In what could be considered yet another shameless attempt to sell a few extra copies of a game by adding a license to it, Nintendo has seen fit to make good use of its hugely popular Pokemon characters by placing them in yet another mega-popular release, joining the ranks of its legions of color-coded GameBoy games, "stadium contests", and voice-interactive nonsense. Strangely enough, this typically annoying bit of corporate hucksterism has resulted in a welcome, highly entertaining addition to the all-too sparse puzzle genre. Whether you're looking for a solo brainteaser or the extremely elusive 2 player game (and let's all put one hand up to count off the many 2 player games video game manufacturers have seen fit to provide us with.), Pokemon Puzzle League should fit the bill nicely in either respect. Best of all, this game proves to be a true rarity in licensed releases: it stands entirely on its own, apart from any license-based window dressing. For those of you who need it spelled out, what I'm saying here is that even if you removed the Pokemon characters entirely, you would still have a solid, addictive, and most importantly, fun puzzle game.

Similar to Tetris Attack, Pokemon Puzzle has you rearranging colored blocks in rows or columns of three or more so that they can be removed before reaching the top of the screen. If done properly, you can further cause surrounding blocks to fall in certain ways to create chain reactions (much like Super Puzzle Fighter 2). When blocks of four or more are removed at one given time, Jigglypuff (a weird, extremely round pink Pokemon) appears and "sings", causing the blocks stop their rise to the top of the screen for a few seconds (during which time you can continue to rearrange and remove blocks). To keep Jigglypuff around and singing (which is not always a good thing, aesthetically speaking) you have to continue removing groups of four and/or causing chain reactions, or the blocks will resume their upward climb (and you will continue to be in deep sh*t). Offending columns of blocks will appear squashed and "jump" up and down when they're getting too close to the top of the screen (usually 5 seconds before they hit top, and you crap out).

One interesting difference between Pokemon Puzzle League and other similar puzzle games is the option to play in either 2D or 3D at any given time. 2D mode runs along the lines of those other puzzle games (Super Puzzle Fighter 2, Tecmo Stackers, Bust a Move, Tetris, etc.), but the real fun is to be found in the 3D mode, which is almost exponentially harder. This mode has the blocks set up in a cylinder which you have to manually rotate, clearing blocks all the way around. It's far more difficult than you may at first believe to monitor every side of the cylinder, which makes this mode extremely challenging by comparison.

Better, there are several levels and modes to choose from throughout the game: 1-Player Stadium mode, 2-Player Stadium mode, Marathon, Time Zone, Spa Service, and Puzzle University.

In 1-Player Stadium mode, the gamer gets to take on other Pokemon trainers controlled by the computer. On defeating each trainer, you earn a badge. Upon completion of the mode (which is attained by defeating all of the trainers in succession), you are given a code which opens up a harder version of the level (V-Hard or S-Hard). You are forced, unfortunately, to play as "Ash" in this mode (a greater torture, outside of being forced to play as "Misty", fails to come to mind at the moment), using one of his three Pokemon (which include that damnably annoying Pikachu) for each round. I didn't see much of a difference in gameplay based on your choice of Pokemon - the results appear to be the same regardless. By clearing a large number of blocks and causing chain reactions, you cause "garbage blocks" to fall on your opponent's screen. These blocks vary in size, based on the amount cleared from your screen at that time. The good news for the victim is that these "garbage blocks" can be reverted to the normal, usable state once a row or column of blocks adjacent to said "garbage blocks" is cleared.

If you'd rather take on one of your friends head to head, you'll be spending your time together in 2-Player Stadium mode instead. Here you have the choice of playing in either the normal 2-Player Versus mode (play until one player wins 3 games), Time Zone (where each player tries to get as high a score as possible inside of a given amount of time), or Spa Service (a 2 player version of the standard Spa Service mode, involving the achievement of victory by clearing the blocks up to a certain line). Regardless of your choice of mode, you will first have to pick a trainer, and then one of their three Pokemon to play the game. It is unfortunate that you are stuck with fixed pairings: most of the trainers have only one (or at best, two) Pokemon that are even reasonably appealing. The best way to bypass this problem is to choose the most annoying Pokemon first, in the hopes that you won't be warmed up sufficiently, and it will die quickly. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work, and it's usually the one Pokemon you picked the damn trainer for that ends up dying first (the amusing "Tangela" never seems to survive more than one round in my experience, while the annoying "Weepinbell", paired with the same trainer, will apparently last forever - it must be fixed!). That personal anecdote aside, let me again point out that choosing a Pokemon in Pokemon Puzzle League means nothing more than that you get to hear the noise that particular Pokemon makes. As mentioned previously, I didn't see any real impact on gameplay due to changing your Pokemon (as opposed to the more obsessive, card game-based "Pokemon Stadium", where you need to strategize, fighting Fire Pokemon with Water Pokemon and so forth).

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