Pokémon and Tetris have always been two of the biggest games, with both series responsible for the GameBoy's success. On the Pokémon mini, Pokémon and Tetris were combined to make the game Pokémon Tetris.

There goal of the game is essentially to get as far as you can without having blocks hit the top of the screen. Using a variety of blocks that will come down from the top, you need to create a complete line to clear it and move everything down. The blocks come in multiple shapes and sizes and can be rotated.

As you clear more lines, you will level up and with each increase in level, the game speeds up and the blocks will fall down faster. The harder modes even add to this and include Pentiminos, which include extra blocks in each of the pieces to further complicate things.

What makes this different to normal Tetris games is of course the ability to capture Pokémon. When you play a stage, a silhouette of a Pokémon can be seen on the right hand side. You have a limited amount of time in order to capture the Pokémon. To capture it, you just have to clear four lines at the same time. This requires use of a line block so always plan accordingly.

The Pokémon you get are random, but some Pokémon are more common in some modes over others. There are 249 Pokémon to obtain in the game, so the random nature may seem a bit brutal, but there is a trick that can help. If you play the modes where Petriminos begin to appear, and get a 5-line clear, you'll get a Pokémon that you have yet to obtain appear next.

The standard mode is essentially Endless Tetris. You get into the puzzle and play until you hit a Game Over, with the level increasing over time. It has three difficulty levels.
Rookie: Only 4 piece Tetriminos will come down in this mode.
Normal: Starts with 4 piece Tetriminos but gradually adds Petriminos as time progresses
Super: Adds Petriminos earlier on

As with all modes, Pokémon are captured here.

This mode is essentially a Time Attack mode. You have to clear 20 lines and have a timer which counts how long it takes you to do so. This doesn't have to be in any order, however. When you have completed it, your best record is saved so that you can try and beat it.

This mode only has 4 block Tetriminos within it.

This mode is another unique mode. In it, you need to make line clears of all possiblities so 1 line, 2 line, 3 line and 4 line in order to clear the mode. It has a timer to time how long it takes in order to do this and will save your best record for doing this.

This mode only has 4 block Tetriminos within it.

As with other Tetris games, Pokémon Tetris has got a multiplayer mode where you can play with another player of the game. In this mode, you can play any of the three above modes, all in Normal meaning only 4 block Tetriminos can appear. The idea is to get the better score between the two players

Like most Pokémon games where you catch a lot of Pokémon within it, you can view a Pokédex listing all 249 available Pokémon. In this, you'll see each Pokémon, how many times you have captured them and can toggle between full art of them, their silhouette and a small sprite.

The game also keeps track of all of your records. This includes Pokédex, VS Mode win/loss records, the amount of lines cleared and the percentage of those for each of the possibilities. You can also trade rankings with other players using the console's InfaRed port