History:

I never played this game specifically, but I did play and greatly enjoy Pokemon Puzzle League for the N64.

Expectations:

Gameboy... not the best console for someone who doesn't much care for puzzle games. Still, like I said I played a lot of Pokemon Puzzle League for the 64 and I do love me some Tetris Attack so I'm hoping to have fun with this one. Not sure how much longevity I'll be getting from it though, but we'll see!

Day 1:

For my first playthrough I went with Totodile, as I don't believe there are any other correct options, and chose to play Marathon. The game's every bit as fun as I remember league being, and even faster. I managed to get my speed level up to 37 or so before I finally couldn't keep up. Don't know if that's good or bad or what, but this mode got pretty boring pretty quickly anyway.

Tomorrow I'll go into Challenge mode, as that seems to be the "beatable" mode in this game.

Day 2:

Grabbed a sandwich and sat down for some lunchtime gaming!

I decided to try Challenge Mode on easy, which apparently pits me against the eight gym leaders from Gold and Silver, and then the Elite Four.

It plays like the versus mode in Tetris Attack except instead of trying to overwhelm the opponent with blocks, you're just chipping away at an HP pool which makes a lot more sense for a portable game! One issue with the Easy mode of this game is that it's way too easy, even the final encounter of the mode.

Also in easy, your game ends after beating the gym leaders so...

...Yay?

I immediately restarted on Medium and began progressing through the game. In Medium, blocks come at you MUCH faster than on easy which, in its own way, actually helps rounds progress more smoothly.

I was only able to get through three or four gyms before it was time to go back to work, but my thumbs were flying almost non-stop. It's still not overwhelmingly difficult and it's easy to see how much harder Hard could be, but I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Luckily this game has a save system, so tonight I'll be wrapping up Medium Challenge Mode, possibly giving Hard a shot. In spite of this, it's still really just a "once in a while" kind of game, so after I've had my fill of Challenge I'll probably hang it up for a while.

Later...

The difficulty kept on escalating until I was finally face to face with the Elite Four! The game got really interesting at this point with a near constant barrage of blocks incoming from overhead. I was able to take down the first of the Four but after that...

That is one mean looking Golbat...

Conclusion:

This is what I consider to be a perfect portable puzzle game. Quick to get into and out of, fantastic presentation, and simple yet challenging gameplay.

Case in point, I just accidentally got distracted end wound up playing for another 5 minutes right in the middle of this conclusion! Pokemon Puzzle Challenge looks, sounds and plays wonderfully, for me making it the perfect quick time waster game to bring on the bus, or to a wedding.

Liked:

- Great presentation, doing right by its license.
- Fantastic version of Tetris Attack with plenty of play modes.
- Harder difficulties offer a frantic challenge that will give your thumbs a major workout!

Disliked:

- No Generation 1 starters...
- A product of the genre, but the game will quickly overstay its welcome if played outside of short bursts.

Personal Score: