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, lit. “Yoshi’s Panepon”), 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.
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.
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.
| 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 |
- File name: TetrisAttack.zip
- Region:
- File Size: 1.13 MB
