PixlBit

A game that puzzle fans and Pokemon fans alike can get caught up in. 

In 1995, a puzzle game called Panel de Pon was released in Japan. It was a different kind of puzzle game, unique for its matching of colored blocks and the ability to produce chains and give garbage to opponents. It was released in America in 1996 as Tetris Attack, starring Yoshi and the characters from Yoshi's Island (they knew that Americans wouldn't be too excited for all those sissy fairies). 

Pokemon Puzzle League is the same kind of puzzle game, only better. It was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, releasing for the N64 in 2000. The game is unique in that it stars the characters from the Pokemon anime, something that no other Pokemon game has ever done. There are 16 characters in all, complete with the voice actors from the series lending their voices. 

Personally, I'm usually not a big fan of puzzle games, but this one is an exception since we had Tetris Attack when I was a kid, and my brothers and I would play that game all the time. I grew to enjoy the game, so when PPL came out, my oldest brother bought it right away, and we loved it! This was when I really honed my puzzle skills! Let me just say, this is a game of skill; some luck is involved, but it's mostly skill. The game forces you to think and focus, and by the end, you may very well be exhausted. 

If you're not familiar with this kind of puzzle game, let me explain the basics to you. As you can see from the snapshots, you have a wall of assorted blocks. Your goal is to match the same colored blocks with each other; you can match sets of three or higher. If you match a set of four or higher, you will give garbage to your opponent (which are long pieces of, um, concrete?). But the most important feature of the game is chains; chains occur when blocks fall into place and produce matches as they are falling. You want to produce the largest chain possible because then your opponent will receive a huge block of garbage and it will take a long time to get rid of it. You want to keep piling on the garbage until your opponent is literally crushed (you lose once you hit the top of the screen). The neat thing about PPL is that when you produce a chain, your Pokemon speaks, so you know it's a chain. 

PPL has a great story mode. Well, the story is pretty typical. Ash wants to become the Pokemon Puzzle Master, so he enrolls in the puzzle league. You'll face all the familiar characters of the anime, including Gary, Misty, Brock, Team Rocket, Tracey, Bruno, and a whole lot more. You only have to beat an opponent once to move on. Each character has three different Pokemon. Before you battle, you choose which Pokemon to use; Ash has Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. At first, the story mode has three difficulties; after you beat Hard, Very Hard opens, and after you beat that, Super Hard opens. 

Think you're an expert at this game? Very Hard and Super Hard are. . . really hard! The opponents will produce crazy chains seemingly out of thin air! Luckily, you have unlimited continues; after you lose, the number of continues you've used are in the top right corner. In Super Hard, my brothers and I all used 99 continues or more (it stops counting at 99). That's how insane the difficulty is! Yet it's also addicting, so you keep trying again and again. One thing I noticed was that after you've lost to a certain opponent several times, like 10 times, that opponent will suddenly be defeated very quickly. It's like the programmers said, "Y'know, this guy is really hard, so let's have him die quickly after they've lost to him 10 times." That's actually kind of nice. 

With the difficulty so insane, defeating opponents in Super Hard mode is so satisfying. This game is so intense! One slight mistep could lose the match for you. Reflexes are key in producing huge chains. Complete focus and attention are necessary if you want to make it to the end. I mean, seriously, this game is exhausting! I was playing it late at night, and I was getting really tired. By the time I stopped, I had no problem sleeping. And this game also literally sticks with you; if you play long enough and close your eyes, you will see blocks in your head! I'm serous, it's the wierdest thing! 

On Very Hard and Super Hard you get to fight the "Puzzle Master," and guess who it is? It's Mewtwo! Awesome final battle! Calm and collected, Mewtwo spews out "I'm going to win" and "Fool!" during the match. Sadly, he's not a playable character. But should you lose to him on Super Hard, you will have to go back and beat your last opponent before fighting him again; that's insane! But I love it anyways. 

The characters are great, except for the fact that most of them spout off the most cliched lines in history: "We did it!" or "We won!" is said by nearly all the characters upon winning. Not very original. But some of the lines are great, such as when James (Team Rocket) says, "I'm feeling giddy!" or when Giovanni says, "You're wasting my time!" I enjoy listening to the Pokemon, and you know a huge pile of garbage is preparing to land on you when the opponent's Pokemon is going crazy on the other side. 

PPL's unique feature that was not in Tetris Attack is the 3D mode, in which you have a pile of blocks that rotate all the way around. This is more difficult because you have to keep all the sides from reaching the top of the screen. This is the only time when the game really slows down due to all the chaos happening onscreen. But it's a really neat feature (personally, though, I prefer the 2D game). 

2 player mode is tons of fun when you're playing with a friend of equal skill. The large cast of characters is a major plus so you don't hear the same people over and over. When battling in multiplayer, you will have to win three times in order to win the round; that is, you have to defeat all three of their Pokemon. Wow! It's so much fun! 

PPL has tons of content. So far I've only mentioned the story and 2 player mode. But there is all kinds of stuff to do in this game. Pokemon Center will let you look at records, profiles, game options, and sound options. Puzzle University will give you basic puzzles to master in a number of moves; it also allows you to make your own puzzles. Marathon challenges you to see how long you can go without dying. Professor Oak's Lab teachs you how to play. Spa Service gives you challenges to clear as many blocks as possible before advancing. Time Zone challenges you to clear as much as possible in a certain amount of time. And Mimic Mansion shows you how to do combos, chains, skill chains, and time lag chains. So as you can see, this game offers plenty that will keep you busy. The replay value is tremendous. 

One final thing, and that is the music. PPL has great themes for each character, and you won't mind listening to them while you play. When the blocks start getting high on either side, the music will change to become more intense. It doesn't just speed up, it changes, and this adds to the game's intensity. There's lots of great themes; be sure to listen to the ones I've posted below. 

Final Verdict--4.5 Stars: Highly Recommended

With tons of content, great characters, and amazing reply value, PPL is a game you don't want to miss if you're a puzzle fan. I'm still coming back to it 13 years later because its fun to pick up and play every now and then. Good news! It's available on the Wii Virtual Console, and it's worth the money to download it, so check it out if you're able to. This game is fun, intense, and exhausting; it's a game that takes serious skill and thinking (and how many games actually do that?). It's easily the best puzzle game on the Nintendo 64. 

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.