LogFAQs > #951463906

#6. Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon (SNES, 1996)



I've gone back and forth on my #6 and #7 games since I started this list. I finally settled on this. I think it's pretty big change, because Tetris has always been above Tetris Attack. But I think if I really consider how I feel about the two games, this is where I'm at now. And I'm labeling this as Panel de Pon in addition to Tetris Attack, but Tetris Attack is what I first knew it as and the version I'm most often playing.

I first played Tetris Attack at a Blockbuster video. They had those video game displays where you could play a game they had set up to demo. When the N64 came out, that demo setup always had a kid using it, but at that time, the store swapped their SNES demo to this new game, Tetris Attack. I ended up playing it a couple visits when I didn't want to wait for the N64 demo. And I found that the game was pretty fun, and I started wanting to jump on the SNES demo instead of N64 in future visits, even when both were open. And after enough time, I knew I needed to get a copy of this game for myself.

In my Tetris writeup, I talked about getting addicted to it and playing daily for a lengthy stretch. Well, the same thing ended up happening with Tetris Attack. I was getting the hang of bigger combos, and kind of getting the hang of chains, and trying more and more difficult modes. I thought it would be one of the biggest game accomplishments if I could be the Vs. Mode on very hard with no deaths. I didn't get it as a kid, but I know I kept coming close.



Fast forward to college, hanging out with my DDR friends (look, that DDR writeup of mine was a very important lore-building writeup. Please go back and read it if you haven't already. It's been referred to many times now. And spoilers for the list, this also isn't the last time it will be referred to). One of those friends in that group revealed they had played a lot of Tetris Attack as a kid, like I did. We had some very lengthy and intense battles. They were a lot of fun, but also put me on a kick to play this game more again.

When Planet Puzzle League came out for the DS, I found out Tetris Attack wasn't made as some Tetris spinoff with Yoshi characters, but was the start of the Panel de Pon series (which also explained why there were Pokemon versions too). It's a series that truly has not received anywhere near the amount of love it deserves. I wish it could get new versions in some way like Tetris/Puyo Puyo so I could play online, or just get more of this in some manner. It can even be the same as a previous game, I'll buy it again, and more people will hopefully experience it and find out how fun it is.

Because there isn't any new version of Panel de Pon, I almost always just go back to Tetris Attack to play it. I got a renewed interest in this version especially when I saw people speed running the vs. mode. At some point, I picked it up myself to speed run. I'm not nearly as good as the top players in the game, but I've made it through Very Hard Vs. in as fast as 9:57, which is still very good. It can be a very luck-based run, but it also holds the excitement and fun in each run. The little bit I dabbled in speed running before this often got frustrating fast, so that difference in mood I felt is why I'll try Tetris Attack every now and then.

As much as Tetris is that puzzle game I can just pop in a system and play for fun on any day, Tetris Attack is actually that to a higher degree. I definitely opt to play this game more often, I've been watching streams of people playing it more often, and it even has some different modes that are fun to switch up things, keeping the Panel de Pon experience even fresher.





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