Tetris Attack

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Tetris Attack
Developer(s)	Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy
Release date(s)	Super NES NA August 4, 1996 (1996-08-04) JP November 3, 1996 (1996-11-03)–June 30, 2000 (2000-06-30) (Satellaview) EU November 28, 1996 (1996-11-28) Game Boy NA August 5, 1996 (1996-08-05) JP October 26, 1996 (1996-10-26) EU November 28, 1996 (1996-11-28)
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Kids to Adults (K-A)
Media	8-megabit cartridge
Input methods	Gamepad

Tetris Attack is a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System home video game console and Game Boy handheld game console. It is part of the Puzzle League series and is a direct port of the Japanese game Panel de Pon, rebranded to use characters and settings from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. A Japanese version of this rebranded title, Yoshi no Panepon (ヨッシーのパネポン^?), was released in Japan for the Satellaview satellite modem service.

Despite using the Tetris name, this game bears almost no resemblance to its Russian namesake. This has led Henk Rogers of The Tetris Company to remark that he regrets granting permission to Nintendo to use the name^[1].

Story

The game's single-player story mode takes place in the world of Yoshi's Island, where Bowser and his minions have cursed all of Yoshi's friends. Playing as Yoshi, the player must defeat each of his friends in order to remove the curse. Once all friends have been freed, the game proceeds to a series of Bowser's minions, and then to Bowser himself. During these final matches, the player can select Yoshi or any of his friends to play out the stage.

Gameplay

Lakitu's background in Endless mode. The backgrounds change as the player progresses in Puzzle or Stage Clear mode.

In Tetris Attack, the player is presented with a playfield consisting of a virtual grid of squares, each of which can be occupied by a colored block. Blocks are stacked on top of one another and rise steadily toward the top of the playfield, with new blocks being added at the bottom. The player must arrange blocks in horizontal or vertical lines of three or more matching colors by swapping blocks horizontally two at a time. As matching lines are formed, the blocks are cleared from the screen and any blocks above them fall into the gaps. The game is over when the blocks touch the top of the playfield, or another game-ending condition is met (such as reaching a time limit or clearing blocks below a set line).

Clearing more than three tiles in a single move scores a Combo, while Chains are scored when falling blocks from one clear cause another clear to occur. Both of these events score extra bonus points, and in multiplayer Versus games, these also send "garbage blocks" to the other player's playfield.

Tetris Attack provides several single-player modes. Story Mode takes the player through the game's main plot, pitting the player against a series of foes in a head-to-head match. The objective is to cause the computer-controlled player to lose. In Endless Mode, the player is challenged to play as long as possible with a continuously rising stack of blocks, which increases in speed over time. Timed Mode challenges the player to score as many points as possible within a two-minute time limit, and Stage Clear mode takes the player through a series of stages in which the objective is to clear blocks below a set line. A Puzzle Mode is also provided, which presents the player with a number of puzzles where he or she must clear all of the blocks in a set number of moves (Blocks do not rise in this mode).

In addition to the game's single-player modes, Tetris Attack also provides several multiplayer modes that are essentially two-player variants of the single-player modes. One or both human players may be substituted with a computer-controlled player with a selectable difficulty level.

Differences from Panel de Pon

Aside from several new tracks based on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, all of the in-game music in Tetris Attack remains unchanged from Panel de Pon. The Tetris Attack title theme is an arrangement of the title theme for Yoshi's Island, and Yoshi's theme and the Game Over screen are both arrangements of the Story Music Box theme from the same game. The original Panel de Pon tracks that were replaced are still present in the ROM code, and are accessible within the game's music test mode in the options screen, but were unused in the game itself.

The original Panel de Pon soundtrack was scored by Masaya Kuzume. The music tracks from Yoshi's Island were arranged by Fire Emblem composer Yuka Tsujiyoko. The demo theme is "Lip's Theme", which would later be remixed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Tetris Attack uses punctuation marks in passwords, but Panel de Pon does not. Unlike Tetris Attack, Panel de Pon does not offer the opportunity to enter passwords in single-player versus mode.

Additionally, Tetris Attack introduces a cheat code to the single-player versus menu that allows the player to unlock the game's bosses as playable characters. Also, the AI characters in Tetris Attack are more advanced at the higher difficulties than in Panel de Pon.

Newer versions

Reception

Tetris Attack was met with very positive reviews, earning a 9.0 average on Gamerankings.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Tetris Attack at MobyGames
• Tetris Attack at GameFAQs
• Puzzle League series at NinDB
• American Dr. Mario & Puzzle League website
• Fan site dedicated to Tetris Attack-style games