Although the Pokémon aspect of Pokémon Puzzle League is purely thematic--which might disappoint lovers of Pikachu, while still warding off nonfans--the fun and challenging gameplay here makes this title one of the best in the puzzle genre.

Gameplay in Pokémon Puzzle League is a variation on the puzzle classic Tetris: players must clear blocks off the screen by switching adjacent horizontal blocks to create horizontal and vertical lines of three or more identically colored blocks. Blocks rise in rows from the bottom of the screen, and, once they reach the top, the game is over. While it's deceptively easy at first, the steadily increasing speed of the rising blocks requires players to make combos (more than three blocks in a line) and chains (creating multiple lines simultaneously), both of which pause the rise of the blocks temporarily.

Featuring six gaming modes and puzzles in both 2-D and 3-D, Pokémon Puzzle League is best played by one player versus the computer (in the Stadium) or in two-player "versus" mode. In these modes, creating combos and chains causes "garbage" blocks to fall from the top of your opponent's screen, which results in some villainously vindictive gameplay.--Joe Hon

Pros:

• Fun and challenging Tetris-like game for all ages
• Outstanding two-player "versus" gameplay
• 2-D and 3-D puzzles, six gaming modes, and very thorough tutorials
• "Puzzle University" mode lets players create their own puzzles

Cons:

• Pokémon aspect of the game is purely thematic

6 2D and 3D playing modes, 15 playable Pokémon characters, Animated movie scenes, Tutorials available, Keep track of character's progress

Average Customer Review: ( 35 customer reviews )
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That's not necessarily a bad thing though. If you're an avid gamer, you'll have probably found out by now that PPL is based on the excellent puzzle game, Tetris Attack. For those of you who've played it, you'll have probably discovered how amazingly entertaining and addictive it is. If you've never heard of it, Tetris Attack is a wonderfully playable game that bears no more resemblance to Tetris than the name. The idea is simple: Blocks of various colours rise from the floor and it's your task to get rid of them. You continuously switch blocks around the screen to try and match three or more of the same colour at which point they disappear and the blocks above fall down. Of course, in the event that the rising blocks should reach the top of the screen, it's Game Over for you, mate!

The strategies are much, MUCH more complex than Tetris and the game is infinitely more playable. Tetris Attack is to Tetris what Chess is to Snakes and Ladders. Like Chess, it's often the player who can see the most moves in advance who wins. Unlike Chess, there's a lot of emphasis on speed too and you'll be dripping with sweat as you try to prevent the mountain of blocks from reaching the top of the screen.

Like all the great puzzle games, PPL is deceptively simple to get into, but astonishingly tough to master. Clearing four blocks at once is not all that hard to do, but pulling off multiple combos requires all the brainpower of three supercomputers. That's no easy task when you have an opponent continuously dumping blocks on your screen. The computer AI shows an astonishing level of intelligence and can execute tricks that humans can only dream of. PPL also gives us our first definitive look at Ash on a game (unlike that masked gray haired individual in Stadium) and it also features Ricky: an obscure trainer from the cartoon who befriends Ash at the championships. So at least you know you're not fighting alone against the onslaught of blocks.

In the end, you know that the pokémon license alone will sell this game by the millions. Thankfully, it's actually worth all the hype.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Please stop the voices in my headJan 02, 2001
By Jon Konrath "Jon"
Just when I thought there were no good puzzle games for my soon-to-be-antique N64, I broke down and bought Pokemon Puzzle League, because the box made it look like a decent variation on Tetris. I know almost nothing about Pokemon, and at first I got scared that I would have to learn a bunch of mindless information like names of creatures and spells and tricks and whatnot. And the game has a lot of the Pokemon theme; various dialogues talk about the trainers and monsters and other confusing stuff that would make perfect sense to a seven year old kid.

Luckily, this has nothing to do with the game itself. Basically, you have a variation of tetris where you need to connect three or more blocks of the same color, either across or up and down. You can move a cursor and swap two blocks that are next to each other. And an empty block causes all of the ones above it to "fall" into place. Pretty simple stuff, and there's a practice mode, plus a few simple and slow modes, but then the pace picks up, and the blocks accumulate from underneath, eventually making the pile collide with the ceiling, ending the game.

There are a few twists to keep the game interesting; there's a two-player mode where you can add junk to your opponent's screen by completing lines. There's also a 3-D mode where the blocks are "in the round", making it very hard to keep track of all of the new blocks while removing old ones. The whole think is thematically linked to a Pokemon map, with the games in a stadium, the practice stuff in a university, and so on.

The play on this game is excellent, with smooth controls and good sound effects. I quickly became addicted to this game, trying to push my score just a bit higher with each try, but the theme music drives me nuts. The only reason I am not giving this game five stars is that I had to stop playing and get the music out of my head. Otherwise, this is an excellent puzzle game - one of the funnest implementations of Tetris I've ever played.

15 of 20 found the following review helpful:

FINALLY!!! A Good Pokemon Game For N64!!!Oct 09, 2000
By Kevin T. Rodriguez "The Movie Wizard.com Reviewer"
Although this is a compleate copy of "Tetris Attack" I found this a game worth playing one the N64! For a while now we've gotten nothing but flunk Pokemon games on the N64 (Pokemon Stadium anyone?), but this game makes up for it! With witty puzzles, two player fun, and no choppy 3D graphics make this a must! I'm still convinced that Pokemon was the only way to get people to buy this game, but who cares? At least it's fun!

12 of 16 found the following review helpful:

Tetris Attack in *almost* every waySep 26, 2000

Wow! This game is exactly like Tetris Attack. (a super nintendo game released a few years ago) And that was REALLY addicting! This time, though, it's all about pokémon. It has lot's of pictures from the show appearing as backgrounds and the intro scene is just like the beginning of the Kid's WB tv show! If you played tetris Attack, you'll really like this game. even if you don't like pokémon, there is a new version of gameplay with a 3-D cylindrical game wall. This game is really fun!

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