Pokémon Puzzle Challenge

Pokémon Puzzle Challenge
Also known as: Pokémon de Panepon (JP) Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Color Released in JP: September 21, 2000 Released in US: December 4, 2000 Released in EU: June 15, 2001 Released in AU: June 15, 2001 This game has unused objects. This game has unused modes / minigames. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a notes page

Question: What do you get when you combine Pokémon and Tetris Attack? Answer: Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, yet another of Nintendo's attempts at increasing the marketability of Panel de Pon by rebranding it (on both sides of the Pacific this time).

Sub-Pages

Notes

Panel de Pon GB Panel de Pon for the Game Boy

Unused PPL Title Screen

The game was going to be titled Pokémon Puzzle League at one point, matching the N64 game. Using these Game Genie codes for the Japanese version will load this screen in place of the Puzzle Challenge title screen.

27B-C5D-E6F
4AB-C4D-E63
4BB-C3D-D57
27B-C2D-E6F
4AB-C1D-E63
32B-C0D-6E2
27B-BFD-E6F
48B-BED-E6B
D2B-BDD-E6A

This screen is actually a simple reskin of the Panel de Pon GB title screen. Lip's sprites were just replaced with transparency, and music tracks 21 and 22 are played despite being silent.

Debug Menu

Game Genie code 220-23B-80E will start Pokémon Puzzle Challenge in a screen setting viewer/CHR set viewer. Soft resetting from the main game after enabling the code is recommended for more stable results (especially on the European version, since many screens rely on a language being selected).

You can view all stage backdrop sets, special events, and boss introductions. Pressing Left, Right, Select, Select+Up, or Select+Down depending on the screen allows testing of various functions such as listening to Pokémon cries, scrolling the screen, setting the menu cursor, and other specific functions.

Entry	Description
0000-0003	Save, resume, congratulations, and game over screens. Left, Right, and Select move the game over screen's cursor.
0004-000B	LineClear introduction screens.
000C-002E	Character and Pokémon portraits.
002F-0048	Battle portraits. Shows all frames and their corresponding animations. Left and Right play the Pokémon's cry.
0049-007C	Garbage block sets for every Pokémon. Can be scrolled in all directions.
007D-0085	Overworld "islands" for Challenge mode.
0086	Scrolling Pokémon League hallway. Can be manually scrolled in all directions.
0087-008E	LineClear "ROUND CLEAR!!" screens.
008F-010E	Stage graphics and layouts. Some of these combinations are normally inaccessible.
010F-0116	Puzzle mode completion screens.
0117-0128	Ending screens for the various modes. Select+Up decreases credits scroll speed, Select+Down increases it.
0129-012C	Pokémon egg portraits.
012D-0146	PKMN Data screens. Select+Up/Down scroll "Face Select" cursor, Left/Right change selected Pokémon without updating the screen.
0147-0155	Boss battle introductions and defeat cuscenes. 0155 depicts an unused event, as beating Lance always triggers the ending on the spot.
0156-0157	Stop timer animations.
0158-0159	Pikachu splash screen.

(Source: Mezmorize, nensondubois)

Unused Music

There are three unused music tracks in the game's data. GameShark code 01??80C8 (JP) or 01??A0C8 (US/EU) ("??" being the song ID) will force the corresponding track to play in most game modes. Song ID 54 is a duplicate main menu track used in the gallery, ID 4F and 50 are duplicates of the Game Over music which get picked at random on the suspend screen, and the Panel de Pon track ID values are 1E, 1F, and 20.

Unused Song 1		ID: 01
Unused Song 2		ID: 04
Unused Song 3		ID: 1C

There are a lot more unused songs and jingles, from when the game was going to be Panel de Pon GB, that are unmapped and need to be patched in to be heard. The music pointer table is located at 8190E, and nearly every pointer after 8196E is set to play no music. See the Panel de Pon GB subpage for more details.

Unused Pokémon Mugshots

Primeape, Jynx, and Hitmontop have unique menu portraits that never normally appear. The rest of the non-playable Pokémon's unused icons are just cropped from their battle portraits.

GBC-Only Screen

There is a black-and-white GBC palette programmed for the GBC-only message screen, likely added for the aforementioned Easter-egg game mode Panel de Pon GB. Game Genie code 1D0-23B-80E will start the game on this screen in GBC mode.

(Source: Mezmorize, nensondubois)

This screen might have leftover code from Tetris Attack's title screen, as a connected copy of the main game or Tetris Attack will mistakenly treat being on this screen as being "multiplayer ready".

Leftover Japanese Language

Setting RAM address CF2B to 00 while on the European version's language select screen will highlight an otherwise inaccessible Japanese option, complete with its own flag sprite.

While the game does retain some Japanese text and assets, a good amount of content is still replaced with its English counterpart when playing on this setting. Interestingly however, the Japanese Link Error screen was kept, but modified to remove a mention of Panel de Pon GB.

Japanese Link Error	European Japanese Link Error