Puzzle Link review by substance J

Originally released in 1998, Tsunagete Pon! was part of the first wave of Neo Geo Pocket software to hit the market. With the launch of the Neo Geo Pocket Color, a colorized update was released (apply named Tsunagete Pon! Color), which has since found its way to American shores under the name Puzzle Link. A few minor changes have been made between the different versions, though all 3 games can be considered a single entity, really.

Graphics
When I powered up Puzzle Link for the first time, I was surprised to see how well presented the graphics are. The in-game visuals are pretty basic, but ultimately suitable, with well-defined puzzle pieces and a few nice touches like the animated character window on the left side of the screen (of course, I'm generally far too busy linking blocks to notice, or care). What impressed me, though, were the great front-end graphics and menu designs. From the intro to the continue screen, everything looks very stylish and unique from other puzzle games. For me, puzzle games need personality to be fully enjoyable (Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, for example), and Puzzle Link's art direction and satisfyingly deep color palette provide just that.

Sound
As with the majority of handheld games, Puzzle Link's SFX are on the average side of things, and a bit nondescript. However, I dig the music quite a bit. It's catchy, and more complex than I would expect from a 4 Meg game. The music used throughout the intro and menu screens (title, options, continue, etc) is all unique, though while playing, the BG tune is always the same. This can become pretty repetitive during long sessions, so it would have been nice if a few more songs could've been added. Hopefully Puzzle Link 2 will provide a bit more variety.

Gameplay
Puzzle Link offers two distinct flavors of single player puzzling: Normal and Clear. Both modes are based around the same gameplay system - aim and fire connectors to link the colored blocks. When two separate blocks (or groups of blocks) are linked, they're destroyed and removed from the board. This can cause other surrounding blocks to fall, creating chained combos for added points and saved time.

In Normal mode, your goal is to link and destroy the onslaught of incoming blocks, without letting any of them cross your "deadline". After a while, two Round Clear targets appear, usually surrounded by a few wonderfully inconvenient blocks. Once you have cleared a path, the Round Clear targets can be linked, thus removing all other blocks from the field of play, and ending the round. On the left side of the screen is a gauge that gradually drops as time goes on. If you can clear the round before the gauge is empty, you'll unlock a Character Card. Each of them features a picture of a character (some of which are pretty weird), my favorite being a Monkey that bears a striking resemblance to Fighting Vipers' Bahn (hmmm…). Earning all 91 Character Cards adds a lot of replay value to the game, even if you never make it that far (or have any intention of doing so).

Clear mode is a whole new kind of insanity. In this mode, there are no gauges or time limits, just a preset pattern of blocks laid out for you to deal with. The individual puzzles range from simple 1 shot finishes to absolutely mind-boggling layouts that must be painstakingly observed, and then with a bit of dumb luck, solved. I'm unsure of how many puzzles there are in Clear mode...since I've only made it to 25 so far. Then my brain started hurting.

Overall
Since I'm not a huge fan of the puzzle genre, I stayed away from the Tsunagete Pon! series for quite a while. Though, once Puzzle Link was released here, I took a leap of faith and have ended up satisfied with it. It can be very addictive (before writing this review, I sat down to play a quick round to refresh my memory. Before I knew it, those 5 minutes had turned into an hour), it packs additional replay value in the form of Character Cards, and I love the graphic design (I must commend SNK USA for keeping the original box art intact). Puzzle Link is one of the more unique puzzle games out there, and definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the genre. C'mon, you've gotta love Woody...