room for movies as a CD based format such as the Playstation.

The graphics in this game are nice to look at, for the most part, and the game doesn't suffer from any noticeable slowdown unless it is being played in 3D mode VS with a lot going on at once on the screen. The sound effects exist, but won't grate on your nerves, except for the voice-overs, which will probably convince you to mute your TV. The music is mostly variants on songs from the TV show, and are kind of a mixed bag. Some songs will drive you bonkers, while other songs can be nice to listen to while playing the game.

Overall, this game is a pretty cool game, and only loses points in my opinion because of the Pokémon theme to it. If you don't already have Tetris Attack or Panel de Pon for the SNES, or the themeless Puzzle League for the GBA, I'd suggest you give it a go. Since it's the only version with a 3D mode, you might want to try it anyway.

9/10

Pokémon Puzzle League doesn't utilize the N64's capabilities very much, but it's fun nonetheless. Besides, video games are about fun, not the technology behind them.

The story is pretty bland, but most video games don't have very gripping storylines. Ash, the hero of the Pokémon anime series, is selected to compete in a special Puzzle League tournament. Lots of trainers are showing up for the event. Some are characters who only appear in the anime, while others, such as Gym Leaders, are from both the video games and the anime. Ash must defeat all of these challengers in puzzle matches to reach the final foe... well, you'll just have to see for yourself who this last character is!

If you've ever played Panel De Pon/Tetris Attack, this game needs no introduction. Your playing field is a rectangular pile of multicolored blocks, and the pile is constantly growing higher and adding new blocks to the area. You control a horizontal cursor which can switch two blocks that are next to each other. You earn points by creating horizontal and/or vertical "combos" of three or more blocks that are the same color. By switching blocks quickly so that falling blocks create new combos, you can make a "chain", which gives you more points and also dumps garbage pieces on opponents. These garbage pieces hinder your opponent's progress, but remember, they can (and will) do the same to you. If your stack of blocks goes way over the top, you lose.

As aforementioned, not much has changed about the gameplay, except for one thing: 3D mode. In this mode, you have a big cylinder of blocks to work with instead of your normal 2D playing field. It keeps you on your toes, but with more blocks also come more chances for combos and chains.

And of course, there's the Puzzle mode, in which you must clear a preset array of blocks in a limited amount of turns. It starts out simple, then gets so difficult that it makes you create combos in very weird ways. There are lots of levels, so it will definitely keep you busy.

All in all, PPL is an excellent and thoroughly addictive puzzle game, and you don't even need to be a Pokémon fan to enjoy it. The one-player mode is a bit short, but the frantic multiplayer experience is right up there with puzzlers such as Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Bust-A-Move, and Dr. Mario. 9/10