Panel de Pon (universe)
| Panel de Pon (universe) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Console/platform of origin | Super Famicom |
| First installment | Panel de Pon (1995) 
|
| Latest installment | Puzzle League Express (2009) |
The Panel de Pon universe (パネルでポン, Panel de Pon) refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of properties that hail from the Panel de Pon series of puzzle games developed and published by Nintendo. Since the series' debut in Japan, it has been re-branded internationally under several names, such as Tetris Attack and Puzzle League.
Franchise description
Panel de Pon is a tile-matching puzzle game series developed by Intelligent Systems, where gameplay involves matching three or more tiles of the same color at once to remove them from play. The first game in the series was released on the Super Famicom in Japan in 1995, and starred a series of fairies as its main characters. Its storyline involved the Flower Fairy, Lip, setting out to free her friends from the control of the demon king Thanatos and save the world of the fairies.
In bringing the game outside of Japan, Panel de Pon's original characters were completely replaced by the cast of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (with characters from Rare's Killer Instinct being planned earlier in the localization process[1]), and it was renamed Tetris Attack (referencing the name of unrelated puzzle series Tetris), setting the precedent of keeping the Panel de Pon gameplay but replacing its characters. This was followed up by a port of Tetris Attack for the Game Boy, which retained the Yoshi series theming; the two Tetris Attack games were also re-released in Japan as Yoshi no Panepon (ヨッシーのパネポン, Yoshi's Panepon).
Another pair of rebranded Panel de Pon games, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge and Pokémon Puzzle League, used the cast of the Pokémon series. Both of these games were originally unreleased Panel de Pon titles, as indicated by unused Panel de Pon GB content found in Puzzle Challenge[2] and a prototype of Panel de Pon 64 using the same engine as Puzzle League.[3] All English installments of the series moving forward continue to use the Puzzle League name.
The last game in the series to use the fairy-based theme of the original game was the version of Panel de Pon included in the Japan-only Nintendo Puzzle Collection for Nintendo GameCube. This version of the game, based on the unreleased Panel de Pon 64, starred a new generation of fairies similar to those of the Super Famicom game; Nintendo Puzzle Collection was planned for release outside of Japan and was shown at E3 2003,[4] but was canceled for unknown reasons, despite receiving an ESRB rating.[5] The next two games in the series, Dr. Mario & Puzzle League and Planet Puzzle League, featured no characters at all (barring Pupuri from Puzzle Collection appearing in the former, and Lip's stage being an unlockable theme in the Japanese version of the latter). These installments instead solely featured the gameplay without any story or theming from other series.
After nearly a decade of absence, the series made a reappearance as a minigame in Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo under the name Animal Crossing: Puzzle League, featuring the Animal Crossing cast. Reaching certain milestones in the minigame allows the player to unlock Lip's outfit for their Villager to wear. In 2020, 25 years after the series' debut, the original fairy-based Panel de Pon was released internationally for the first time, via the Nintendo Switch Online service.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
The signature item of Lip, the fairy protagonist of the series, appears as the Lip's Stick item beginning in this game.
Items
- Lip's Stick: Inflicts a flower effect on an opponent upon contact.
Trophy
- Lip's Stick
- This magical stick was used by the character Lip in the Japanese game Panel De Pon, which was later released as Tetris Attack in the United States. Lip's Stick causes a flower to sprout from an enemy's head, inflicting damage as it grows. Quickly tap the Control Stick back and forth to get a flower off of your head.
- Panel De Pon (Japan Only)
Misc.
- Beginning in Melee, Kirby's Stone move uses Lip's garbage block as one of its possible designs.
- The flower effect is representative of the flowers seen in the Panel de Pon title screen. Other causes for the flower effect other than Lip's Stick includes some of Crazy Hand's attacks or the when Togepi is summoned using Leech Seed from the Poké Ball item.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Lip's Stick returns as an item in this game. Additionally, Lip's Theme (Panel de Pon), a remix originating from the first game of the series, appears as a track in My Music for PictoChat. There are also several stickers of characters from the series: specifically, Furil, Pure, Sala, and Cecil from Nintendo Puzzle Collection, along with one of the titular Panels. However, in localized versions of the game, these fairies are incorrectly named as Lip, Ruby, Elias, and Seren; these are the names of their respective counterparts from the Super Famicom version of Panel de Pon. Equipping the Furil/Lip sticker in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary will grant the player a Lip's Stick when spawning into a level.
Items
- Lip's Stick: Returns as an item in this game.
Music
- Lip's Theme (Panel de Pon): An unlockable arrangement of Lip's theme from Panel de Pon is used in the PictoChat stage.
Trophy
- Lip's Stick
- An item that causes a damage-dealing flower to bloom on people's heads. If you find yourself with a flower on your noggin, start rattling the Control Stick back and forth to shake it off. Some characters can pull off having flower-covered heads in style, while others clearly cannot.
: Panel de Pon (Japan Only)
Stickers
| Name | Game | Effect | Characters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flower Fairy Lip | Nintendo Puzzle Collection | Carry Lip's Stick | 
|
| Jewel Fairy Ruby | Nintendo Puzzle Collection |   Attack +12
|
|
| Moon Fairy Seren | Nintendo Puzzle Collection |  Attack +16
|
 
|
| Water Fairy Elias | Nintendo Puzzle Collection |  Attack +30
|
|
| Panel | Nintendo Puzzle Collection |  +2
|
|
.png) Flower Fairy Lip (Nintendo Puzzle Collection) |
.png) Jewel Fairy Ruby (Nintendo Puzzle Collection) |
.png) Moon Fairy Seren (Nintendo Puzzle Collection) |
.png) Water Fairy Elias (Nintendo Puzzle Collection) |
.png) Panel (Nintendo Puzzle Collection) |
Misc.
Kirby's Stone move using Lip's Garbage Block in Brawl.
- The flower effect returns and can now be afflicted through certain moves, such as Rest and Negative Zone. The ailment can also be turned on throughout the whole match within Special Brawl.
In Super Smash Bros. 4
While there is no new content for the Panel de Pon series, Lip's Stick returns once again as an item in this game, and the Lip's Theme (Panel de Pon) remix reappears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the Wrecking Crew stage.
Items
- Lip's Stick: Returns as an item in this game.
Music
Lip's Theme (Panel de Pon): The remix returns as a default song for the Wrecking Crew stage, exclusive to the Wii U version.
Trophies
- Lip's Stick
With this wand in hand, a simple flick of the wrist will sprout a flower from a character's head. If you keep on flicking, the flower grows larger. The bigger the flower, the more nutrients it craves, dealing more and more damage to the host. Shake it off by running around real fast!
: Panel de Pon (Japan)
With a wave of this wand, make a flower bloom on your opponent's head. A lovely big flower. One that gets bigger the more times you hit them. It must be absorbing nutrients from its host, since your rival's damage will slowly go up and up while it's there. If this ever happens to you, try to shake it off by running around!- : Panel de Pon (1995 (JP))
Misc.
- Lip's garbage block returns in SSB4 as one of its possible designs for Kirby's Stone move.
- The flower effect returns as an effect in this game. The ailment can also be turned on throughout the whole match through Special Smash within the Wii U version.
- In the Wii U version, one of Yoshi's tips refers to Tetris Attack for the SNES, while in the Japanese release, it refers to the Game Boy version instead.
Kirby using grounded stone in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Kirby with a Flower ailment in Smash 4
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In this game, Lip makes her first on-screen appearance in the Smash Bros. series (as well as her first physical appearance in any form of media released in Western territories) as a support spirit. She is also the basis for a costume for Mii Swordfighters and a Friend Icon for online play. The appearance of the flower effect has been changed, now resembling those seen on the title screen of Panel de Pon. Lip's Stick also returns as an item.
Items
- Lip's Stick: Returns as an item in this game.
Mii Costumes
Costumes
Hats
Music
Returning track
- "Lip's Theme - Panel de Pon": A remix of Lip's theme from Panel de Pon, returns from Brawl.
Spirit
| No. | Image | Name | Type | Class | Cost | Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,153 |  |
Lip |  |
★★★ | 1 | Lip's Stick Equipped |
Misc.
- Lip's garbage block returns in Ultimate as one of its possible designs for Kirby's Stone move.
- The flower effect returns as an effect in this game, being redesigned to now resemble the flowers seen in the Panel de Pon title screen. The ailment can also be turned on throughout the whole match within the Custom Smash mode.
- One of Yoshi's tips refers to Tetris Attack for the SNES, while in the Japanese release, it refers to the Game Boy version instead.
Richter holding Lip's Stick.
All of the references to Lip in Ultimate.
Games with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series
Panel De Pon
- Playable characters:
The garbage block is one of several forms Kirby can take when using Stone.
Lip appears as a costume for the Mii Swordfighter.
- Item:
- Lip's Stick appears as an item.
- Trophies:
- Lip's Stick appears as a trophy.
- Spirit:
- Lip appears as a spirit.
- Music:
- "Lip's Theme - Panel de Pon": An arrangement of Lip's theme from this game.
Nintendo Puzzle Collection
- Stickers:
- Flower Fairy Lip, Jewel Fairy Ruby, Moon Fairy Seren, Water Fairy Elias, and panel appear as stickers.
Trivia
- Although there are no fighters from the Panel de Pon universe in the Super Smash Bros. series, some of the characters that were playable in rebranded Panel de Pon games are fighters, such as Yoshi and Bowser from Tetris Attack, Pikachu and Pichu from Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, Squirtle and Mewtwo from Pokémon Puzzle League, and Villager from Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo's Puzzle League minigame.
- Jigglypuff and Isabelle also make non-playable appearances in these games.
References
