VG Review - Tetris Attack

I find it amusing that puzzle games in the past used to be awesome! That said, I found almost anything great back then... From fighting video games to racing games such as Mario Kart and Grand Turismo, it was an incredible hit! My least favorite genre was always puzzle games for some odd reason... I never put my finger on it, but the traditional style of the majority of titles seemed boring! But in 1996 came a puzzler that punched many in the face and those who got punched in the face played endlessly... That title's name is Tetris Attack. Tetris Attack was originally released in the US in August of 1996 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy versions, which a Japanese and European released later followed (even with a so-called "Satellaview" service!). Now to be honest, I find Tetris Attack to be one of the greatest SNES games of history, but I also like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World as well, so think of this as an opinion. Before being localized into our home, Tetris Attack is part of the Puzzle League series, coming before Pokemon Puzzle League (which I may look forward to reviewing in the future) and then picking up where Dr. Mario left off (is Dr. Mario supposed to be like that by the way??)... You see, Tetris Attack is actually Panel de Pon back in Japan with different, more original characters and settings that fared extremely positive there, and when we got it, it just looked like we were still playing Panel de Pon, only with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island characters and a bit of a different storyline. Oh and by the way, it all starts taking place in the world of Yoshi's Island, where Bowser and his minions put terrible curses on his friends. If you're playing as Yoshi, then your main goal is to defeat all of his now cursed friends in a Vs. mode setting... Once you beat the character, he/she returns to normal and now joins your side! After defeating Raphael Raven and getting back everybody, you can now proceed to Mt. Wickedness and beat Bowser and his minions, to which you now have the opportunity to select Yoshi or his friends (there's actually a cheat in the game to after beating your cursed friends, you can play as them before fighting the boss characters with a certain control pattern... Unfortunately, I forgot it since I don't play Tetris Attack as much anymore, because... My SNES is in need of new wires!). Now depending on the game difficulty, here is what happens: if you play Vs. on the Easy setting, then the final boss is Naval Piranha, then if beating the game on Normal mode, then Kamek's your last opponent, and if you're victorious in the Hard, V. Hard (is there such a difficulty?), and S. Hard settings, the last boss is of course... KING BOOOOOOOOWWWWWSSERRR!!!!!!!!! And once you really beat him, then you have truly finished the entire Tetris Attack game, itself. Now Tetris Attack also has several single-player modes (all of them being super fun to play!) such as Stage Clear, Endless, Time Trial, Puzzle, and of course, Story Mode (in the form of the Vs. playstyle). There are also several multiplayer features, done in the flesh of the foe-against-foe variation of Story Mode (there's a Time Trial and Vs.), to where you can fight a friend, or a CPU-controlled enemy whose difficulty level you can change... For me, I do the highest setting at "7" since I want to train harder and harder to the limits! Yeah, that's great for owning someone who has been a huge asshole to you in the past... TAKE THAT, FREELOADER!! Musically speaking, it has that funky feel of a bass at various moments, and the time signatures in the instruments were all near-perfect... Best known for what the Super Nintendo is capable for: AUDIO! The Game Boy port is actually a similar clone to Pokemon Puzzle Challenge, and that's pretty cool, too... Only thing I don't like in general is the music, which is probably the handheld's short RAM specifications that make it sound similar to other games such as Donkey Kong Land or any of the earlier Pokemon installments. This game is simply perfect for me in nearly every way, and even I could consider it as "one of the most groundbreaking puzzle games of the century"! No seriously, Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon deserves massive amounts of applause from those that played any of the Mario games and even Yoshi's Island, itself... I'm not afraid to say this, but overall, Tetris Attack earns a perfect 10 out of 10!!! It's games like these that make me really be one of the most sensitive gamers out there, and it does a nice job at showing it. If you're a fan of the Puzzle League franchise, don't be afraid to test this bad boy out! IT'S THE SHITZ!!!

Pros

 * Several single-player and multiplayer modes to choose from
 * Dynamic storyline is dynamic... Need I say more?
 * Awesome set of characters
 * The graphics are eons colorful and well worthy of it... Well what can I say? Tetris Attack and Panel de Pon are almost the same!
 * The music screams "SNES IS A GOD!"
 * The replay value is just like a disease... Only, it's awesome!
 * One of the puzzle games of the 1990s that made me play this badassery 24/7!

Cons

 * The Puzzle Mode was a little too difficult at times it made me want to throw the controller down at the floor... HARD!!!