The Features:
- Play one of three classic Nintendo puzzle games: Dr. Mario, Yoshi's Cookie, and Panel de Pon
- Play each in either standard arcade gameplay modes or various story and COM challenge modes
- Unlock secret characters and save your progress and records to a Memory Card
- Support for play using both the analog stick and D-pad
- GBA connectivity: download portable versions to your handheld or use the GBA as a controller with the GCN version
- For one to four simultaneous players
Booting up the game presents players with a generic title screen that leads to a game select screen blocked into four quadrants: one for each of the three games, and a fourth for accessing the Game Boy Advance connectivity features. Selecting one of the three puzzles will then boot-up that particular title and kick start its own customized intro. For example, choosing Yoshi's Cookie will present a delightfully simple Mario and Yoshi 2D cutscene, where the pair of friends attempt to stack cookies on a picnic table and collect other cookies falling from the sky. Quite entertaining.
Within each of the different puzzle games, there are various gameplay modes specific to each but similar among all. For example, each features a standard arcade mode, where the goal is to endure a never-ending puzzle session until a top score is achieved. Each also features a story mode, where players battle CPU characters (such as Wario in Dr. Mario) to advance through a simple quest. Even the controls are consistent, with the A button rotating pieces and the R trigger speeding up the pace. And most importantly, each title also features a nifty multiplayer mode with support for up to four human or CPU players. For gamers with friends or siblings that enjoy heated matches of multiplayer action, Puzzle Collection's four-player multiplayer mode is perhaps the best reason to own game, as anyone who has ever enjoyed these titles will know that the action can get quite frantic.
Now let's have a look at each of the three puzzle favorites in Nintendo Puzzle Collection:
Dr. Mario
You know him -- you love him. Nintendo's mascot plumber first hit the puzzle scene on the NES in the form of a mad doctor that flings pills at nasty viruses. The game was clearly inspired by the recent Tetris success on the Game Boy, as players will be rotating falling blocks (or rather, pills) and stacking them in a vertical chamber below. Each pill is color coded with one of three colors on each side: red, yellow, or blue. Players must rotate falling pills and stack them accordingly on colored blocks (or rather, ugly viruses) below. Lining up four straight colored blocks (be it pills or viruses) will clear the lot and allow whatever's stacked above to come falling down. Stack your pills up to the top of the jar, and Mario's license to practice medicine is revoked.
Unlike Tetris, this game is divided into stages, with each successive stage becoming slightly faster and more challenging -- i.e. packed with even more virus baddies. The trick to becoming a Dr. Mario specialist is to plan chain combos that take place once the falling blocks clear out other viruses below. This GameCube version plays nearly identically to the previous N64 version, which was a nice but late addition to the system's library. Response from both the analog stick and D-pad is tight enough that either will do the trick, and being able to finally play Dr. Mario with our beloved WaveBirds is a delicious treat for sure.
Yoshi's Cookie
Speaking of delicious treats, Yoshi bakes one mean cookie. Just like Mario, the trusty green sidekick has been a puzzle superstar ever since the NES days as well. Following the success of Dr. Mario, Nintendo attempted to stray from the Tetris roots and give puzzle gamers something different. Instead of rotating falling blocks to clear obstacles below, the formula was reversed -- players to rotate and manipulate rows of blocks below while stacks of falling junk slowly trickle down from above and to the right. Players must line-up columns of similar cookie shapes to eliminate the entire stack, allowing the block of cookies to collapse against the left side and eventually disappear. Again, chain reactions are the key here, as they'll grant you the most sweeping results in addition to the nicest score.
Yoshi's Cookie is perhaps the least popular of the three titles offered in Puzzle Collection, but don't discount its addictive charms until you've given it a go for yourself. It definitely sports the highest learning curve of the three, and can quickly become the most challenging. Gameplay is quite hectic as your stack of cookies reaches the ceiling, and if it hooks you, then you'll be dreaming of evil Yoshi cookies for quite some time.
Panel de Pon
Perhaps you know this brilliant Nintendo puzzle title by another name. SNES owners will remember the game Tetris Attack as one of the best puzzle titles ever created (for any system), and N64 gamers will fondly recall a recent remake by the name of Pokemon Puzzle League -- a slightly more demonic version featuring yellow rodent devils but all of the same great puzzle fundamentals. Now, GameCube owners get this same awesome puzzle title wrapped in its original Japanese schoolgirl presentation.
The N64 Poke-version introduced additional gameplay modes such as the new story quest and addition of the 3D arena, and these updates are now featured here similarly in the GCN version of Pon. For those who've been deprived of this form of puzzling, here's the basic idea: the game begins with a stack of blocks that slowly rises toward the top of the screen. Players move a cursor over the blocks that allows them to switch any two pieces horizontally. The object is to line up three (or more) similarly colored blocks in a row, either horizontally or vertically. Seems simple enough, right. Once you get really good, you'll be setting up elaborate chain reactions that will be triggered by a single switch of the blocks. It gets to be quite rewarding and keeps that classic Tetris level of greedy addiction that always tempts you to keep pushing for that big score. In this Cube package, Panel de Pon is clearly the sweetheart of the bundle -- even over Mario himself -- and is definitely worth the money alone.
Game Boy Advance Connectivity As mentioned, Nintendo Puzzle Collection doesn't just keep your puzzle favorites trapped in the living room; it sets them free via your GBA and trusty GCN link cable. Gamers can download portable versions of each title and enjoy them remotely until the GBA power is switched off. Both Dr. Mario and Yoshi's Cookie are NES ports that are nicely emulated on the handheld hardware much like the NES titles in Animal Crossing. Panel de Pon, however, is a brand-new GBA creation by talented development studio Intelligent Systems, and features better sound and visuals than the other two, in addition to the ability to upload your handheld scores back to the GameCube version before you kill the power. Excellent!
IGN's pocket editor-in-chief Craig Harris gave each of these three GBA games a spin over on his own site today, so definitely check them out here:
Outlook
As a standalone GameCube title, Nintendo Puzzle Collection isn't exactly a shining benchmark of the hardware's computing power. Sure, the visuals are every bit as bright and colorful as they were in their previous incarnations, but don't expect any GameCube specific enhancements here. Thankfully, with classic 2D gameplay this tight, much more really isn't needed to keep your mind glued into the Nintendo puzzle groove. GameCube owners looking for an excellent pack of timeless puzzle titles will be wise to anticipate Nintendo Puzzle Collection. The game is currently available for sale in Japan, and importers get our full recommendation on picking this one up.
Stay tuned as we keep you posted on Nintendo's future plans to release it to puzzle fans here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. In the meantime, be sure to checkout our brand-new movies and screenshots of the Japanese retail copy in the media section below.