NOTE: This is for the Japanese version Panel de Pon featuring cute fairies. Not a Yoshi in sight!
Panel de Pon is one of those simple to pick up, difficult to master scenarios and while the skill curve isn't the most satisfying there's more than enough modes and mechanics and multiplayer hijinks to make this an absolute must-play with friends.
While the game is more focused on gameplay, there is a story in one of the modes! Lip, a fairy of the land of flowers, must rescue her other fairy friends from a curse that both makes them evil and creates an endless rainfall to drown the land. Using the flower rod for justice and a bunch of panel puzzle matches, Lip saves the day! This is paired with an adorable presentation that was subtly tweaked with Nintendo characters in the English version.
As for mechanics, the game (usually) consists of a rising selection of random colored blocks. The player uses a 1x2 horizontal cursor to swap blocks horizontally, either switching places or moving them into empty spaces to fall onto other blocks. Matching three will clear, but more complicated clears (4 clear, 5 clear) along with a chain of consecutive clears will clear the stage better and can be used as bonuses depending on mode.
For example in Stage Clear, the player must clear blocks below a specific line at speeds that range from slow to frustratingly fast, but a mechanics exists to halt the rise for a few seconds, more so near the top. Vs mode allows the player to fight either a human or computer where more impressive combos/chains result in large garbage blocks that fill the other side's screen. And lastly, if the player wants to try out some puzzles for specific moves they can use a puzzle mode to do a series of combos/chains in a set amount of moves.
This can get fairly chaotic, but as the player recognizes patterns and figures ways to setup blocks that skill curve can smooth a little bit. That said, the game's difficulty isn't too intuitive and I found myself doing a LOT of trial and error as the game quickly became more complicated than "match a row of 4 or 5 as much as you can and cross your fingers". The game's tutorials aren't super helpful as they are really good at teaching the absolute basics but any advanced strategy necessary to win turns into repeating a lot of the same moves and praying that this time the blocks will fall into place correctly.
It helps that the game has cute and colorful backgrounds and animations with peppy and catchy music that speeds up as the player gets in a tight spot. The fairies also have just enough animation to make them feel more alive as the game progresses without getting too complicated to be distracting.
Panel de Pon is the type of game with a high skill curve that will be incredibly daunting (and kind of annoying) for single player modes but with a fair bit of practice and a fellow friend to have fun with the game can become very satisfying and addicting.
