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-Page

Notes

Panel de Pon GB Mode

Characters from Panel de Pon can be found in the ROM, suggesting that Pokémon Puzzle Challenge was originally meant to be a Panel de Pon entry but got re-branded partway through.

That said, Panel de Pon GB does exist in a very early and generally unpolished state, as the characters and music are all there. The game can even be accessed on a regular Game Boy or Super Game Boy. Interestingly, the game's CGB Bootstrap ROM palette is remarkably similar to Tetris Attack for Game Boy and its Japanese version, Yoshi no Panepon, except that it is more yellow than green.

If using a non-GBC Game Boy, Panel de Pon GB can accessed from the GBC-only screen by pressing A (×24), B (×24) (you will hear a chime after pressing each button the required amount of times). If on a Game Boy Color or a newer handheld, the GBC-only screen can be triggered from the title screen by pressing Up (×2), Right (×4), Down, Left (×10), Up (×4), Right, Down (×6), B. Once the screen is displayed, pressing A (×24), B (×24) will launch Panel de Pon GB.

Alternatively, it can be accessed by using Game Genie code 1F0-23B-80E which will start Panel de Pon in GBC mode, or 1F0-3AB-91E in any other GB mode.

Japan	US	Europe

The European version of this hidden mode renames the "FIREWORKS" option to "SCROLL".
All options save for the last two correspond to options or secrets available in the main game. Their functions are as follows:

GAME MENU	Gamemode settings.
GAME MODE	Swaps between Marathon and Garbage mode.
GAME LVL	Difficulty level. Effects differ between gamemodes.
SPEED LVL	(Marathon mode only) Affects speed of the stack's automatic rise.
GRBG LVL	(Garbage mode only) Affects size of falling garbage blocks.
START!!	Launches a game.
OPTIONS	General settings.
SEMI-SIGN	Toggles pseudo-transparency of the signs that pop up for combos/chains.
SCORE LIM	Whether the score maxes out at 5 or 6 digits.
CRY	Swaps between two sets of combo/chain sounds.
SPEED LIM	Whether speed levels above 50 keep increasing stack speed or not.
STOP	Toggles stop timer given when doing combos or chains.
SCROLL	Allows the player to raise the stack while panels are popping.
MUSIC	Toggles music playback.
SOUNDS	Toggles sound effects playback.
DANCING	Toggles panel animations.
RESET	Sets all OPTIONs to their default state.

Character Cries

The sound that plays when the player does a combo or chain in this mode changes depending on the RAM address for player character (JP:C0CE US/EU:CEA3). If the "CRY" options is set to "VOICE", the game will play approximations of the voice lines from Panel de Pon. "SOUNDS" mode, meanwhile, will usually play all-new sound effects.

Character	Voice	Sound
00: Lip (Default)
01: Windy
02: Sherbet
03: Thiana
04: Ruby
05: Elias
06: Flare
07: Neris
08: Seren
09: Phoenix
0A: Dragon
0B: Thanatos
0C: Cordelia

When the stack is near the top of the screen, a different sound will play to signal a longer stop timer. This sound is the same for all characters, but still has a SOUNDS and VOICE variant, unlike the main game which always plays your Pokémon's cry when "PKMN Cry" is enabled.

"STOP" Voice	"STOP" Sound

! Panel

! Panels seem fully functional, but none of the playable modes use them. They also lack "dancing" graphics.

You can inject ! Panels in the RAM's playfield data (which starts around address D100) by overwriting panels with 070701070000 for the regular version, and 074102000000 for the "queued" version.

(Source: Mezmorize, nensondubois)

VS. Mode Assets

The ROM bank with Panel de Pon GB mode's graphics contains assets for a game mode with garbage blocks, a vertical bar animation, a "stage" label, and a second portrait. Difficulty labels for Super-Hard and Violence-Hard can also be found.

While forcing the game in VS. Com mode does load the first image's graphics, its rules and HUD seem to just be a broken version of Garbage mode which doesn't even spawn garbage blocks. Garbage mode itself also loads these graphics before overwriting parts of them with its own, as it would otherwise lack "gray garbage" graphics.

Time Zone

Time Zone works, albeit with some broken assets. To access it, set RAM address CEBE (JP) or CEA1 (US/EU) to 01. Keep in mind that the game hangs when the cursor is on GAME MODE or after ending a game if this value isn't 00 or 04.

This is the only game mode that can trigger a "winning" Game Over.

Incomplete Characters/Stages

The game is built to support stage themes beyond Lip's, but while changing the stage RAM value can change the background color, the sidebar only loads a broken layout.

The player character value is likewise supposed to change the player portrait and garbage block theme. The former works to an extent (with Phoenix replacing Lip's friends), but the latter just loads "try again" graphics, overwriting other assets in the process.

The background music also changes based on these values, but all the corresponding song IDs point to silence.

Other Panel de Pon GB Leftovers

To do: This game has a lot of compressed graphics; documentation and decompressor on Jul.

In addition to the above, very barebones version of Panel de Pon GB still buried inside the game, there are many leftover graphics from a more complete version which likely would've had features similar to the final Pokémon Puzzle Challenge.

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  Mugshots of various Panel de Pon characters.

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  Zoomed out mugshots, some additional English text and less Engrish. Some of the graphics were localized since they are still used in the final game.

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  Even more mugshots. Note that the bottom two characters, Zilba and Kain respectively, were later used in the Nintendo Puzzle Collection version, which replaced nearly the entire cast with redesigned characters. The second character in the middle row appears to be unused in both the Super Famicom and GameCube releases.

The graphics from the middle image are loaded into VRAM on all stage select screens besides Challenge mode's, but any mugshot that would appear in that mode is then replaced with the corresponding Pokémon, Gym Leader, or Professor Oak's head.

Besides the uncompressed mugshots, there are many blocks of compressed graphics still left over from Panel de Pon, including the title screen, which reconfirms that the game was supposed to be called Panel de Pon GB before the Pokémon rebranding. (All offsets are for the Japanese version.)

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  0x7D615: The Nintendo logo screen, reminiscent of the SNES version.

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  Assembled mockup of the Nintendo logo screen, part 1.

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  Part two of the Nintendo logo. It appears these were animated.

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  Mockup of the Nintendo logo screen (3).

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  0x9E3A5: The title screen.

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  The Title screen, as seen after applying the title screen patch.

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  0x9F2B4: The title screen's "Push Start" message.

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  0x3E5E4: Graphics for the suspend save screen.

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  0x3E8FE: More graphics for the suspend save screen.

• 

  Restored suspend screen.

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  0x65274: Incomplete resume screen graphics.

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  0x135B37:Garbage blocks. The last set is reminiscent of Tetris Attack (SNES).

To restore the PDP Title Screen, use this xdelta patch and apply it to the Japanese ROM:

Download Panel de Pon GB Title Screen Patch File: PPC_PdPGB_Title_Screen.zip (info)

A restoration is in the works here.

(Source: Jul)

Character Artwork

Game Genie code 160-23B-80E will boot the game in a mode that displays redrawn "character bio" artwork from Panel de Pon. Different artwork will be loaded depending on the value at RAM address CDA1 (JP) or CDC1 (US/EU).

• 

  00: Lip

• 

  01: Windy

• 

  03: Sherbet

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  04: Thiana

• 

  05: Ruby

• 

  06: Elias

• 

  07: Flare

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  08: Neris

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  09: Seren

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  0A: Phoenix

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  0B: Dragon

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  0C: Thanatos

• 

  0A: Cordelia

Unused Stage Graphics

Setting the RAM address for the current stage graphics (JP:CEBF US/EU:CEA2) to values above 0D will load themes left over from Panel de Pon GB.

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  0E: Flower Stage

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  0F: Wind Stage

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  10: Ice Stage

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  11: Forest Stage

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  12: Jewel Stage

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  13: Water Stage

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  14: Fire Stage

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  15: Sea Stage

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  16: Moon Stage

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  17: Phoenix

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  18: Dragon

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  19: Thanatos

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  1A: Cordelia

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  1B: Zilba?

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  1C and over: Fallback?

0F, 11, and 13 use the same borders as the Flying, Grass, and Water Pokémon themes respectively. Only the background animation differs.

1B and over load the same palette and border as 1A (with a broken "incoming garbage" area). 1C onward use the background from training mode, which lacks vertically offset animations, so the last loaded background is reverted to as the stack scrolls.

Unused Scenes

Artworks showing unused scenes from Panel de Pon GB can be seen on the map in VS. COM mode by setting RAM Address DF1F (US: DF07; EU:DF04) to 01, CF09 (US/EU:CEEC) to the desired scene's id, and CF08 (US/EU:CEEB) to 2C or 38 to load the scene with a black or white transition respectively. Also set CE25 (US/EU:CE45) to 01 to align the background to the sprite layer.

• 

  00

• 

  01

• 

  02

• 

  03

• 

  04

• 

  05

• 

  06

• 

  07

• 

  08

• 

  09

• 

  0A

• 

  0B

Unused PCM Samples

Four PCM samples exist in the ROM which go completely unused in the final game. Curiously, the game code has two references to the PCM playback function at ROM address 18EB(JP), but they're not called by the game at any point. They are at 1D227(JP) and BA6AC(JP), which is the options config screen and one of the banks pertaining to VS Com mode, respectively.

"Nintendo!"		ID: 00
"Congratulations!"		ID: 01
"Here we go!"		ID: 02
"Hooray!"		ID: 03

These can be heard in-game by playing the Options menu's first SOUND with the following Game Genie codes (where "??" is the sample's ID).

Japan	US	Europe
022-4DA-E6E ??2-4EA-5D2	021-FEA-E6E ??1-FFA-5D2	021-16A-E6E ??1-17A-5D2

Unseen Tile Layout

One of the congratulatory screens has a tile layout that can only be seen by disabling the Window layer. Normally it appears as a jumbled mess, but replacing the pointer at ROM offset 7EE77 with 19 54 2A reveals an image of Lip. The intended palette no longer seems to exist in the ROM, and the graphics seen in the image are only present in the Japanese version.

Unused Text

To do: Unused Japanese text for Panel de Pon GB character bios and easy mode ending has been found.

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

Unmapped Tracks

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.

Track		ROM Offset
Title Screen Intro		088000
Title Screen/VS Com Map		0951B7
Windy's Theme		08C9B6
Windy Danger		08C746
Sherbet's Theme		0884DD
Sherbet Danger		08CE95
Thiana's Theme		088DDE
Thiana Danger		08FD47
Ruby's Theme		180575 (JP/US) 08A513 (EU)
Ruby Danger		08F7A4
Elias' Theme		08D0EF
Elias Danger		0934F0
Flare's Theme		092943
Flare Danger		090ACE
Neris' Theme		088104
Neris Danger		08FA49
Seren's Theme		08C000
Seren Danger		08C631
Phoenix and Dragon Theme		08D4E1
Phoenix and Dragon Danger		08E451
Thanatos' Theme		08E5F6
Thanatos Danger		09076C
Cordelia's Theme		08DB2C
Cordelia Danger		0908AC
Death Mt.		0919FE
Enemy Encounter		09165F
Cordelia Encounter		09721C
Game Over (Lip)		096875
Game Over (Windy)		090F57
Game Over (Elias)		092263
Stage Clear		0910A0
99999pts Clear		09652D
Credits (Endless Mode)		09489B
Credits (Endless 99999pts)		094000
Credits (Puzzle Mode)		091B23
Credits (Stage Clear Mode)		095E8F
Credits (VS Com Mode)		095539
Spell Lifted		089640 08EBD2 (+ VS Com Map)
World Spell Lifted		09B10F 08EFFF (+ VS Com Map)
NPC VS COM Easy Ending		097724
NPC Zilba Theme		09B21D
Unknown		089323
		0893C6
		08F494
		0923DE
		09397A
		096ECE
		09740D
		09838C
		098CD8
		0996A9 09AFDE (1st Half) 096BA8 (Delayed 1st Half) 096CDF (2nd Half)
		09AB2F 098000 (Delayed)
		09AE93 0894ED (Delayed)
		09B65F
		09BB64
		09C000 (JP/US) 0896EA (EU)
		18197B (JP/US) 08B91B (EU)

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