Pokemon Puzzle League: The Best Puzzle Game on the N64

Back in the late 1990s, Pokemon took over pop culture. It was everywhere, and you really couldn’t escape it. There were video games, trading cards, anime, and just about everything else. In 2000, Nintendo published Pokémon Puzzle League on the N64.

It should go without saying, but this was an exclusive game for the N64. The main series of games was on Nintendo’s handheld systems, and the home consoles got things like this. It has quite a few similarities to Tetris Attack.

There is a reason for this, of course. Both Pokemon Puzzle League and Tetris Attack started as games in the Panel el Pon series. Oh, you don’t remember those games? Well, that’s because they were reskinned when brought to North America. I guess it was to give the games more name recognition, or, in this case, Nintendo wanted to fill a gap in their release schedule.

This isn’t the first time a Japanese puzzle game was repurposed as a spinoff of another series. It happened a few times with the Puyo Puyo series. It doesn’t mean the games were bad; it’s just one of those weird things that was done at the time. Let’s check this out and see what it has to offer.

TLDR: Great graphics, wonderful gameplay, and a great upgrade of Tetris Attack.

Narrative

It probably won’t surprise anyone that Pokemon Puzzle League has a story. The story isn’t all that elaborate; all it does is explain what is happening and how this game fits into the Pokemon world. It all starts with Ash and Pikachu being on vacation.

Being on vacation is a good way to explain why a character from an established franchise is doing something you won’t see in the main series. This isn’t the first time it has happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time this trope is used.

He tells them that they’ve been chosen to participate in the island’s Puzzle League. During the tournament, Ash fights a bunch of characters from the games and anime. That is something I should bring up: this game borrows more from the anime, especially when it comes to the characters.

Once you become the Puzzle League champion, you get teleported to a final battle with Mewtwo. Once that is done, then Ash gets to go back to his vacation. Then I’m assuming he goes back to his odd life of wandering the countryside and losing tournaments. Oh! He thinks this was all a dream, until he gets a trophy from Mewtwo.

The story is fine. It is in line with the stories in the video games, with the exception of the characters from the anime. There is a lot of overlap between the two, so there is some familiarity for Pokemon fans. This is one of those cases where a story isn’t needed, but it is nice to have.

Gameplay

If you’ve played a tile match game in the last 15-20 years, then the gameplay will seem familiar. Pokemon Puzzle League is a tile match game that is similar to many of the match-three mobile games you’ll see advertised all over the place. It is an easy game to understand.

This game has pretty simple controls. Most puzzle games do, as there isn’t too much the player has to do. I like how simple this game is, and how the developers worked with the N64 controller to make the gameplay better.

The gameplay in Pokemon Puzzle League isn’t too different from Tetris Attack. You have to match tiles in groups of three or more, and you can chain together combos. What is different is how you can rotate the play-field, as it acts like a cylinder instead of a 2D grid.

There are quite a few game modes in this game. You can also choose to play in 3D or in 2D. In 3D mode, you can rotate the playfield, and in 2D it plays like Tetris Attack. This does add a few wrinkles to the gameplay.

Pokemon Puzzle League has something called garbage blocks. These are created and dropped on your opponent by putting together combos and chains. It is an easy concept to pick up as you play the game.

Overall, the gameplay is a ton of fun! I enjoyed Tetris Attack, and Pokemon Puzzle League is more of what I liked. While the 3D mode didn’t do much for me, I’m glad that it is there. Out of all the games that I’ve played for the N64, this is one I wish I knew about back in high school. It is a great puzzle game.

Visuals

I was surprised by the graphics in Pokemon Puzzle League. They’re bright and colorful, and everything is easy to see. There are a few spots where it looks like anime cutscenes were either made or repurposed for this game. They look very good! The only issue I had was getting used to the 3D mode in the game.

There is some very good animation in this game! It looks like the developers were able to get a cutscene from the anime into the game. At this point, developers had figured out how to get cutscenes like this into N64 games as they gained more experience and the technology in the cartridges improved.

Pokemon Puzzle League is bright and colorful, just like Tetris Attack. The tiles are color-coded, but there are shapes to help people who might be color blind. It is a nice touch that most puzzle games don’t normally do.

It is pretty easy to set up combos and chains. Tiles scroll up from the bottom of the screen, and the player has control over how fast they come up. You also have control over how the screen rotates when playing in 3D. Both of these look very good, but it took me some time to get used to looking at the cylinder.

Overall, I love the graphics. Having Pokemon stuff plastered all over the place wasn’t that big of a deal. I don’t think it added much to the game, but it did make me wonder what was there before Game Freak got involved with the game.

Reviews for Pokemon Puzzle League at the Time

Pokémon Puzzle League was well received at the time it was released. A part of me wonders how much the use of the Pokémon license had to do with it. Anyway, the scores were between 7 and 9/10. These are very good to excellent scores for a game released in 2000.

EGM gave the game a 9.17/10. They had three people review the game, and all of them really liked it. One reviewer called it “the best puzzle game I’ve ever played,” and the others shared that sentiment.

Game Informer had two people review the game, and both gave it an 8.5/10. Both of them liked Tetris Attack, and this is just more of that. One of them recommended the game “even if you don’t like Pokémon.”

GameSpot gave the game a 7/10. This reviewer was more critical of the game. Much of what they said had to do with new players. They also said that people who played Tetris Attack should pass because “the addition of the 3D mode and Pokemon License aren’t enough to justify this purchase.”

IGN gave this game an 8.9.10. The reviewer really liked this game and said that they are “addicted and thrilled with Pokemon Puzzle League.” After that, I’m a little confused as they start rambling about things. I felt like they were trying to use a metaphor for why they liked it, but it just came out as being nonsensical to me.

I didn’t come across a reviewer who disliked the game. Even the more neutral reviews enjoyed it and compared the game favorably with Tetris Attack. The Pokémon branding was brought up, and a few reviewers didn’t think it was needed.

9/10. Pokemon Puzzle League is the best puzzle game on the N64. It is an upgraded version of Tetris Attack, which is a game that I enjoyed more than the other puzzle games on the N64. It has great graphics, simple controls, and I love the gameplay.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Wonderful Gameplay
• Lots of Game Modes
• Interesting 3D gimmick

Cons

• Not too different from Tetris Attack
• Lots of ways to do the same thing

Conclusion

I really like Tetris Attack, and this is more like that. Pokemon Puzzle League didn’t really need the branding that got slapped on it, but the developers did do a good job of working it in. This is a wonderful puzzle game that just happens to have a bunch of Pokémon stuff jammed into it. I kind of want to see what the original version was like.

I didn’t know that this was going to be a continuation of Tetris Attack, and I didn’t know that there was a whole series of games without the licensed branding. Stuff like this happened all the time to some of the Japanese puzzle games. It is a little odd that this was done, and it had to be a marketing decision to get some more recognizable names on the products.

By 2000, I was pretty much done with Pokémon, and I didn’t own an N64. If my friends weren’t talking about the games on it, then I had no idea they existed. Most of my friends had an N64, but I was more interested in my Dreamcast and PlayStation. I also wasn’t really playing puzzle games at this time.

Pokémon Puzzle League is a great use of the Pokémon license. From reading the reviews, it seems clear that the branding helped it. When I played it for this review, I thought it was great! It is much better than the other puzzle games I’ve played on the N64.

If you liked this post, check out some of my other posts on N64 games. Such as The New Tetris and Dr. Mario 64.