“Completed,” I say, like I didn’t give up on level 10 of Very Hard and the last stage of Line Clear mode. I feel like that’s more fitting than actually becoming a puzzle master, though. This is the old school Pokemon Anime we’re lifting our voice clips and portraits from, after all, and Ash cannot be allowed to win lest we have to move on to a different protagonist instead of keeping this kid in a Sisyphean quest to become a Pokemon Master for 25 years.

Man, it’s weird to think that they’re actually retiring Ash, isn’t it? I never actually played this game in particular back in the day but it just oozes the vibes of the time, with graphic design being the devs’ passion and the Midi renditions of 2 B A Master’s track list. Yeah I owned that CD. I have no idea what happened to it but it’s lost to time… it was a nice nostalgia trip, this one. Team Rocket were such icons even though, much like Ash Ketchum himself, they are considerably more competent than they ever were in the anime outside of the times they weren’t doing crimes.

Maybe if they did a contemporary Panel de Pon clone I’d be more compelled to go the whole way to victory, but honestly I ain’t that good at these puzzle games. I had fun zoning the fuck out while making the matches, but at a certain point it becomes too stressful to vibe to, and if I’m going to keep losing to Giovanni it should at least be the cool one from the Adventures manga instead of the mediocre one from the anime.

Pokémon has been plastered over every sort of thing you can think of, so of course an already existing puzzle game - Panel De Pon - got the treatment.

Half a decade later and although some things have been added, such as a 3D version, the game is still the same and in fact I would say that although this version is more “content complete” it's a little worse.

I would normally not "mark down" due to a Pokémon skin, even based off of the anime. I have nostalgia for it. I enjoyed the short intro and laughed when I beat Tracey in 14 seconds because I always thought he was crap.
It's just as a skin it comes across a little cheap.

This is probably due to the technology, using existing art from the cartoons makes sense but the quality is low and for me doesn't stand up to the beautiful pixel art Panel De Pon had.

The campaign is as simple as you'd expect in a puzzle game but again feels less than the game it's copying.
I finished Normal and Hard, so maybe I missed on the really cool stuff like Misty with a machine gun in Very Hard, but I doubt it.

It's a shame that it's so half baked, the panels can either look like the classic ones or Pokémon themed but where some are 'types' like water, fire, grass, there is also "circle"... could they really not have thought of something else?

I would have also liked that picking your Pokémon could actually affect the match up. A bonus for matching your types panels maybe?

Overall, this is fine. It's good even because it's Panel De Pon but I find almost no reason to recommend it over just playing the classic outside of if you are truly Poké-pilled, high on them Ash-fumes and then maybe the skin will be worth it.

I only clicked on the game to remind me what it was exactly and then completed it twice though, so if you want to gauge how addictive it can be then there's a clue.

Gameplay: Simple and SUPER FUN
Music: Nice remixes!
Replayable? YES!
Streamed? Yes

Extra Notes? I need more puzzle league games in my life, this one has a very nostalgic pokémon skin on top plus great modes to play solo.

My best friend and I played this game on a whim one day and had a blast. Neither of us had played Panel de Pon before, so we were on equal footing and slowly learning how to play better. It's become a mainstay anytime we meet up now. We love making fun of the voice lines.

There's a lot more to this game than just the PvP, but I don't find Panel de Pon fun enough to actively go after it.

"AWW POOR BABY"