Pros: Fun puzzle game.
Cons: None.
The bottom line: Great game for people who like tetris.
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is just one of the many Pokemon games that my kids have and it happens to be the only one that my husband will actually play. Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is basically a Tetris clone with a Pokemon twist, an interesting idea for kids who are into Pokemon, but a fun little game for everyone. With the eight different play modes to choose from, everyone can have fun with Pokemon Puzzle Challenge.

Playing the game is easy, just line up three or more of the same colored blocks to score points. Instead of blocks falling from above, like in most Tetris games, the playing field of blocks actually rises, so the faster you clear the better. You also get more points for chains and combos (multiple matches and multiple blocks cleared).

As I mentioned before, there are eight different modes of play for Pokemon Puzzle Challenge so it's easy to find one that's just right for you. The different modes are:

Training - This mode basically lets you practice your skills at a slower pace than it would be in the game. It's also the perfect place to practice your chains and combos if you're not that good at it.

Challenge - This is the one my kids play the most out of all the modes. Here you pick your difficulty and then you go on the road and challenge all the gym leaders you come across to a battle, you'll also meet other trainers. If you do certain tasks during the battles, you can capture new Pokemon from the guest trainers. To get to the final champion, you will have to defeat every trainer on the hard difficulty level. My kids are good at this one, I just can't seem to get very far in this mode.

Marathon - This one is my favorite, with this mode you choose your speed, difficulty level and the Pokemon you want to use and then clear as many blocks as you can before the stack of blocks reaches the top of the screen. If you start out on the slowest speed and level, this one can last a long time! I have a lot of fun with this one and think I do pretty well on it too, that is until my ten year old son comes along and kills my score. He's not only the king of this mode, but I think he's the king of this game, period.

Time Zone - This is another fun mode if you like basic play. Again, you choose your speed and level and you are given a time limit to clear as much as you can. If you score high enough you can get your name on the Best Scores list, my name has disappeared from that list long ago since my kids play it so much.

Line Clear - This one is another fun mode, but you have to be good to keep advancing. Here you will go against seven different trainers, not in head to head, but they challenge you to clear the lines in order to advance. In each of the battles you will need to clear a specific number of lines before your stack of blocks reaches the top of the screen. Fun, like I said, but you have to be good in order to keep moving ahead in this one.

Puzzle - With this one you can take your time unlike the other modes. Here you are given a group of blocks that you have to clear from the screen in a certain number of moves. As you move on, it does get harder, some you will have to clear with one move and some you might have three moves to do it in. Fun, but it really makes you have to think.

Garbage - This one is just like Marathon except that you have garbage dumped on top of your blocks as you go. The garbage is basically larger blocks that don't get you anything and you have to clear the ones under it to get rid of the garbage. This one is more difficult than Marathon and you really have to be good at the game in order to do well and advance in this one. This is one I don't get very far in, but my kids enjoy this one.

Two Player - This is one mode we haven't tried. You go head to head with another player using the game link cable. Both players have to have Pokemon Puzzle Challenge to play this one, this is why my kids haven't had a chance to do this one since we only have one game.

As you can see with the many different modes to choose from, there should be a mode in the game that everyone should like. Even my four year old has fun with it, he usually just plays Puzzle mode and he seems to get better at it every time he plays. My other kids seem to like the Challenge mode the best, where I prefer Marathon and Line Clear.

Being made for Game Boy Color, there is really nothing spectacular about the sound or graphics. The sound is OK and the Pokemon sounds when you clear a line can become annoying after a while, so I usually ask the kids to turn it down. The graphics are OK also, they are typical for Game Boy Color, you can see the different Pokemon and such, but not in great detail, I think mainly because of the small screen.

Like I mentioned in the beginning, it's basically Tetris with a Pokemon twist, but you don't have to be a Pokemon lover to enjoy this game. Because it's made for Game Boy Color, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge will work with all versions of Game Boy except the original black and white version, so you can still play it even if you have the newer versions of Game Boy.

All in all, I think Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is a fun game for kids who like Pokemon and for people who like to play different variations of Tetris or puzzle games.

This review is part of Rock_On's Nintendo W/O. A full list of the participants can be found here: >Rock_On.