Tetris is one of the most famous video games of all time. Versions of it have been released on almost every platform imaginable, and it’s amazing that it’s one of those games that keeps selling and reinventing itself despite the fact that essentially Tetris is Tetris wherever you play it.
Very quickly for those who may have lived under a rock for the last thirty something years, Tetris sees a continuous wave of blocks falling down the screen and filling up a vertical well. The blocks come in a selection of standard shapes all composed of four smaller bricks. The shapes include the grid of four bricks, the T shape, the L and invert L shapes, shapes which are vaguely S and Z shaped and the long stack that resembles the letter ‘I’. You are able to move the falling bricks from side to side, and you are able t rotate them as they fall. You are even able to speed up their decent and drop them faster, but you cannot slow them down or stop them from falling.
As the game progresses, the blocks will progressively fall faster and faster, and your goal is to fit the blocks around each other so the you have completed horizontal lines of bricks without any gaps formed as a result of not fitting the shapes around each other very well. This can prove tricky as you get the blocks in a random order and it’s down to luck if you get the block you need in the moment.
Once you have completed lines of bricks that specific line of bricks will disappear and he remainder of the blocks that fell will drop down in the gap you created by completing the line/s. Your main goal is to keep clearing lines of bricks to make sure the well doesn’t completely fill up. If the well fills up to the top of the screen it’s game over.
In a competitive game of Tetris such as Tetris 99, when you complete lines it will send them over into your opponent’s well. This will appear at the bottom of the well and push everything they already had in their well towards the top of their screens. Whoever can force their opponents to fail to clear their well first wins.
Tetris 99 came out for the Nintendo Switch a few years ago, and was the first big exclusive Nintendo had to offer to incentivise paying for the Nintendo Online Subscription service on the console. Yes there are also the classic games library of NES and Super NES games, but the big exclusive was and still is Tetris 99.
Tetris being the big draw for Nintendo by the era of the Switch should almost feel like a laughable ‘isn’t Nintendo out of touch and outdated’ moment as obviously Tetris was the big draw for them to sell the original Gameboy in 1989. But then you play Tetris 99 and see what it offers that is new and instantly you get it.
If you’ve not seen Tetris 99 before, you are playing the same Tetris gameplay that has been mostly unaltered since a couple of tweaks that were made in the late 1990s, but the big difference here is that as an online focussed title, the game pits you in competitive play against 98 other players from around the world.
Tetris has always been a game with a vertical playing area, and whilst in the past there would be stats and decoration surrounding the empty space where the Tetris blocks fall, in Tetris 99 you are able to view all 98 opponents play through in real time. This allows you to look out for players who aren’t doing so well and target them. You can also choose to tactically target players who you think are doing well and put pressure on them to go wrong. There is lots of potential strategy for players to consider, and as is true of all versions of Tetris, the gameplay can be addictive.
If you are able to be the last person standing and defeat 98 other players it’s very satisfying, and it’s a formula that really works as seen in other battle royals style games such as PUBG and Fortnite. But of course on this game you’re just playing Tetris and not having to worry about shooting anyone or being shot.
After the success of those battle royals games it was great to see the formula applied to something completely different such as Tetris, or the Super Mario 35 game which was Nintendo’s next big reason to get their online service after this.
This game has evolved somewhat since it first came out and as well as the main Tetris 99 mode, there is the newer Invictus mode which pits more skilled players against one another. It took them quite a while to add the original Tetris Marathon mode, but as the game stands today it is now present and enjoyable as ever. This was a strange omission when the game first came out, but at least they added it in the end.
The presentation of the game is great. They have pretty much perfected the way Tetris can be presented these days, and along with the Tetris Effect game making Tetris feel like art, Tetris 99 exudes fun, and there are even ways to change and earn new themes. Currently I have mine set to a Pokemon theme, but there are all sorts that have been available such as themes based on games like Splatoon.
To add to the replay value there are daily challenges, and there are often events which are either for individuals or for players to attempt to completed together, and these all help continue to keep coming back.
I think it’s a testament to how good the game is, that in all the years since it came out every time I have returned to it to play a game I have never once had less then the full 99 players take part in a game online.
There are other great versions of Tetris out there, and some offer unique features not available in this release, which was free with the Nintendo Online subscription by the way, but for me this is the best version of Tetris I’ve ever played.
