Panel de Pon
When flowers bloom, the power of fairies works...
Developer: Intelligent Systems (Team Battle Clash)
Platforms: SNES
Release Date: JP: Oct. 27, 1995 NA: Aug. 11, 1996 EU: Nov. 28, 1996
To-do: Add Tetris Attack information!
Panel de Pon was one of the first puzzle games I got really into, and even with many more under my belt, it's probably still my favorite. It's up there at least! I've mostly played it untranslated, as it is on the Nintendo Switch online service, but there is a fanmade translation patch that I would recommend.
Panel was an early innovator in tile-swapping gameplay as opposed to moving falling blocks. I love how the game feels- the way the cursor moves around is snappy and responsive. You have so much control over what you're doing, and a huge part of that is the “skill chain” mechanic- panels can still be moved into place during matches, and scrambling to move them into the right spots to extend chains can make all the difference. Planning in advance and quick reaction are both vital to doing well, and Panel strikes a balance that feels perfect to me.
The setting of Panel de Pon is a idyllic world of fairies and magic. The characters are well carried by their lovely designs, done by Makiko Tsujino. Every character has beautiful sprites, unique stage backgrounds (featuring a little mascot animal in each!), crunchy little voice clips, and most importantly, the unique type of garbage block each character has! They all have different patterns and faces and it means the world to me. Did you know that there are profiles for each character? They only show up if you cycle through all the tutorials that play on the title screen...
Click for Panel Profiles!
There are unused profiles for the final bosses as well. I'm not sure if the translation covered them or not- it's on my to-do list! As well as the Tetris Attack profiles.
The plot of VS mode is that Lip, the Fairy of Flowers, must face her friends who have been turned to evil and bring them back. Once they’ve all been brought to their senses, the fairies fly to Death Mt. and face the monsters inside, and their leader Sanatos/Thanatos. You can use the other fairies in these battles and I always try to pick a fun spread of them. If you lose as one of them though, they’re gone for the rest of the run! Scary! Thanatos seems like a very intimidating contrast to the other characters in the game, but he also gets the goofiest theme and sprites in the game. If you’re on Hard mode, there’s still one more opponent to face...
Click for Panel Spoilers!!
The goddess Cordelia! She’s very tough, but if you’ve made it this far you can do it! She has the same “Ohoho!” laugh voice clip as Seren, but pitched down. Isn’t that wonderful? After the battle, Cordelia returns and reveals herself as Lip’s mother, the queen of the fairies. She was behind everything, but it was all just a test for the next generation of fairies. She’s just a little mischievous I suppose. Do you think she made up Thanatos herself? Maybe she has a Thanatos lore document she'd share with you if you asked. There’s variations on the ending depending on if you use a continue, whether you’re on Hard or Super Hard, or if you lose any of the fairies in the last four battles. Congratulations!
I’ve mostly talked about the versus mode, but the other modes are great too! You can go to Lip’s very own lovely stage in endless and timed! Line clear mode is a fun endurance test with a surprise Thanatos encounter in the middle. You only get one shot against him there, so make it count! Best of all there’s a “clear the blocks in limited moves” puzzle mode as well, a side mode I’m always happy to see, even if I have to fight to not just look up answers when I get stuck.
Also, this is one of the few games on this site that I actually do have a lot of multiplayer experience with! Mostly with my girlfriend, who has diligently trained in the fires of Pokemon Puzzle League. And luckily for me, I still have fun losing 9 times out of 10. I think that speaks to a huge strength of the game- Even if you’re on the defensive you can put up a hell of a fight, and making matches off of the giant garbage blocks that your opponent summoned instantly, somehow, can help turn things around. Panel is a fun game even in an absolute panic. With another more evenly-matched friend, we both slowly turned up the difficulty slider each round, and we were both scared for our lives when the extra dark blue panel appeared. I’ve had a lot of very fond memories playing this game with a lot of people.
It's got a stand-out soundtrack as well, courtesy of Masaya Kuzume. You'll get to enjoy some crazy basslines throughout a lot of the songs. All of the tracks have a more despairing version when one player's board starts to get full, some of which are kind of hilarious to me. The violent tone shift for Lip's theme in particular- please hang in there! The danger music is fun, but it will rapidly swap between the two versions in a the later matches. Get ready for the Thanatos horn opening endless barrage (not that I'd have it any other way).
Connie’s Codes: Panel de Pon has secret codes! Most of them can be found in game, by beating various modes on various difficulties. But here they are for easy reference.
Very Hard mode- Hold L and Up while selecting Hard difficulty in VS mode. You'll get a scary red background if you do it right.
Play as the Final Bosses in Multiplayer- On the character select screen, both players need to press L and R at the same time.
The Second Set of Puzzles- Yes, there's a whole second set of them. Enter NYDJ29JI on the puzzle password screen.
BALL- Enter B,A,L,L, on the startup logo. I'm... not actually sure what it does! Everywhere that mentions it says something different, and i can't seem to tell playing myself. This website is a work in progress... In Tetris Attack, this code apparently has the much more drastic effect of removing the stop timer and grace period when the screen fills.
Before I wrap up this page, I have to mention the offical Panel de Pon website, which will hopefully continue to be up for a long time. It's a delight of early web design, and you can find a lot of artwork for the game as well, like the lovely picture below. There are also profiles for every character and their mascots. There's even a fan art gallery! It's a perfect website for a perfect game. I hope I've shared even a bit of my love for this game on here. Panel is like a warm embrace whenever I come back to it. If you're going to play one game on this site, play this one!
Thank you for reading!
For its worldwide release, Panel de Pon was completely rethemed around Yoshi's Island, and also licensed to use the Tetris name. The gameplay is unchanged between versions (except the effects of one secret code mentioned above). I definitely prefer the original Panel characters, but this version is very charming in its own right. This version also was released in Japan, funnily enough, as Yoshi No Panepon. The character choices are very fun- Froggy and Lunge Fish's long awaited playable debut! I'd like to think Seren and Raphael the Raven could be drinking buddies. I'll have to give it a playthrough sometime soon, pay attention to the little changes, and add more to this section in the future. Until then, TCRF has you covered on those differences.
