Pokemon Puzzle League Official Trailer (2000, Nintendo Software Technology)
7Pokémon Puzzle League is a puzzle game for the Nintendo 64 console. It is based on Nintendo's Puzzle League puzzle games, but with Pokémon likenesses. It was only available in North America starting in 2000, and in Europe in 2001, making it the first Pokémon game produced for North America. It is so far the only Pokémon game to be based on the Pokémon anime, released in US universe, and to feature Ash Ketchum. The game was released on the Virtual Console on May 5, 2008, in the North America region, and on May 30, 2008, in the European region.
Pokémon Puzzle League features the same gameplay as in Panel de Pon, which is likely why Pokémon Puzzle League was not released in Japan (Panel de Pon never had an English release). The objective is to clear blocks from the playfield by arranging them in horizontal or vertical lines of three or more blocks. A continuous stream of new blocks pushes up from the bottom of the playfield, causing the entire playfield to rise continuously. If the blocks reach the top of the playfield, the player loses. The player can temporarily stop the progression of blocks by scoring combos and chains, and in two-player battles, these actions also cause garbage blocks to stack on top of the opponent's playfield.
Unlike its predecessors, Pokémon Puzzle League features a 3D mode in addition to the traditional 2D mode. In this mode, gameplay takes place on a cylinder with an effective width of 18 blocks, compared to the six-block width of the flat 2D field. It also features the original block design from Panel de Pon and Tetris Attack, as well as a Pokémon-oriented design (which is selected by default).
In two-player games, players can select one of fourteen Pokémon trainers to play as. Unlike most Pokémon games, trainer and Pokémon selection are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay whatsoever.
In the original N64 version, background music for this game is based on the Pokémon 2.B.A. Master CD, and the song "Catch Me if You Can" from Pokémon: The First Movie's short feature Pikachu's Vacation (as well as the score for the movie itself). Most of the music from the game consists of non-lyrical versions of various anime songs, while a few are reused instrumentals.
The cutscene graphics match the animation of the anime. This game was also known for being one of the few N64 games to have FMVs, and the only one to have crisp, clear, full screen, VHS-quality FMVs, with the only quality suffering being framerate (other games featuring FMVs, such as Resident Evil 2 and Wheel of Fortune, had the videos shown either in tiny boxes in the corner of the screen or in widescreen format, and the quality was usually very grainy).