Pokemon Puzzle League

"Just Like Tetris Attack except with annoying electric rats! Sign me up, Grandma!"

Back in the day the game everybody had to have was a little Russian import known as Tetris. As with many successful games, Tetris spawned countless spin-offs and clones. Some of these games, such as Dr. Mario, were fantastic on their own while others such as Hatris held little of the enduring appeal of their predecessor. Nintendo set out to change the pattern of lackluster spin-offs with the brilliant game Tetris Attack. While it may not be quite as well known as the original Tetris or Dr. Mario, Tetris Attack had the same amount of replayability and fun as its predecessors. Now at long last Nintendo has re-released Tetris Attack in the form of Pokemon Puzzle League. Attaching a popular license to a puzzle game was a popular tactic used in the old days but will the gameplay back up the license like the Sega classic Dr. Robotnic’s Mean Bean Machine, or do we have another PacAttack on our hands?

Puzzle games such as this either succeed or fail miserably. Luckily Pokemon Puzzle League is one of the few to succeed for the most part. This is entirely due to the fact that the gameplay is ripped entirely from Tetris Attack. With that in mind, this really isn’t a new game at all, it’s more of a special edition with a few added features but for gamers out there already owning Tetris Attack, there really isn’t a reason to pick PPL up. The game play involves matching colored blocks together in order to make them disappear from the screen. It sounds simple, and for the most part it is, but there is plenty of strategy involved here. The secret to success in this game is creating combos or chains. This requires a lot more strategy than is usually required in a game like this but don’t expect to be able to take your time planning a strategy, this game is as fast paced as they come. The game features the traditional Tournament, endless, timed, and line clearing (named “Spa Service” for some reason or another) modes as well as a puzzle mode called “Puzzle University”. In this mode you must solve a set of puzzles, and once a series is completed, you receive a diploma (man, I wish real college was like this…). The only entirely new mode is the 3D mode which isn’t a big deal really, but it’s still a welcome addition, and marks the only significant addition to the original formula.

How the game rates in the graphics category depends almost entirely on each individual gamer’s taste. Personally, I don’t like Pokemon, therefore all of the cuddly smiling characters and yellow electric rats, tend to make me yearn for the days of Tetris Attack (which had plenty of cuddly smiling characters, but no electric rats to speak of.) If you do like Pokemon, however, then this game does a great job of replicating the look of the cartoon by packing every screen full of crystal clear images straight from the show. If you’re used to fancy polygons then this game may be a shock to you with it’s fairly simple 2D graphics (except in the 3D mode obviously). Overall, the visuals here get the job done perfectly fine and deliver some of the sharpest 2D visuals available on the N64.

Now for the sound. In a word: Ugh. Remember how the music in Tetris (which was fantastic, by the way) got more strenuous when you were about to lose? Well at least this feature made it into PPL but the music is so crummy in the first place it doesn’t really matter. Most gamers still remember the tunes from Tetris to this day, but PPL’s music is just lame. And maybe I’m nitpicking but the transition from calm music to fast music sounds incredibly unnatural. As for the voices, all the sound effects sound like they’re straight from the show which depending on if you’re a pokefreak or not, will either increase your enjoyment of the experience or make you want to chuck the cartridge out the window. All the little animal’s noises repeat enough on their own but what’s worse are the character voices that taunt you during matches, often repeating the same phrase a dozen times during a match. This will drive even the biggest pokemon fans insane with rage.

Gameplay is where PPL shines. It’s hard to go wrong with Tetris Attack and as stated before, that’s all PPL really is. Fast paced action/puzzle games like this haven’t been done this well in quite a while and any gamer who enjoys this type of game will definately enjoy this. The game has replay value in the form of all the different modes, as well as the fun multiplayer game that serves as a great break from long carnage-filled Perfect Dark sessions. Some people may squirm at paying full price for a game of this style so give it a rent first (even if the guy at the counter does call you a lamer) or better yet find a used copy of Tetris Attack for exactly the same amount of fun sans Pokemon. Overall, Nintendo should be commended as making someone like me enjoy a Pokemon game is quite a feat indeed.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/00, Updated 06/14/01