Tetris Attack and Panel de Pon mechanics: chains, garbage and frame data

Why these numbers matter

This family of puzzle games is unusually timing-sensitive. Whether a chain continues depends on whether a panel is still hovering when the panel beneath it pops, and that is a question about frame counts, not about intuition. The values below are what Cascade Puzzle's versus engine actually runs, calibrated to the classic Normal preset of the reference implementation. You can play the engine these numbers describe right now in the versus ladder, and everything here applies frame for frame in a match.

Chains vs combos

A combo is four or more panels cleared by one match in the same frame. A chain is a clear made by panels that fell because of an earlier clear. They differ in what they send, when they send it, how long they stop your stack and whether a swap can start them.

The two stack. A chain link that clears four or more panels sends its combo rods at once and still counts toward the chain, whose slab follows when the chain ends. That is why a 3-chain whose last link is a 5-combo hits harder than either alone.

Per panel cleared, chains win by a wide margin: a 2-chain built from two ordinary 3-panel clears sends a full row, the same as a 7-combo. The tables below put numbers on that.

Panel state timings

The hover window is the single most important value for chain play. A panel whose support pops does not fall instantly. It hangs for 9 frames first, and a chain continues only if the resulting match forms while the game still considers that panel part of the ongoing cascade.

Combo garbage table

A combo sends flat rods one row tall. Clearing fewer than four panels at once sends nothing. Widths are in columns, on a 6-wide board, so a width of 6 is a full row.

Chain garbage formula

Chains use a formula rather than a table. A K-chain sends one full-width block, K−1 rows tall. A 2-chain sends a 6×1 block, a 3-chain a 6×2, a 5-chain a 6×4, and so on. Chains below 2 send nothing.

This comparison is the whole argument for chain play. A 4-chain, three linked clears after the first, sends as much as a 13-panel combo, which is far harder to build on purpose. It also arrives as one tall slab rather than separate rods, and a slab takes many more clears to peel away.

Garbage blocks: how they land and how to clear them

Garbage cannot be matched directly. Making a normal match adjacent to a garbage block converts its bottom row into ordinary panels: one row per triggering clear, however large the clear. A one-row rod therefore disappears in a single peel, while a chain slab has to be peeled row by row, each peel needing its own adjacent match.

• Incoming garbage is telegraphed for 78 frames (1.3 seconds) before it lands. That is the window to finish a clear, reposition under it, or start the clear that will peel it.
• Combo rods are queued the moment the combo matches. A chain's slab is queued only when the whole chain has settled, so its 78-frame warning starts after the last link.
• Garbage lands on top of the stack and falls as one rigid piece. The landing shakes the board, and the stack does not rise during the shake.
• Peeled panels drop as normal panels, and the falls they cause can form matches, so a well-timed peel feeds a counter-chain.
• This asymmetry is why the chain formula dominates: rods from combos peel away in one step each, while a 4-chain's three-row slab demands three separate clears just to become playable panels.

Stop time

Clearing panels freezes your own rising stack. This is the mode's core defensive mechanic, and the danger value is a deliberate comeback rule.

• Stop time does not add up. Each clear sets the timer to the larger of what is left and what the new clear grants. Two quick combos leave you two seconds, not four.
• The timer starts after the clear. While a match flashes and pops (49 frames plus 8 per panel), the stack is already frozen and the stop timer has not begun counting.
• Nothing rises while panels move. The stack also holds still while any panel is flashing, popping or falling, and during a garbage shake.
• RAISE is locked too. A manual raise does nothing while stop time runs.
• Topping out is not instant death. With a panel in the top row and no stop time left, you have 60 frames (1 second) to clear something before the match is lost.

Because a clear made in the danger state buys seven seconds, the right play when you are about to lose is to find any clear at all rather than the safest one. The 78-frame garbage warning is the window you use to start that clear.

Speed levels and rise speed

Speed is an integer from 1 to 99, and each value maps to a fixed number of frames the stack takes to rise one full row: the original Tetris Attack table. The curve is steep through the first 30 levels and then flattens until it stops changing at 50.

The first six ladder rungs and every online match hold one speed for the whole match, so neither side of an online game has a pacing advantage and the simulation stays identical on both machines. Ace and Master add one speed level every 900 frames (15 seconds), so a long match against them keeps getting faster.

Manual raise lifts the stack one row per press, in about 13 frames, then waits for you to let go. It is refused while stop time runs or panels are moving. Pressing it at the start of a match also skips the short grace period before the stack begins to rise.

The chain rule, precisely

A panel is flagged as chaining when a pop opens empty space directly beneath it, or when the flag propagates from a chaining panel below. Two consequences follow, and together they define skilled play:

1. A swap never starts a chain. Swapping two ordinary panels into a match is a fresh combo, however large.
2. A swap preserves the flag. Manually swapping a panel that fell from an earlier clear into a new match DOES extend the chain. This is the technique known as a skill chain.

The chain counter starts at ×2 on the first linked clear and rises by one per link after that; a fresh combo never advances it. The chain stays alive while any panel is still moving or still carries the flag, so a chain can survive a brief pause in visible activity.

For the practical version of all this, see chain reactions and cascades and the versus guide.

How Cascade Puzzle differs from the originals

Cascade Puzzle's versus mode keeps the numbers above and changes the things around them. If you come from the SNES, the N64 or Panel Attack, these are the differences you will notice:

• One set of timings. Every match runs the classic Normal flash, hover and pop values. Panel Attack's levels shorten those windows as you go up; here difficulty comes from rise speed and from how well the opponent plays.
• No shock panels, so no metal garbage. Every garbage block comes from a combo or a chain.
• No characters, items or story stages. The single-player side is a ladder of eight bots, Sprout to Master. Each one plays its own board and sends real garbage from real clears.
• Online 1v1 in a browser tab. Fixed speed 11, rollback netcode, a room link for a friend or Quick Match for whoever is waiting.
• Touch controls. On a phone, drag a panel sideways to swap and tap RAISE. On a keyboard: arrow keys, Z or Space to swap, Shift to raise.
• A puzzle side with the same swap rules. Three daily puzzles and a 50-level campaign with an exact move limit and no rising stack. Chains work the same way; there is just no opponent.

Panel de Pon, Tetris Attack, Pokémon Puzzle League: one game, three names

The mechanics on this page were established by Panel de Pon (Intelligent Systems, Super Famicom, 1995). The West got the same engine a year later as Tetris Attack (SNES, 1996), with Yoshi's Island characters replacing the fairies and a licensed Tetris name bolted on despite sharing nothing with Tetris. Pokémon Puzzle League (N64, 2000) and Puzzle League titles since are the same system under other branding, and the fan-made Panel Attack keeps a competitive PC scene alive today.

Every one of those games answers to the frame data above: hover windows, chain flags and garbage tables are the shared DNA. Cascade Puzzle's versus mode is a from-scratch browser implementation of that DNA, tuned to the classic Normal preset. Panel de Pon online explains how it compares to each original and where you can play right now, no download or emulator involved.

• Play Panel de Pon online: the versus mode compared with the Super Famicom original, and what changed.
• Play Tetris Attack online: the SNES version, why it was never re-released, and a controls map from the SNES pad to keyboard and touch.
• Play Puzzle League online: every Puzzle League game and where each one runs today.
• Games like Tetris Attack: eight honest picks, Panel Attack and the Switch Online originals included.

Try the numbers yourself

• Versus ladder: start with Sprout at speed 5 to watch the hover window and stop time at a gentle pace, then climb.
• Play a friend: a private room at speed 11, the same numbers on both sides. Send the link and the match starts when they open it.
• Today's daily puzzle: the move-limited side, where one well-placed chain saves the moves you need.
• Interactive tutorial: ten short lessons on swaps and chains, if the rules are new to you.