Pokémon Puzzle Challenge

Question: What do you get when you combine Pokémon and Tetris Attack? Answer: Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, yet another of Nintendo's attempts at increasing the marketability of Panel de Pon by rebranding it (on both sides of the Pacific this time).

Sub-Pages#

Notes Panel de Pon GBPanel de Pon for the Game Boy

Unused PPL Title Screen#

The game was going to be titled Pokémon Puzzle League at one point, matching the N64 game. Using these Game Genie codes for the Japanese version will load this screen in place of the Puzzle Challenge title screen.

27B-C5D-E6F
4AB-C4D-E63
4BB-C3D-D57
27B-C2D-E6F
4AB-C1D-E63
32B-C0D-6E2
27B-BFD-E6F
48B-BED-E6B
D2B-BDD-E6A

This screen is actually a simple reskin of the Panel de Pon GB title screen. Lip's sprites were just replaced with transparency, and music tracks 21 and 22 are played despite being silent.

Debug Menu#

Game Genie code 220-23B-80E will start Pokémon Puzzle Challenge in a screen setting viewer/CHR set viewer. Soft resetting from the main game after enabling the code is recommended for more stable results (especially on the European version, since many screens rely on a language being selected).

You can view all stage backdrop sets, special events, and boss introductions. Pressing Left, Right, Select, Select+Up, or Select+Down depending on the screen allows testing of various functions such as listening to Pokémon cries, scrolling the screen, setting the menu cursor, and other specific functions.

Unused Music#

There are three unused music tracks in the game's data. GameShark code 01??80C8 (JP) or 01??A0C8 (US/EU) ("??" being the song ID) will force the corresponding track to play in most game modes. Song ID 54 is a duplicate main menu track used in the gallery, ID 4F and 50 are duplicates of the Game Over music which get picked at random on the suspend screen, and the Panel de Pon track ID values are 1E, 1F, and 20.

There are a lot more unused songs and jingles, from when the game was going to be Panel de Pon GB, that are unmapped and need to be patched in to be heard. The music pointer table is located at 8190E, and nearly every pointer after 8196E is set to play no music. See the Panel de Pon GB subpage for more details.

Unused Pokémon Mugshots#

Primeape, Jynx, and Hitmontop have unique menu portraits that never normally appear. The rest of the non-playable Pokémon's unused icons are just cropped from their battle portraits.

GBC-Only Screen#

There is a black-and-white GBC palette programmed for the GBC-only message screen, likely added for the aforementioned Easter-egg game mode Panel de Pon GB. Game Genie code 1D0-23B-80E will start the game on this screen in GBC mode.

This screen might have leftover code from Tetris Attack's title screen, as a connected copy of the main game or Tetris Attack will mistakenly treat being on this screen as being "multiplayer ready".

Leftover Japanese Language#

Setting RAM address CF2B to 00 while on the European version's language select screen will highlight an otherwise inaccessible Japanese option, complete with its own flag sprite.

While the game does retain some Japanese text and assets, a good amount of content is still replaced with its English counterpart when playing on this setting. Interestingly however, the Japanese Link Error screen was kept, but modified to remove a mention of Panel de Pon GB.

Japanese Link Error	European Japanese Link Error

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	International

References#