Panel de Pon: of fairies and forgotten franchises

Well I figure I've entry pimped this game and its universe for long enough, might as well make a topic for it. Maybe then I'll finally shut up about it. But probably not.

Panel de Pon (or Tetris Attack or Pokémon Puzzle League, because Nintendo is stubborn) is probably the only puzzle game I've ever been legitimately good at, so that probably counts at least partially towards my enjoyment of it. But there are a lot of reasons why it's one of my favorite franchises in all of video gaming. It's fun, it's sweet, the art and sound style are both incredibly charming, and that's all well and good, but the single biggest reason of all is because of the universe of the games.

The universe of Panel de Pon hasn't just stolen my heart, it's robbed me blind. It is probably the cutest Nintendo franchise that's ever been made, possibly even more adorable than the Kirby franchise (and that is saying one hell of a lot). The fairy characters have some of the most appealing designs I've ever seen in any video game, particularly Lip - the main character of the SNES game - who is such a cutie it's almost unfair.

Unfortunately, Panel de Pon was released in the mid-'90s back when Nintendo was still "that kiddie company", and so, fearing that it wouldn't help their image at the time, they slapped Yoshis Island characters over the fairies and released it over here as Tetris Attack. I love Yoshi and everything, but this one incident started a long, ugly chain of making sure international markets never see the fairy characters in their original environment:

• The N64 Panel de Pon was canceled in Japan, but released internationally as Pokémon Puzzle League.
• The Game Boy Color Panel de Pon was retooled into Pokémon Puzzle Challenge to match.
• Nintendo Puzzle Collection was localized enough to appear in an upcoming releases pamphlet and even got rated by the ESRB, but got Screwed by the Network and never materialized. Considering the anthology is 2/3 Mario, Mr. More Recognizable Than Mickey Mouse himself, this is particularly baffling.
• Planet Puzzle League/Panel de Pon DS featured Lip as an unlockable skin in a game that otherwised completely excised the fairies in favor of an awful, bland, and poorly-conceived interface. She was deliberately removed from the international games. Not even replaced with Yoshi. They didn't even think she deserved that much.

Nintendo seems to be more focused on Western markets at the moment, so it seems they're still afraid the games won't sell if they've got fairies in them. Panel de Pon was released on the Wii Virtual Console, we got Pokémon Puzzle League. Panel de Pon was released on the Wii U VC, we get... nothing, but presumably only because the Nintendo 64 service isn't up yet.

And the best part? Remember how Nintendo thinks no one over here would like the fairies? They're wrong. There do actually exist Western fans of Lip and friends. The fan base is predictably small, given Nintendo's reluctance to do anything with the fairy characters in their apparent current focus, but they do exist and they're some of the most passionate fans I've ever seen of anything. We even got a high-quality Lip model for Super Smash Bros. Brawl as it slowly turned out that she wouldn't be in the fourth game, and I keep pushing for her to be in Project M (although that's looking unlikely at this point too).

If you want my opinion, Nintendo could only do well by exposing Panel de Pon to a broader audience, especially given the recent smash success of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. There are so many marketing possibilities. Plushies. Figurines. The Anime of the Game. Keychains. Backpacks. At the bare minimum, they could test the waters by giving the game a proper localization. Much about the game would appeal greatly to a casual gaming audience, particularly young girls. There's so much potential in the fairy world of Panel de Pon that isn't being exploited and may never be, because Nintendo is afraid to lose money on something that will make them money. It's sad.

Textwall, I know, but in conclusion: I hope I've exposed you to a franchise you can enjoy. Please support Panel de Pon and its fanbase however you can. It's a fun, adorable little game, and it doesn't deserve to be as obscure as it is. :)

It looks like Meteos except you move the prices horizontally instead of vertically.

Speaking of Q Entertainment puzzle games, why the shit is Lumines Electronic Symphony a PS Vita exclusive? Ffs man

So yeah, it your looking for a puzzle game, try Meteos or Lumines I guess. You might like them.

Edit: Also for like 10 minutes I thought the name of the game was Pon De Floor, like the Major Lazer song.

edited 26th Aug '14 2:34:11 AM by RoboZombie

I used to think Puzzle de Pon was a puzzle-based spin-off, but that makes no sense when Panel was already puzzle-based! Also it was more based on Puzzle Bobble.

this game has a bitching final boss theme

And then there was silence

Puzzle League didn't really need characters like that in the first place. It's best off completely focused on the puzzle pieces alone, like with Pop Cap Games' work.

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The characters (especially the fairies), in my opinion, give the game a charm that I've seen in very few puzzle games before or since except maybe Puyo Puyo. I don't want the franchise to die, but I don't want the characters to evaporate either. And, as can probably be gleaned from the OP, I want Lip and friends back especially.

edited 26th Aug '14 6:54:50 AM by Midna

The characters are entirely necessary. It's the major charm they give. The gameplay alone is not enough, the presentation is key. I really want to see this series ported over properly.

Yeah, but all of Pop Cap's recent games have had some kinda wacky character in them. Shit, the Plants Vs. Zombies dropped the puzzles and kept the wacky shit to make it a shooter.

Eh, I'm not a Nintendo fan but I do know about this game for whatever reason, and holy shit on a stick, that art style is super 90s, and I don't mean that in a good way.

Still, if I not mistaken wasn't Henk Rogers (BPS/Tetris Company head honcho) kinda pissed that Nintendo called PDP Tetris Attack because it wasn't Tetris at all?

It was released in 1995. What did you expect? :P The Nintendo Puzzle Collection version is less so, if it makes you feel any better.

And yeah, Henk Rogers regrets lending them the name because PDP stomps all over basically every single rule of the Tetris Guideline, hence why they fell back on Puzzle League.

edited 26th Aug '14 10:10:20 AM by Midna

It was because it wasn't Tetris at all, but an entirely different game.

also, I thought Planet Puzzle League was pretty cool, it was more focused on the gameplay

shame that Lip's stage is only available in the JP version (unless you use Action Replay)

edited 26th Aug '14 12:26:07 PM by Aflac

Enjoyment and Excitement!

Presentation is one thing I really like about some puzzle games, namely Magical Drop

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

You could always just emulate the games.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

True, but I'd love nothing more than to show support for the original version of the game.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

Of course, totally a fair point, but if you have no other options, might as well make do with that you have at the moment.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Agreed. S'why I picked up a ROM of PDP long ago, as well as a translation patch.

I like Yoshi, to be sure, but still, this is 20% cooler.

When you wish upon a side of beef, soon will come an end to all your grief

For people who liked and enjoyed the characters, it was kind of a slap in the face. In Japan it even got some negative reviews slamming the game for not having the fairies, at least from the player base.

Eh, the most important part of a game like this is the gameplay, everything around it is just window dressing. It sucks when the window dressing is what gave the game a lot of charm and that was sucked out in other releases, but if the game is fun enough on its own, it's not really something that'll matter too much in the end.

Hell, look at Tetris itself. It's had variations based around the USSR, around 8-bit Nintendo games, around water...and then there's the millions of online clones that are simply barebones, and all of those still get tons of play from people. Because the game itself is fun and can carry the concept with or without extra stuff around it.

I understand why you're upset, but it just seems silly to harp so much about it. Especially considering that, technically speaking, the series has made it over here anyway, just not with the skins you want on it. There are tons of probably great series that don't even get that courtesy.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

All I have to say is that I'm happy Pokemon Puzzle Challenge (the GBC one) exists as a Pokemon game. The remixes in that game were just too awesome to pass up on.

I don't have any attachment to any of the other games though, and so I do think it's a shame the original characters never made it over.

a.k.a. Cly, that one girl who doesn't post here much anymore Something something YI = SMW 2 = SMB 5.

I will agree, yeah, it is a shame the other characters and concepts never made it over here and weren't even given a chance, but the versions of the games that made it here were totally fine, and yeah, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge's soundtrack kicks all kinds of ass.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

I'll play any version of the game, except possibly Planet, but the original Japanese version of the first one will always be my favorite and I will always be upset that Nintendo isn't giving the fairies a chance anymore.

Why not Planet?

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Besides the lack of mascots, the visuals and audio are both severely underwhelming, the gameplay is visibly slower than previous games... and the panels don't even pop anymore. That is an unforgivable sin.

I always liked how in PDP, the garbage blocks each bore a face that changed depending on whoever sent it, for all the playable characters. Come Tetris Attack they're just all the same frowny face.

When you wish upon a side of beef, soon will come an end to all your grief

Well, in the Pokemon ones at least, they bear the symbol of the type of Pokemon who sent it over, right?

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Yeah they did. It was a neat visual touch, I thought.

Mostly I only remember Pokemon Puzzle League for the cheesy voice clips, though. "I'm feeling giddy!"

edited 26th Aug '14 7:27:45 PM by Midna