Tetris 99

Tetris 99
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Arika
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Release	WW: February 13, 2019 Physical release JP: August 9, 2019 NA: September 6, 2019 EU: September 20, 2019
Gameplay info
Next pieces	6
Playfield size	10 × 20
Hold piece	Yes
Hard drop	Yes
Rotation system	SRS

Tetris 99 is a game for the Nintendo Switch, based around battle royale-style play. It is available as a free download to subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service.

The game features an online multiplayer mode called Tetris 99, with single player and local multiplayer modes available by purchasing the Big Block DLC.

Gameplay

Tetris 99 mode

The mode is garbage-based, with the player being able to send garbage to other players. The aim is to be the last surviving player.

The player can earn badges by knocking out other players. Knocking out players with badges will cause the player to receive some (all?) of their badges. Collecting badges will increase the player's attack power.

When 50 players are remaining, the piece gravity begins to increase over time, eventually reaching 1G.

This mode can also be played with a password, allowing only other players with the password to enter.

Badges

Badge number	Attack boost	Required	Total
1	25%	2	2
2	50%	4	6
3	75%	8	14
4	100%	16	30

Garbage

By clearing lines the player can send lines of garbage to opponents.

Lines received will go into the pending garbage queue, where there is a delay before the lines appear on the playfield. This delay decreases as players are knocked out. The active set of pending lines will change colour to indicate how close it is to appearing, and when the active set spawns on the playfield the next set will become active.

The player can have at most 12 lines of garbage in their pending queue, and can send at most 20 with one line clear. In both cases any excess lines are lost.

Base table

The game's base garbage table is consistent with most guideline games, with the exception of the All Clear bonus. The game counts combos starting from the second consecutive line clear as 1.

Garbage per line clear Line clear Lines sent Single 0 Double 1 Triple 2 Tetris 4 T-Spin Single 2 Mini T-Spin Single 0 T-Spin Double 4 Mini T-Spin Double 1 T-Spin Triple 6 Back-to-Back bonus +1 All Clear bonus +4

Garbage per combo Combo Lines sent 0 +0 1 +1 2 +1 3 +2 4 +2 5 +3 6 +3 7 +4 8 +4 9 +4 10+ +5

Targeting

The game provides four automatic targeting modes:

• Badges: Target opponents with many badges.
• KOs: Target opponents who are close to being knocked out.
• Attackers: Target opponents who are targeting the player.
• Randoms: Target opponents at random.

Alternatively, the player can also switch targets manually.

Target bonus

If the player is targeted by multiple opponents then they will receive a boost to attack power for each clear:

Opponents	Bonus lines sent
2	+1
3	+3
4	+5
5	+7
6+	+9

This boost is applied before the badge attack boost.

Experience points

Experience points are awarded at the end of each game. Other than increasing the player's level, they seem to have no other effect on the game. The only two factors taken into account are final position, and number of K.O.s.

Experience points per game

Place	Experience points
1st	875 xp
2nd	725 xp
3rd	625 xp
4th	600 xp
5th	575 xp
6th-10th	550 xp
11th-20th	500 xp
21st-30th	450 xp
31st-40th	400 xp
41st-50th	375 xp
51st-70th	350 xp for 51st and decrements by 10 xp for each place drop until 70th.
71st-99th	150 xp for 71st and decrements by 5 xp for each place drop until 10 xp for 99th place.

Additionally 50 xp are awarded for the first K.O. and 5 xp for any further K.O.s.

Tetris 99 Invictus

Tetris 99 Invictus plays similarly to Tetris 99 mode, with a higher gravity curve, and is exclusive to players who have previously won 1st place in a Tetris 99 match.

Team Battle

Up to four teams fight for the top spot, the team with the last player standing wins. To earn XP, the player must remain in the match until the end. While spectating another player, the player can give a like to cheer an ally on their team. This also earns the player extra experience points based on the team's final ranking.

Before the match starts the player can choose their team, each team can have up to 25 players, and the match a total of 99 players.

This mode can also be played with a password, allowing only other players with the password to enter.

Maximus Cup

Main article: Maximus Cup

The Maximus Cup is a recurring event which players participate simply by playing Tetris 99 mode. So far two different categories of prizes have been offered, 999 My Nintendo Gold points, or unique themes for the game. In the case of the points, the top 999 with the most 1st place wins during the event are awarded the prize. The themes have a different format, players must accumulate 100 event points to permanently unlock the theme. Players earn event points by completing a Tetris 99 game, the points vary depending the rank attained.

Daily Missions

Daily Missions is a daily event that begins every day at 12:00 AM EST. Players complete the Daily Missions by playing regular modes, and fulfilling the requirements. Each day brings four new missions, two of which require the Big Block DLC. By completing a Daily Mission, the player is awarded a ticket, which can be exchanged to unlock a new theme for the game.

Big Block DLC

CPU Battle

CPU Battle mode puts the player against 98 CPU players. The AI difficulty and the player's starting badges can be adjusted.

Marathon

The player can select between 150 Line and 999 Line modes. In 150 Line mode the starting level can also be selected. In either case the speed level will increase every 10 lines until it reaches the maximum.

The 150 Line speed curve is similar to that of current guideline games.

Local Arena

Local Arena allows up to eight consoles to play against each other locally.

2P Share Battle

This mode is similar to CPU Battle, with the exception of two human players playing with each Joy-Con, or seperate game controllers.

Development

Tetris 99 was announced on February 13, 2019 during a Nintendo Direct presentation on YouTube and Twitch. It was available for download later that day free, exclusively for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. On May 9, 2019, the Big Block DLC was announced with two new modes, CPU Battle, and Marathon. It promised two additional modes to be released later in the year as part of the purchase. A physical release which includes a 1 year subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online service, and Big Block DLC was released in Q3 of 2019 worldwide.

Version 2.0.0 of Tetris 99 was revealed on September 4, 2019, adding daily missions, Tetris 99 Invictus mode, and new player icons. It was released the following day alongside the remaining two Big Block DLC modes.

Version 2.1.0 was released on December 10, 2019, featuring the new Team Battle mode, as well as configurable controls, Password Match for Tetris 99 and Team Battle, new user emblems, and made the first four themes from Maximus Cups available to redeem for 30 tickets each.

External links

• Official site
• Nintendo.com Product page
• UK site