I’ve never considered myself a hardcore gamer. I grew up with more laid-back games like “Wii Sports” and “Mario Kart Wii,” where I could play for a while when I was bored and then switch to something else — truly, the beauty of the ADHD mind at work.
Committing a bunch of time to games just never felt right to me. Competitive sports felt silly (despite my ego secretly NEEDING those bragging rights), and story-based games always seemed like a lot of work and commitment, which I never had time for.
With that said, one day in July, I remembered I had a Nintendo Switch that my dad got me when it first released, and I was absolutely ecstatic. My first two games were “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” (I was hyperfixated especially on “Jeopardy!” at the time), but I also enjoyed “Mario Kart 8,” “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” and “Brawlhalla,” the game my friends and I played, which kickstarted my foray into making YouTube videos.
My gaming habits remained unchanged — in the middle of a game, quitting it, turning off my Switch and switching to my then-new Windows 10 TabletPC to write the novel I was planning but scrapped due to how garbage it was.
Discovering a new game!
After looking through some old memories on my Switch, I subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo’s subscription platform offering custom icons, online play and retro games. Most of their retro games didn’t interest me, but one did — “Panel de Pon.” I can’t explain why, but I’m glad I tried it because I spent a solid three hours playing it, which is a lot for me. To put it in perspective, I played it throughout a round trip from Brooklyn, New York, to West Haven, Connecticut, averaging around one hour and 30 minutes each way.
“Panel de Pon” is the kind of game that would be a literal GOLD MINE for ads if it were a mobile app. While playing it, I vegged out and listened to the “Persona” series soundtrack (a recommendation from our editor, Chmeese). I kind of lost myself in matching colors, even somewhat raging when I made a big mistake that cost me a game.
What is “Panel de Pon”? And what was it like?
So let me break this down for you:
“Panel de Pon” is a puzzle game where you try to match and clear blocks by sliding them around on a grid. As time goes on, the game becomes more challenging because as you clear one set of blocks, the height of the other blocks increases due to the faster generation of new blocks on the map. If they reach the top, it’s game over. So, your goal is to prevent the blocks from stacking up to the top and overflowing while aiming for combos.
Strategy, timing and execution are really important, with strategy being the most crucial factor to winning the game. You also have to think outside the box because, even if you glance and don’t see matching blocks, you might not be looking closely enough.
The game is perfect for a single-player nerd virgin like me — half-joking.
The first level I played was Flare’s stage. I chose her simply because she had red hair, which I thought was cute. These characters don’t seem to have any stories, and even if they did, I can’t read them because they’re all in Japanese. My memory of kana is too low to handle it so I just spammed the A button and hoped I would start playing the game soon.
There were a few memorable moments I have from playing, the most significant being the music and the later “aha!” moment when I grasped the game’s mechanics. Mind you, it was 3 a.m., so I struggled to figure out how I was staying awake, let alone playing a video game.
Flare’s background music was undoubtedly the highlight in terms of music. The music had that puzzle game vibe with its melody and rhythm, complemented by my favorite addition to music — slap bass. I can’t lie; I paused the entire game just to find the name of the song, fittingly called “Flare’s stage.” The “danger” theme that plays when you’re on the verge of losing is even MORE of a headbanger. The bass is intense, with the melody and rhythm building the tension of not wanting to lose after investing so much time. That experience was hands down the most memorable I’ve had with the game.
From there, though, everything else became more or less forgettable. The rest of the character levels seem essentially the same with no immediate signs of changes to the game structure based on the character.
But for me, that’s fine. I’m perfectly content playing that level for the rest of my life.
But there you have it, a casual gamer’s review of “Panel de Pon.” Who asked for it? Nobody. But I still delivered!
What is “A Casual Gamer Reviews”?
“A Casual Gamer Reviews” is my column to talk about games from a viewpoint of me, not as a reporter, but as a casual consumer of video games, specifically from Nintendo.
As this is being put on our main site, I’ve put in place some rules and safeguards to ensure maximum transparency and integrity when we distinguish our commentary segments from our news coverage.
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