Panel de Pon

Panel de Pon
"When the flowers bloom, the power of fairies works..." — Panel de Pon's title screen
Protagonist(s): Lip (JP) Yoshi (US) Genre(s): Puzzle Platform(s): Super Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy Release Date: SNES JP: October 27, 1995 NA: August 11, 1996 EU: November 28, 1996 Game Boy NA: August 11, 1996 JP: October 26, 1996 EU: November 28, 1996 Developer(s): Intelligent Systems Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan

Panel de Pon, renamed Tetris Attack outside of Japan, is a match-3 puzzle game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. It is the first game in the Puzzle League series of games, and was released on October 27, 1995 in Japan in in 1996 in North America and Europe.

Why The Power of Fairies Works

1. Impressive and colorful graphics for a Super Nintendo game released in 1995, and each of the fairies' worlds' themes fits in well with their respective characters, those being flowers (Lip), the sky (Windy), snow (Sherbet), a forest (Thiana), purple jewels (Ruby), water/a lagoon (Elias), a volcano (Flare), the ocean (Neris) and the moon (Selene).
2. Although not likely the first match-3 puzzle game, the game did popularize the genre with its unique take on it.
3. Each game mode is fun and engaging in their own way:
   • Endless and Time Attack Mode are played to get a high score, and play about the same.
   • Stage Clear sees the player removing panels above the Clear Line to move on, and even includes battles with Thanatos.
   • Vs. Mode is the main story mode, where the player clears Combos and Chains to launch garbage blocks at their opponents to make their screens fuller.
     • If you hold X and Y, you can even play as the other fairies inbetween stages.
   • Puzzle Mode sees the player solving puzzles by clearing panels in a set pattern. Entering a code even allows for playing more puzzles!
4. The story of Vs. Mode is well-written for a puzzle game.
5. Stellar soundtrack composed by Masaya Kuzume, especially Lip's theme, Thiana's theme, the credits theme of all three main modes, Cordelia's theme, etc.
6. A colorful cast of characters that are memorable to this day:
   • Lip, the protagonist, is the Fairy of Flowers and acts as the player's guide throughout the game.
   • The other fairies (Windy, Sherbet, Thiana, Ruby, Elias, Flare, Neris and Selene) make for good friends and opponents for Lip in Vs. Mode.
   • Thanatos, despite being only an illusion, is a decent secondary antagonist that is reviled as the main threat in the game before Cordelia is revealed.
   • Cordelia is an intimidating primary villain, and her theme song is as haunting as she is. However, deep down, she holds a secret...
7. The ending of Vs. Mode is heartwarming (if you do not lose any fairies), and Hardest difficulty is topped off with a beautiful-sounding music box rendition of Lip's theme.

Bad Qualities

1. When this game was first released outside of Japan, as before stated, it was renamed Tetris Attack and given a Yoshi's Island theme due to the demographics at the time. While this version is just as good as the original, the change wasn't necessary, and despite the title, it has nothing to do with Tetris at all.
   • Thankfully, the original was finally released on Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online service in its original Japanese version in May of 2020.
2. Throughout the Vs. Mode story, Thanatos is always thought to be the main antagonist, while Cordelia acts as the final boss on the Hard or Super Hard difficulty. Not once is she mentioned anywhere else, even on lower difficulties.
   • To add insult to injury, the ending of Vs. Mode reveals that she was in fact the Queen (Lip's mother) and wished to test the fairies, meaning that the fight was all for nothing!
3. The opponents' AI in Tetris Attack's Vs. Mode can be brutal, due to opponents mainly using Chains rather than Combos.

Reception

Panel de Pon was well-received by critics, with the Western version Tetris Attack scoring 90% on GameRankings. Critics praised its calm atmosphere, colorful graphics, innovative gameplay, and characterization of the fairies.

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