Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (Game Boy Advance) - Review by skarma

Introduction

Dr. Mario is a name that will be familiar to all you retro nuts. It was first released on the NES and Game Boy way back in 1990 as a puzzle game. Dr. Mario was re-created on the Nintendo 64, subtly named Dr. Mario 64 (which was only released in the US). In 2004, Nintendo re-released the original Dr. Mario for the Game Boy Advance, as part of the Classic NES Series. You could say it was popular, but I now beg the question: "Is it any good?" Puzzle League on the other hand has gone through many incarnations, but the name kept changing. It was first released on the SNES in Japan under than name Panel de Pon (Paneru de Pon) and starred a young girl called Lip. Now you might not know this, but if you've ever played Super Smash Bros. Melee, you will have come across the "Lip's Stick" item, which plants a flower on the opponents head when you hit them. In Panel de Pon, Lip used this item on her enemies and many people outside of Japan wonder where the item "Lip's Stick" comes from. This is because when it was released outside of Japan, the name had changed to Tetris Attack. Which is rather odd since the game has about as much in common with Tetris as Spider-Man has with Pepsi Max. Lip was replaced with Yoshi, and the graphics got a complete overhaul, which at the time appealed to the young male audience Nintendo of America were trying to go for. But the game remained the same. The next re-incarnation was on the Nintendo 64, in the shape of a cuddly yellow rat. Pokémon Puzzle League is the same game as Panel de Pon, except everything (except the main game itself) was totally changed. Now remove the Pokémon from Pokémon Puzzle League and there you have it - Puzzle League!

Gameplay

With Dr. Mario being considerably more popular than Puzzle League, you would expect it to be a bit better no? Well, that isn't the case here. In Dr. Mario there are three colours of viruses that infect the playfield. Your goal - get rid of them. How? Dr. Mario drops a pill consisting of two sides, with one or two colours on each pill. You rotate and move the pills onto the viruses and other vitamins, attempting to remove the viruses by lining up four or more adjacent viruses or vitamin halves of the same colour in a row or column. The level is complete once all the viruses have been removed from the playfield. As you move up the levels, the pills drop faster and more viruses occupy the playfield. Dr. Mario is fun for a while, but it really gets complicated and frustrating later on. There are 4 main game modes. Single player, which consists of the player moving up levels of the game, which get faster and harder. VS Computer does what it says on the tin, choose the Virus Level and speed and start playing against each other. Endless mode is where you play a certain Virus Level and speed to train yourself up. 2 Player Mode is the same as VS Computer, except it's a real life person you're playing. The game doesn't support game sharing unfortunately. The game itself would receive about 6/10 for gameplay, which is thankfully accompanied by a much better game - going by the name of...

Puzzle League is ultimately the better of the two games on the package. The main objective of the game is to eliminate various coloured blocks on the playfield by creating horizontal or vertical rows of three or more identical blocks. The blocks are moved by switching pairs of horizontally adjacent blocks with the on-screen cursor, controlled by the D-Pad. The blocks move up in a row after a while, and you can instantly move one row of blocks up by pressing L or R at any time. Most of the fun is the quick reactions needed. Chains and Combos are the most exciting things in the game, when you remove three or more of the same coloured blocks. Whatever blocks are above the three fall down beneath, and one coloured block could join two other blocks and remove themselves again, with this process happening all over again. The game might not sound amazingly exciting from what you have read, but you really need to play it to experience the uniqueness that only Puzzle League can bring. There is a Single Player mode where you work your way up; each level serves blocks moving up faster and faster. VS Computer again is where you set the difficulty of the computer and how fast the blocks move up. There is an Objective mode where you must clear all the blocks till you reach a certain horizontal line, then you win. There is a 2 Player Mode as usual, and there is also an Endless mode. Which again is used for practicing your skills (or lack of).

To sum it up, Dr. Mario can be fun for a short period of time, where as Puzzle League is life consuming. It's mindless, pointless, and totally addictive.

Controls

The control for Dr. Mario is extremely simple. A and B are used to rotate the pills, D-Pad to move them and... well that's about it. It's very simple and you wouldn't expect any less, or any more. Puzzle League is also just as easy to control, with A or B used to switch adjacent blocks, D-Pad to move the cursor and the L or R button used to shift one layer of blocks up. There isn't anything you can really complain about in terms of controls.

Graphics

Don't expect the graphics to be a mind-blowing experience. They aren't exactly Golden Sun - simply because they don't need to be. The graphics are very colourful in all aspects and it's all very cheery. They aren't so simple that they insult the screen that your eyes should be on, nor are they popping out from all corners to distract you on what you do best. If you want a comparison, then the Puzzle League graphics tops the graphics of Dr. Mario by a long shot. Dr. Mario feels (in graphical terms) a bit empty when compared to the almighty God that is Puzzle League.

Sound

Just like everything else you have probably noticed, Puzzle League tops the music and sound that is packed into Dr. Mario. Even the catchiest thing since Flu - "Fever", doesn't sound quite as good as it did on the Game Boy all those years ago. Don't expect any rocking' music on these though, Dr. Mario is a bit cooler sounding, but Puzzle League comes out on top as it suits the game and is more calmer. Although it does really come down to personal taste.

Final comments

So, is this package worth your hard-earned £19.99? Most definitely! Dr. Mario might not appeal to everyone, and it certainly didn't appeal to me. But the real gem in here is Puzzle League, it's completely life consuming and you really don't want to stop playing it. Just pick it up and have a go. No seriously, get out and play it right this moment. I can guarantee your going to love every second.

Pro: Puzzle League will take your life away
Con: Puzzle League will take your life away
Final score: 9

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