Tetris Attack

Tetris Attack

SNES - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Intelligent Systems Publisher Nintendo Published 1995-10-27 Platforms Game Boy, SNES Genres Active puzzle, Passive puzzle, Puzzle, Match-making Themes Cartoon Series Panel de Pon, Tetris Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Tetris Attack is an active puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, originally in Japan as Panel de Pon for the Super Famicom on 1995-10-27, and later to the SNES and Game Boy (with direct Super Game Boy support).

The original Japanese release used anime chibi girls as characters, but Nintendo made some heavy alterations to the game to re-theme it with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island characters and music for the American release. Despite its title, it has no real ties to Tetris, and Alexey Pajitnov later regretted his decision to license the Tetris name to Nintendo for the game.

Like Tetris the game has boxes in a well, however, unlike Tetris, every box is a square, they grow up from the bottom, and it's your job to swap tiles horizontally to form lines of three or more matching tiles to remove them before they fill the well, and you lose. Additional points are added for increasing the total number of matches made in a single move and making chains when they clear.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. Single player vs mode, hard difficulty.
Finished	Easy and Normal, around 2007. Hard with continues 2024-03-11.

I didn't play the game until the 2000s, but found it to be a wonderful game, and I love playing it head-to-head. I've also noticed that most people I've introduced the game to, even non-gamers, really like the game. I can beat the versus AI at hard difficulty, but with continues.

Review

9	8	8	10	10

Best Version: SNES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game looks fantastic. Wonderful cartoon artwork, bright colors, it's even fun to watch when you're not playing.
• Masaya Kuzume soundtrack is phenomenal, and the sound effects are great and help the game.
• The multiple game-play modes give the game a lot more replay value. The solo puzzle modes are reminiscent of Yoshi's Cookie.
• The story mode, though primitive as far as stories go, is still a nice way to frame the single-player versus mode.
• The AI presents a good increasingly difficult challenge as you progress. I'm actually surprised at how good it gets in later levels, beating out even skilled of players.
• Like any good action puzzle game, it's very easy to learn, but very difficult to become a master.

Bad

• I don't like the fact that Nintendo capitalized on the Tetris brand with a game that has no relation to it at all.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese Panel de Pon artwork. It depicts the game quite clearly.

• 

  All other regions use this art work. It's accurately depicts the main game, but strangely doesn't describe the Yoshi's Island tie-in.

• 

  The Game Boy release uses the same art, but you get to see more of the original piece, which I prefer.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - SNES - USA.

• 

  Manual - SNES - USA - Rev 1.

• 

  Manual - Super Famicom - Japan.

• 

  Manual - Game Boy - USA.

Screenshots

• 

  Single player modes.

• 

  Endless mode.

Videos

Regional differences.

Longplay - USA - Store mode - Hard.

Longplay - Japan - Time mode, puzzle mode, story mode.

Play Online

Game Boy, SNES (Europe), SNES (USA), Super Famicom

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	In the Japanese version, all of the main characters and the final boss are women.
Bechdel test?	Pass	In the Japanese version the women talk to each other about the game.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	By using anime style, no race is clear.
Queer character?	Unknown	I'm not sure if the Japanese version has queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Tetris Attack
Japanese	パネルでポン	Paneru de Pon	Panel de Pon

Links

           

• mobygames.com/game/panel-de-pon - MobyGames (Panel de Pon).