Tetris Attack

Tetris Attack is a puzzle video game. The player must use an on-screen cursor to arrange colored blocks into horizontal or vertical rows. Matching together three or more blocks of the same color will destroy them. Any blocks above cleared lines will fall, which can be used to cause chain reactions if they touch other matching blocks.

The player can also earn combos, clearing more than three blocks in a single move. As the stage progresses, the blocks will begin to rise steadily towards the top of the screen, with new blocks generating from the bottom. Should the blocks touch the top of the playfield, the game will be over.

Tetris Attack was released in Japan on October 27, 1995, in North America in August 1996, and in Europe on November 28, 1996. Development was headed by Intelligent Systems and produced by Gunpei Yokoi, known as the creator of the Game Boy. The Japanese version is titled Panel de Pon, featuring fairies as the main characters with a fantasy setting. International versions instead replace these with characters and settings from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, a game that was released earlier in 1995.

Though international releases have the name Tetris Attack, the game has no relation to the Tetris video game franchise, leading to Tetris Company co-founder Henk Rogers saying in a 2009 interview he regrets giving Nintendo permission to use the name. Although Rogers liked the game, he believed it "got lost in history" due to it using the Tetris branding.

Tetris Attack was met with extremely positive reviews, earning a 90% average rating on GameRankings. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it an 8.25 out of 10, commending the addictive gameplay, colorful and cartoony graphics, use of Mario characters in the North American localization, and two-player mode. GamePro gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 in graphics, control and FunFactor, and a 4.5 out of 5 in sound. The reviewer described it as "a gentler, slower style of gameplay that requires learning some easy new controls, but this game's no less addicting than the original Tetris." GameSpot called it "absolutely brilliant".

GamePro gave the Game Boy version a brief positive review, saying it "updates the age-old Tetris concept by inverting the basic action".

Tetris Attack was followed by several sequel games, most using the name Puzzle League in western territories. The first of these were Pokémon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color and Pokémon Puzzle League for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, featuring characters from the Pokémon franchise. A previously unreleased sequel, Panel de Pon 64, was later released as part of Nintendo Puzzle Collection for the GameCube in 2003. It was followed by Dr.

Mario & Puzzle League for the Game Boy Advance in 2005 and Planet Puzzle League was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007 (renamed to Panel de Pon DS in Japan and Puzzle League DS in Europe), featuring online multiplayer support via the now-defunct Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service and touch-screen controls. These follow-ups are not tied to any external franchise. A condensed version of the game for DSiWare, Puzzle League Express, was released in 2010 for the Nintendo DSi with many of the same features as Planet.