Dr. Mario/Puzzle League are recreations of two of Nintendo's most popular puzzle creations. Though Dr. Mario has already been released on the GBA as a Classic NES Series title, the version included in the dual-pack is enhanced specifically for the Game Boy Advance hardware instead of a straight emulation of the original NES title. Puzzle League was originally brought to life as Tetris Attack, but then rebranded on the Game Boy Color as Pokemon Puzzle Challenge a few years back. The GBA version is also enhanced for the GBA's much more capable graphics hardware and was previously an unlockable game via the GameCube - Game Boy Advance Link Cable in Nintendo Puzzle Collection for the GameCube.
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For the GBA I find these versions of Dr. Mario & Puzzle League to be quite good. As by no means are these the best these games have ever been, but they are also not the worst. Just simple well designed ports, which in my opinion has been developed and present in a well enough manner as to be quite fun.
Two classic falling blocks puzzle games I wish were just a lot better.
Dr. Mario's physics for the blocks themselves just feels kinda wrong, like there's a sense that it adds too much momentum to the direction you want to slide to and can end up over shooting where you'd like to go.
In that sense, I think this might be one of my least favorite iterations of Dr. Mario if not for all the added options like a Vs com in single player or a special mode called Flash where you try to take out only specific viruses.
Puzzle League (aka Tetris Attack) on the other hand keeps much of the appeal with A LOT of game modes making this the superior game of the two, but sadly is a lot blander than it's previous ports. With some of the most basic font choices and lack of characters bouncing around the screen while the game plays. Even Dr. Mario had this.
In all honesty, this game could have been worse, but at the same time it could of been a whole lot better. I'd recommend this just for Puzzle League and just get Dr. Mario through the NES Classics port for Dr. Mario fun
Dr. Mario's physics for the blocks themselves just feels kinda wrong, like there's a sense that it adds too much momentum to the direction you want to slide to and can end up over shooting where you'd like to go.
In that sense, I think this might be one of my least favorite iterations of Dr. Mario if not for all the added options like a Vs com in single player or a special mode called Flash where you try to take out only specific viruses.
Puzzle League (aka Tetris Attack) on the other hand keeps much of the appeal with A LOT of game modes making this the superior game of the two, but sadly is a lot blander than it's previous ports. With some of the most basic font choices and lack of characters bouncing around the screen while the game plays. Even Dr. Mario had this.
In all honesty, this game could have been worse, but at the same time it could of been a whole lot better. I'd recommend this just for Puzzle League and just get Dr. Mario through the NES Classics port for Dr. Mario fun