Tetris Attack
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Tetris Attack is a cartridge video game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America and Europe. It is a puzzle game in which players try to keep a rising stack of colored tiles from reaching the top of the screen.
Tetris Attack first existed as a Japanese video game called Panel de Pon (sometimes referred to as Paneru De Pon), which was released for the Nintendo Super Famicom, the Japanese equivalent of the SNES. Tetris Attack is virtually identical to Panel De Pon aside from character substitutions and some minor differences in graphics and game music (see Differences from Panel De Pon).
A version of Tetris Attack was also released for the Nintendo Game Boy, with grey-scale colors, a smaller on-screen play field, and slower overall speed, making it far less playable than the SNES version. Tetris Attack was made available in Japan via the Satellaview attachment to the Super Famicom, as Yoshi-no Panepon. Since Tetris Attack, there have been many updated versions of the game released for newer systems than the SNES (see Newer Versions).
Newer Versions
Tetris Attack was first released in 1996. It was updated for the Nintendo 64 console and rebranded as Pokémon Puzzle League (PPL). PPL was not a direct port of Tetris Attack; it included many changes and new features along with the Pokémon characters that replaced Yoshi and friends. PPL added a training mode, a puzzle editor, and a 3-D game mode that takes place in a cylindrical playing field three times the width of the 2-D board. It also had smoother game play and smarter computer opponents than Tetris Attack.In tandem with Pokémon Puzzle League, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge was released for the Nintendo Game Boy Color. PPC dropped the puzzle editor and 3-D mode but had a new game mode of its own, Garbage mode, which was basically Marathon mode with the addition of garbage blocks that periodically fall onto the stack. Whereas Pokémon Puzzle League added several new features, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge was essentially Tetris Attack covered with Pokémon wallpaper. An additional difficulty level, "Intense" mode, was added for Pokémon Puzzle Challenge.
Panel De Pon, the predecessor to Tetris Attack, has been remade for GameCube as a component of Nintendo Puzzle Collection released in Japan in 2003, receiving a graphical and audio facelift along with a new four-player competitive mode. It is unknown whether the Yoshi's Island infusion would have been applied to Panel De Pon for a North American release like it was applied to the SNES version, since the game's release in North America was quietly cancelled.
Panel De Pon is also available in the Game Boy Advance title Dr. Mario & Panel De Pon, released in Japan in 2005. This title has also been released in North America as Dr. Mario & Puzzle League. Both the Japanese and North American releases feature generic backgrounds, with characters and story mode completely removed, making it the first time the game has been released on its own merit, without the infusion of cartoon characters from one source or another.
Story
(Warning Contains Spoilers)
It all begins at peaceful Yoshi's island, where all is well. Until one day, Bowser and his Minions showed up and planted curses on all of Yoshi's friends, except Yoshi and Little Yoshi. They now have to Battle their friends in order to save them from the evil force. After rescuing all of his friends, Yoshi and Little Yoshi prepare to brave mt. wicked, all of his friends decide to lend a hand.
Upon entering, they are greeted by Bowser's cronies (Hookbill Koopa, Naval Piranha and Kamek). They all challenge Yoshi and his Friends but are defeated by them. Yoshi and his friends now encounter Bowser at the base of the mountain. Bowser doesn't think Yoshi and his friends stand a chance of winning but challenges them anyway.
Yoshi and his friends defeat Bowser and free the island from his evilness, then peace returns to Yoshi's island as Yoshi and his friends return to their natural environments. Anytime Bowser attacks the island, Yoshi can always count on his pals.
(Spoilers end here)
Gameplay
In Tetris Attack, a cursor is used to move tiles. The cursor can be positioned anywhere within the playing field, a 6 x 12 grid. When the action button is pressed, the two tiles beneath the cursor will exchange position, i.e. they are "swapped" or "flipped".When three or more tiles of the same color are lined up in a row or column (not diagonally), they light up and subsequently disappear from the playing field. Once they are cleared, any tiles that were above them will drop. The cursor is free to move while tiles are disappearing, so players can line up more tiles.
When more than three tiles are cleared with a single flip, it is called a combo. Combos are counted on-screen with plain numbers (4, 5, 6, etc.). The maximum number of tiles that can be cleared in a single flip of the tiles is 14, but anything higher than 10 is rare during routine play.
Chains are instances when tiles which fall as the result of a clear trigger another clear. The player may rearrange tiles while the clear is taking place in order to cause a chain to occur. If this is timed in conjunction with the falling of tiles, the chain is called a skill chain. Chains are counted on-screen with numbers with an "x" prefix (x2, x3, x4, etc.).
Scoring for chains
The maximum designation of a chain in Tetris Attack is "x13". Any chain higher than a 13-chain gets zero points for each additional "link". This bug was fixed in Pokemon Puzzle League, where every link over 13 receives the same point value as that of the "x13" link. If playing in the competitive mode (in either version of the game), it is possible to make a chain that is larger than 24. From "x14" to "x24", "x?" is the on-screen representation. After this point, no symbol appears. This level of play is sometimes referred to as "chaining blanks". Outside of competitive mode, the theoretical maximum chain length is 24, since each link in the chain requires at least three tiles, there are only 72 that can fit on the screen at once, and the screen cannot be raised while a chain is occurring.Miscellany
- One noticeable difference between the AI for Tetris Attack and Pokemon Puzzle League is that in Tetris Attack, the AI does not recognize a distinction between garbage blocks and panels until the entire block has been cleared, making it impossible for it to align tiles except by chance. This makes the AI opponents in PPL substantially harder to defeat.
Game modes
Tetris Attack has the following game modes:
Endless
Players play until they lose. The objective is to attain the highest score possible, with the maximum score being 99,999 points.Stage clear
In this mode, a certain number of the tiles must be cleared to finish each of the thirty stages. A "clear line" somewhere down the stack indicates how many tiles must be cleared. Once everything above the line is eliminated, the player has completed that stage.Versus (one or two players)
In this mode, either two human players compete or one human competes with the game's AI opponents. Here, garbage blocks can be sent by each player to his/her opponent (see Game Play). The first player whose stack reaches the top of the playing field loses. Garbage blocks can, however, be stacked higher than the playing field temporarily, as long as the defender can freeze the stack and lower the tiles/blocks to fit within the area of the playing field before it rises again.Puzzle
A specific pattern of tiles is laid out on the playing field and must be cleared in a specific number of moves. There are 60 standard levels and 60 more advanced levels that can be unlocked with a password after beating the 60th standard level.Differences from Panel de Pon
Game music
The music remained unchanged between Panel De Pon and Tetris Attack, except that Tetris Attack has arranged versions of tracks from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The original Panel De Pon title theme, the original Game Over theme, and Corderia's theme were dummied out of Tetris Attack, but they are included in the Tetris Attack SPC emulator music archive, available at [Snesmusic.org]. The Tetris Attack title theme is an arrangement of the Yoshi's Island title theme. The demo theme in Tetris Attack was originally Lip's theme. Bowser's theme was originally Sanatos' theme. Yoshi's theme and the Tetris Attack Game Over theme are arrangements of the Story Music Box theme in Yoshi's Island. The original Panel De Pon soundtrack was scored by Masaya Kuzume. The music tracks from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island were arranged by Yuka Tsujiyoko.Password system in one player versus mode
Panel de Pon does not offer the opportunity to enter passwords in 1 Player VS. mode. This was added to Tetris Attack.Characters
Panel De Pon featured a cast of fairy-like characters to represent the game's stages, whereas Tetris Attack features characters from . The table below shows the substitutions. Also shown are the new characters used in the GameCube version of Panel De Pon in Nintendo Puzzle Collection. These characters are the daughters of the original Panel De Pon cast, and they resemble their parents. Some of the characters are new; they are Kain, Lion, KickChop, Joker, Zilba (Ziruba), and Mingiri, Hindari, and Mangari. As well, more stages were added to the newer version of Panel De Pon.
| Tetris Attack | Panel de Pon | Nintendo Puzzle Collection: Panel de Pon |
|---|---|---|
| Yoshi | Lip | Furil |
| Lakitu | Windy | Sophia |
| Bumpty | Sharbet | Think |
| Poochy | Thiana | Rinze |
| Flying Wiggler | Ruby | Pure |
| Froggy | Elias | Cecil |
| Gargantua Blargg | Flare | Rayea |
| Lunge Fish | Neris | Nathia |
| Raphael the Raven | Seren | Sala |
| Hookbill the Koopa | Phoenix | KickChop |
| Naval Piranha | Dragon | Joker |
| Kamek | Thanatos (Sanatos) | Thanatos (Sanatos) |
| Bowser | Corderia | Corderia |
| Kain | ||
| Lion | ||
| Zilba (Ziruba) | ||
| Mingiri, Hindari, and Mangari |
Other implementations
There are also some Tetris Attack clones available at the SourceForge web page [link]. These clones are open source programs made for most common operating systems and they are constantly developing. The biggest innovation they bring is the option of internet multiplayer that some of the clones have.
- [Tetris Attack PC'] (fan site and list of Tetris Attack clones; home to open-source TA engine)
- [Crack Attack](free downloadable OpenGL version)
- [Block Rockin'] (free online Java version)
Panel de Pon reference in Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, there is an item called Lip's Stick, named after the Panel de Pon character replaced by Yoshi for Tetris Attack. Lip's Stick poisons the opponent that it contacts, as a flower is planted atop his or her head. One of Kirby's Stone powers also looks like Lip's Garbage Block. While some in-game graphics exclusive to the Japanese market were replaced with more recognizable items, Lip's Stick was left as-is with its trophy explaining its Japanese-only origin.External links
- [Tetris Attack] at MobyGames
- [Fan site includes game info and records pages]
- [GameFAQs information page]
- ()[Japanese Dr. Mario & Panel de Pon website]
- [American Dr. Mario & Puzzle League website]
- ()[Nintendo Puzzle Collection Japanese website]
| Console versions: | Panel de Pon – Tetris Attack – Pokémon Puzzle League – Nintendo Puzzle Collection |
| Handheld versions: | Tetris Attack – Pokémon Puzzle Challenge – Dr. Mario & Puzzle League |
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