Trivia / Panel de Pon

• Creator Backlash: Henk Rogers, founder of The Tetris Company, regrets allowing Nintendo to use the Tetris trademark to market the original Panel de Pon as Tetris Attack, since Panel de Pon and Tetris have very little in common besides being falling block games. Not because he dislikes Panel de Pon — both he and Alexey Pajitnov enjoy the game — but because he prevented another puzzle series from having its own identity just to make some extra money.
• Dummied Out:
  • Lip's Stage from Planet Puzzle League is only unlockable in Japan. Other countries will have to access it via Action Replay.
  • In Panel De Pon, but not Tetris Attack, the options menu. Within the options menu is an, uh, option, to read the character bios — since the bios for the two last bosses don't appear in the Attract Mode, they are dummied out as well. This version of the menu contains a submenu allowing players to change the game level of story mode matches; the submenu was removed during localization, making it unavailable anywhere.
• Fan Translation: The SFC Panel de Pon has been translated to English by a fan named Zuqkeo.
• Follow the Leader: The original Panel de Pon is one of the numerous cutesy competitive puzzle games released in the immediate aftermath of Puyo Puyo 2's success, though the tile-swapping mechanics of Panel de Pon (as opposed to the Falling Blocks gameplay of most Puyo clones) makes it one of the more unique entries in the subgenre.
• Late Export for You: In May 2020, the original Panel de Pon got an international release for the Nintendo Switch Online, after almost 25 years. However, it is untranslated, similar to Super Puyo Puyo 2 (which got an international release on the first bundle of games as opposed to Dolled-Up Installment Kirby's Avalanche, which would see a release later on).
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Neither version of Tetris Attack has ever been re-released due to their use of the Tetris branding (as noted in Screwed By the Lawyers below). This does not affect their respective Japanese releases, Panel de Pon and Yoshi no Panepon, respectively, both of which have been re-released (though the latter has never been released outside Japan).
  • For unknown reasons, neither Dr. Mario & Puzzle League nor Planet Puzzle League have ever been re-released, despite their respective platforms of origin (Game Boy Advance and DS) being represented on Wii U's virtual console.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Pokémon Puzzle League was the western video game debut of Togepi and Marill. As for Panel De Pon itself, Lip's Stick has been an item in Super Smash Bros. since Melee.
• No Dub for You: The Japanese version was released completely unaltered on Nintendo Switch Online. Thankfully the basic gameplay and menus don’t have too much of a language barrier, but good luck trying to understand the story.
• No Export for You:
  • The Panel de Pon sequel in Nintendo Puzzle Collection never saw release outside of Japan.
  • The Nintendo 64 version of Pokémon Puzzle League was never released in Japan, inverting this trope. As a result, 4Kids provided the entirety of the voice acting and music, with half of the music comprised of instrumental versions of tracks from Pokémon 2.B.A. Master.
  • In fact, it even applies to rereleases in terms of the Super Nintendo version. While Panel de Pon has been rereleased on the Wii Virtual Console, the New 3DS Virtual Console, and even the Super Famicom Classic in Japan, Tetris Attack hasn't received any of those (not even on the Super Nintendo Classic, despite being a well received game). However, the American Wii Virtual Console does have Pokémon Puzzle League, and it is possible to download Pokémon Puzzle Challenge on the 3DS Virtual Console, while Tetris Attack itself is generally added on most modded Super Nintendo Classics for most fans.
• Recursive Import: Tetris Attack was later released in Japan as Yoshi no Panepon for Game Boy and the Satellaview.
• Referenced by...: Super Game Pretty Cure: Chapter 7 has Miyuki and Hikaru playing a Vs. Round as Ruby and Seren (referred to by her original Japanese name rather than Selena).
• Remade for the Export: Also Uncanceled for the Export, in the case of Pokémon Puzzle League. The original game, a successor to the original game, never saw a Japanese release on the N64... until it was finally included in Nintendo Puzzle Collection years later.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Due to the Creator Backlash with the Tetris Company as mentioned above, Nintendo cannot re-release the Yoshi-themed SNES installment anywhere in the world. The original SFC version with the fairies is apparently safe nowadays, having been released on Nintendo Switch Online (though with no translation), but several earlier rereleases remained exclusive to Japan, with the rest of the world getting Pokémon Puzzle League for the N64.
• Screwed by the Network: Everything having to do with the original fairies has suffered this fate. The Japanese N64 entry suffered cancellation and was revived by one of Nintendo's American studios as Pokémon Puzzle League. A GBC iteration featuring the fairies was going to be made, but partway through development it was switched to another Pokémon-themed version (this time released in Japan). The N64 version was revived again by the original studio and released as part of the Nintendo Puzzle Collection, which didn't make it outside Japan. The Nintendo Puzzle Collection downloadable version of Panel de Pon for the GBA was incorporated into the Dr. Mario & Puzzle League compilation which was released worldwide, but had no characters at all. Planet Puzzle League also featured no characters in favor of a futuristic computer theme, but had a Lip theme as a very difficult-to-unlock secret... only in the Japanese version. It was inexplicably locked outside of Japan.
• What Could Have Been: It appears that Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (GBC) was also going to be an original Panepon game. At least the N64 version got luckier when the Japanese version was finished and released in the GCN Nintendo Puzzle Collection. If the unused portraits aren't placeholders, it was also planned to contain fairies from both the SFC and GCN titles.
• Word of Dante: The new fairies in the Nintendo Puzzle Collection are never truly connected to the original fairies. Most who have played it just assume that they are the daughters of the original fairies.

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