Tetris Attack

Tetris Attack is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy puzzle game featuring the Yoshi franchise as a theme by altering graphics and audio of the Japanese game Panel de Pon. Despite its name, Tetris Attack has no relation to the Tetris series, and follow-ups were named Puzzle League in the west starting with Pokémon Puzzle League. The Japanese version of Tetris Attack was released on the Satellaview as a Yoshi title instead of using the Tetris name license. Like Tetris Attack, there was an option in the menus to play the game with the characters and story dialogue in English, but the menus would stay in Japanese. The Game Boy version was also released in Japan as a standard cartridge.

Gameplay
The title of the game is very misleading in that the gameplay has little to do with Tetris. Instead, square panels rise from the bottom (called the "stack") and the job of the player is to line up three or more matching panels either horizontally or vertically as the stack rises.

The player controls the panels using a rectangular cursor on the screen which the player uses to switch the selected panels back and forth. Extra points are given for combinations of more than three. If the stack touches the top of the playing field while rising, the game is over.

Endless
In Endless mode, players play to try to achieve the best possible score before they get a game over. Players can choose the difficulty level (Easy, Normal, Hard) and the speed level (lv. 1-99) to start out. However, the longer they manage to stay alive, the faster the stack will start to rise. If the player manages to reach a score of 99,999, the credits sequence will play.

Time Trial
The Time Trial mode is also similar to the Endless mode, except players are given a time limit of two minutes, and the objective is to score as many points as possible before time is up.

Stage Clear
This mode is just like the Endless mode (see above), except players must clear all the panels above the "clear line" that is drawn in the stack. The line is not visible at the beginning of the game, and is only visible when players have cleared enough panels for the stack to rise enough. If the stack touches the top before all the panels above the "clear line" are removed, the players will lose. There is no time limit in this game mode.

There is a total of 30 rounds (not counting the "special stage" and "last stage"), with five rounds per level.

The "special stage" and "last stage" involve defeating Bowser with combos and chains before the stack reaches the very top. While the "special stage" is only a bonus stage to test the players' skills, the "last stage" can be repeated if they lose.

Puzzle
In the puzzle mode, players are given a number of panels on the screen, and they must clear all of them with only a limited number of switches by the cursor. Players play ten rounds with up to six different characters. Also, at the end of each round, players are given a password, which they can use to come back to their game at a later time. There is no time limit for this game mode. There are also some even more difficult puzzles that players can play with if they have the proper password.

VS.
Single player VS. is a game where players can battle the computer in a fight to free the players' allies from a spell cast by Kamek. One by one, the players and Yoshi must break the spell over each of their allies by battling and defeating them. The key to doing that is to dump garbage blocks, which resemble the ceiling from Wario's Woods, on their stack. There are special panels called Shock Panels. When three or more of these align, this creates a Shock Block, a special garbage block, which makes clearing garbage blocks more difficult. Each battle gets successively more difficult, and as the players progress and free their allies, they can use them in battle as well.

Inside Mt. Wickedness, the players will face off against Hookbill the Koopa and Naval Piranha on all the skill levels. On the "Normal" and "Hard" skill levels, Kamek will be the next opponent. And on the "Hard" skill level, the players will face Bowser as the final opponent.

There is also a "Super Hard" skill level, which will heavily test the players' skills. All opponents fought on the "Hard" skill level will be in this skill level.

Characters
While Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad do not make a direct appearance in this game, Yoshi fights against Bowser and rescues his friends in the game's single-player versus mode, and he explains the gameplay to the player in the tutorials. A multitude of other characters from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island appear in the game as well, some as allies and some as enemies. The following characters are:

Pals
The following characters can only be used in the VS game modes. There is an exception in the Game Boy version of the Puzzle game mode.
 * Yoshi
 * Lakitu
 * Poochy
 * Froggy
 * Gargantua Blargg
 * Raphael The Raven
 * Bumpty (SNES version only)
 * Flying Wiggler
 * Lunge Fish

Rivals
Note: All rival characters can only be used in the 2P Mode. There is an exception in the Game Boy version of the Puzzle game mode, however.
 * Hookbill The Koopa
 * Naval Piranha
 * Kamek
 * Bowser

Secrets
Below are a list of secrets that can be found. None of them stay unlocked, however.

SNES

 * 1) Upon turning on the SNES, press the following buttons;, , , . If done correctly, the player will hear a chime. When the player does a one-player game mode, the stack will not stop, regardless of if the player does a combo or chain.
 * 2) In the 1P VS mode, the player can play the "Super Hard" skill level by pressing D-Pad Up,, and at the same time while the "Hard" skill level is selected. If done correctly, the lower background will turn dark red. The dark red background is a sign that the player is playing on the "Super Hard" skill level.
 * 3) Players can use the rival characters in the 2P game modes by doing the following; player 1 and player 2 must hold the and  buttons at the same time while on the character select screen. If done right, the "? panels" will change into the rival characters.

Super Game Boy
When the Game Boy version is played on a Super Game Boy, certain button codes, if "1P" is selected at the title screen, trigger six secret borders, which are based on the background designs used for Yoshi's and his pals' stages in the SNES version. The borders and their corresponding codes are as follows:

The player can return to the title screen at any time to choose another border. Pressing just on the title screen will make the border the default star border again, while pressing the  button will keep the current border.

Options
The SNES version of the game does feature an "Options" menu, which enables the player to change the language settings, listen to sound effects and background music, and even view data about the characters.

There is also a "CPU Switch" feature, in which player 1 and/or player 2 will be controlled by a CPU player. However, this feature cannot be used to view game endings in the single player game modes; if attempted, the player will get a message stating that the CPU Switch must be turned off to view the ending.

Panel de Pon
Originally, Tetris Attack was Panel de Pon, released for the Super Famicom on October 27, 1995, starring a young fairy known as Lip. However, the game did not initially release in other countries as-is. For the international releases, Nintendo changed all the characters to Yoshi characters and enemies and renamed it.

Graphics

 * The title sequences are completely different. Panel de Pon has Lip hanging from a dandelion over a field of pink and orange flowers. Tetris Attack has Yoshi sitting on a large flower holding an eggshell with panels in it surrounded by Little Yoshis on smaller flowers, while the background is a jungle area with blue hills similar to the ones seen on the title screen of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
 * On the main menu in Panel de Pon, Lip is shown sitting on a flower. In Tetris Attack, Yoshi is instead sitting in a floating eggshell, along with Little Yoshi.
 * In Panel de Pon, garbage blocks have a different design for each character. In Tetris Attack, all garbage blocks look the same aside from their color; the first player's blocks are blue, while the second player's are red.
 * In the character selection screen for 2-player mode, the characters' names shown beneath their icons in Panel de Pon were removed in Tetris Attack due to some of the replacement characters' names being too long to fit there.
 * Lip's flower-themed stage was completely redesigned for Yoshi, now taking place on Yoshi's Island. Only the tree that serves as the border for the playing field was left intact, though the leaves are a lighter shade of green and the flowers were removed.
 * In Stage Clear, Bowser replaces Sanatos for the "special stage" and "last stage".
 * Stage 4 of VS. Mode was changed from a jewel-themed stage (for Ruby) to a flower themed-one (for Flying Wiggler) with graphics resembling tiles seen in certain levels from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, such as Visit Koopa and Para-Koopa.
 * Stages 9, 10, and 11 have unique graphics in Panel de Pon. In Tetris Attack, all three stages use the same background as the cutscenes in Mt. Wickedness.
 * Bowser's stage (Stage 12) is an altered version of the Dragon's stage (Stage 10) in Panel de Pon, primarily altering the stone face in the middle to resemble Bowser instead of a dragon.
 * The Game Over screens in VS. mode are entirely different. Panel de Pon shows Lip sulking on a plain blue background next to an image of the opponent she lost to, with the words "GAME OVER" in a plain red font inside a speech bubble. Tetris Attack has Yoshi lying dazed on the floor in front of a gradient blue background with the words "GAME OVER" displayed above him in a much larger and more colorful and stylized font.

Audio

 * All voice clips were changed to accommodate the character replacements.
 * Tetris Attack replaces the title theme from Panel de Pon with the an arrangement of the title theme from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
 * Yoshi's stage theme is an arrangement of the intro story theme from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, replacing Lip's theme. Lip's theme still plays during the game's tutorials.
 * Tetris Attack has victory and loss themes in VS. mode and 2-player mode, while in Panel de Pon, the stage's "panic" theme continues to play even after the match ends. 2-player matches and losses in VS. mode play the same theme that plays at the end of stages in other modes, while victories in VS. mode use a completely new theme.
 * Panel de Pon has three Game Over themes, which are music box renditions of Lip's, Windy's, and Elias' themes (the tutorial theme, Lakitu's theme, and Froggy's theme in Tetris Attack). Tetris Attack replaces all of them with a music box rendition of Yoshi's theme.
 * Kamek's stage (Stage 11) uses the background music from the Phoenix and Dragon stages, instead of Sanatos' background music, which was moved to Bowser's stage (Stage 12).
 * Corderia's background music is not used by any of the playable characters in Tetris Attack, but it does play in the cutscene before the player faces Bowser in VS. mode. This change consequently results in Corderia's "panic" background music to go unused, and was removed altogether.

Miscellaneous

 * Tetris Attack added a password system for VS. mode.
 * The options menu in Tetris Attack is not selectable through normal means in Panel de Pon, but can be accessed via code devices or hacking.
 * After seeing the endings in Panel de Pon, players have to reset the game to return to the title screen. In Tetris Attack, players are taken back to the title screen after the endings are finished.

References in Super Mario-related games
In the Super Smash Bros. series, Lip's Stick, an item used by Lip, is an item throughout the series. Kirby's Stone move can turn him into many objects, including a garbage block from Panel de Pon. Panel de Pon music also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The fairy Lip herself appears as an important character in Captain Rainbow. She also appears as a spirit and Mii Swordfighter costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Re-releases
Panel de Pon was released on the Wii's Virtual Console on November 27, 2007, on the Wii U's Virtual Console on May 29, 2013, and on the New Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console on August 9, 2016, once again solely in Japan. It is also one of the 21 games included in the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom exclusive to Japan. It was also released in Japan and for the first time overseas in the Americas, Europe, and Australia for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online application on May 20, 2020.

Development
After the Japanese release of Panel de Pon, Yasuhiro Minagawa, the head of PR at Nintendo of Japan, announced that Rare was requested to release it overseas with the original fairies replaced by  characters and sound effects. This plan for the western localization was ultimately rejected, but the game was later greenlit with a Super Mario theme.

Reception
The game was placed 17th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997. Its average score on GameRankings was about 90%.

Trivia

 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, there is an error when obtaining the Lip's Stick trophy; it unlocks Tetris Attack in the Chronicle. However, Lip, for whom the weapon is named, does not appear in the game. In the Japanese version, it says Panel de Pon which is where its from.
 * Similarly, this error would continue with the PAL release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U for the Lip's Stick trophy.
 * A minigame from Mario Party 6 and Mario Party DS, called Block Star, resembles the stack of blocks but plays differently.
 * In the years following Tetris Attack's release, of  has stated that he regrets granting Nintendo permission to use the term "Tetris" in the game's title.