99 Tetriminos drop on an island

The second biggest free to play Battle Royale released so far this year is Tetris. Launched secretly in a similar fashion to Apex Legends. It was announced during a Nintendo Direct and available for download immediately to all Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) subscribers.

Many game media sits have always made jokes that the next Battle Royale would be 100 Tetris’ falling from the sky but the joke actually works here. This game takes a bare bones approach to Tetris and adds a touch of spice and it works. I wonder how much this game was created due to the lack of 2018 critical hit, Tetris Effect. The system that started Tetris was left out in the cold last year as Tetris Effect didn’t launch on the Nintendo Switch. Im not sure if there is timed exclusivity or the lack of immersion on a hybrid handheld was the reason for skipping the Switch. I don’t feel like Tetris Effect would have taken too long to develop, so its quite possible that when Nintendo realized they weren’t getting Tetris Effect they focused on what strengths they have. Tetris 99 is not flashy and there is very little features in any of the menus. You can turn vibration on/off, change basic controller settings, and you can check your previous stats. Thats how bare bones this game is, unlike the recently released Tetris Effect that has polished levels of audio and video and multiple menus and modes.

Keep It Simple

None of this matters because the same base concept is here that made Tetris a smash hit on the Game Boy in the early 1990’s. Tetris on its on is fun and always has been, of course over the past 30 years there have been some bad versions that tried to reinvent the series and failed. Tetris 99 keeps it simple and matches you against 98 other online Tetris players or as the game describes it “take on the world”. When you complete lines you send lines to other players in attempts to knock people out of the game. You can select who you want to target, which none of this is made clear. You can target people who are close to knockouts, people who are attacking you, randoms or badges. If you have no idea what any of this means you can just play as you normally would at the game will send your lines to randoms. You can still have a good time playing the game in this method, but if you really want the best shot at winning you will need to look at the 98 other players on the screen and decide which time is best for badges, KO, or attackers.

Free To Play ??

The game is free to play with an asterisk. As long as you are subscribed to NSO then you can download and play this game on line. At a cost of only a few bucks a month that includes NES classics and cloud saves, having an exclusive game like this sweetens the deal for people who haven’t signed up for the service yet and makes it even better for those who already have. If you like at a company like Netflix, there is a reason that they have created so much exclusive content and thats because you can’t find it anywhere else. There is lots of exclusive content on Netflix that isn’t worth a minute of your time but its there and its just adding value to its service. There have been many instances in which I have heard people say that Tetris 99 is what pushed them over the edge to subscribe to NSO. This would be a perfect travel game, however since it is online only, you will need to have a constant connection to the internet. Its unclear if anything else will be added to this game post release including new modes or skins or if it will just stay milquetoast. A classic game boy skin would be something that I would love to see but as it stands I assume it will remain no frills for the rest of the game.

The matchmaking system works great so far and within a minute you are into a match usually. The average match time is somewhere between 3-5 minutes and you are instantly left with the feeling of just one more. Due to the easy nature of getting into another match I am often holding the rematch button and explaining to myself what went wrong on the last match. The post mortem is where its similarities to other battle royales comes through. Did I lose because of the nature of RNG and didn’t get a good gun right away is similar to did I just not get the right shapes I needed or did the algorithms of lots of other players decide to target me. Did I make a bad call on pushing the battle or miss my shot is similar to did I pick the wrong spot for the tetrimino or did I accidentally fast drop it down into the wrong spot.

Final Thoughts

Similar to the original Tetris you don’t need to add new modes to make a great game and that is the basics of what make Tetris 99 a blast to play. Tetris 99 is a nice when you need a change of pace from all of the other games today that demand a lot more of your time. If you have NSO or a Switch I highly recommend checking it out.