Panel de Pon (universe)

Panel de Pon (universe)
Developer(s)	Nintendo Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Console/platform of origin	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
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 Fairy of Flowers, 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, 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. The next three releases of the series, Tetris Attack on Game Boy, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, and Pokémon Puzzle League, continued to use other series' characters, specifically those of the Yoshi and Pokémon series. The last of these three also introduced the most recent English title for the series, Puzzle League.

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 starred a new generation of fairies similar to those of the Super Famicom game. Since then, the next two games in the series (Dr. Mario & Puzzle League and Planet Puzzle League) featured no characters at all (barring a Japan-only cameo of Lip), merely the gameplay without any story or other series' theming. 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 that game's characters. Playing the minigame lets the player unlock various pieces of clothing based on Lip's outfit for their villager to wear.

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. Kirby's Stone move, beginning in Melee, uses Lip's garbage block as one of its possible designs.

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, including Furil, Pure, Sala, and Cecil, but named incorrectly in non-Japanese versions of the game as Lip, Ruby, Elias, and Seren respectively from the original Super Famicom version of the game. However it is possible that these are the names were used for Nintendo Puzzle Collection as it was originally going to have release outside of Japan but was cancelled. Equiping the Flower Fairy Lip sticker in Subspace Emissary will grant the player Lip's Stick.

Sticker

Flower Fairy Lip (Nintendo Puzzle Collection)

Jewel Fairy Ruby (Nintendo Puzzle Collection)

Moon Fairy Seren (Nintendo Puzzle Collection)

Water Fairy Elias (Nintendo Puzzle Collection)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

The 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.

• 

  Melee Trophy

• 

  Brawl Trophy

• 

  Smash 3DS Trophy

• 

  Smash Wii U Trophy

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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.

• 

  The updated flower as seen on Mario, Pac-Man, and Sonic.

• 

  Richter holding Lip's Stick.