#passing the controller to each other and yelling in multiplayer mode

[royalarms]

this is not noctis related at all but listen... i watched so/nic 3 and i will never be the same

[zombiekillerky]

{TMNT 2003 Fanfic} - Rage Quit

( WARNING : This is not Turtle x Turtle related at all, this is purely just some family scenarios with no relationships at all what’s so ever. Just regular day in the life turtle stuff)

Mostly all of his brother's couldn't stand Mikey's attention span when it came to video games and training. He would always pass up on it to play a couple of rounds which turned in to hours if he didn't pay enough attention to the time. They wouldn't say they were jealous since they played every once in a while too with him. But they always wondered why he liked them so much over anything else sometimes. Leo liked training and meditating, Raph liked working out and working on his bike or vehicles and Donnie liked creating and fixing things in his lab. This was just Mikey's hobby compared to his brother's, something that made the time go by really quickly. It kept his imagination alive and well compared to his brother's from what he has noticed over the years.

Yet as they watched him play, fighting off the evil monsters inside of his game they became more interested and curious as time went on. After training they would always watch him continue to play. Even debating on getting him his own TV so they could have their's back for once during the afternoon. Raph stared as he sipped some of his pop from his can, Leo and Donnie were out in his lab discussing over what new things and upgrades they should add to the Turtle van. He stared at his brother on the floor. Moving his head and leaning his body from side to side like it would help him win they game for some reason. His brother moved closer and closer to the TV, leaning forward as he got more in to it. The hot head had finally had enough of watching, walking in to the living room and grabbed a controller from the box beside the TV. His younger brother paused the game and smiled wider then before as his brother took a spot beside him on the floor.

"You really wanna play Raphie?"

"Yeah I want to know why you are so obsessed over this damn shit" Raph replied, making it seem like he didn't want to play for just fun. But this made his brother happy anyway to have him play with him, Mikey smiled as he unpaused the game and went back to the main menu. Switching the game over to multiplayer as soon as he could. They watched the quick cut scene and were thrown in to the game immediately. Mikey was going on and on explaining on how the strategy is with the game they were playing. With the game mode they had to try and kill each other with other monsters attacking them. But Raph only tuned out some of his words as he continued to mash buttons with his attacks. Knocking at least half of MIkey's health off and continued to try and fight him even though his stamina was low that his character had. He heard Mikey's chuckle beside him, soon getting hit with the monsters he was supposed to keep away from him. Raph yelled in rage as His health was around the same as Mikey's. His younger brother had the most stupidest look on his face as he continued to kill the monsters on all sides. The look just made Raphael more and more furious with him. Getting a few hits on Raph as he continued to try and regain his stamina to hit Mikey in front of him.

"How the hell are you keeping up your health Mikey!"

"It's called playing smart bro, you should try it some time, it would make up for how ugly you are" Mikey replied with a laugh, not even realizing that his older brother was getting hits on him even though the monsters were coming around them both. Raph started to smirk slyly as he got more hits on his brother. But his face soon fell to the Player 1 wins on the screen, he neglected the fact that monsters were attacking him and taking his health away. You shook his head as he yelled with a frustrated expression on his face.

"You cheated Didn't you shell for brains!"

"Why would I cheat bro, I'm just a master at this game Raph. Maybe if you played more you would understand how to play" Raph stood up from his spot on the ground with anger and grabbed his can beside him. Seeing his brother's smiling behind him on the couch, they both didn't even know they were behind them watching them play the game. He shook his head as he pushed Leo over and sat down on the couch in his spot. Resisting the fact he wanted to break his younger brother's game system over that game from what he said. He didn't even show him how to play, that was already unfair on his part completely.

"Rage quit Raph?"

"Shut up fearless, you try playing against that little weasel over there that doesn't tell you how to play" Raph replied as he finished his drink and smashed the can against his head before throwing it in the trash can with ease. Leo let out a laugh as he officially stood up off the couch and took Raph's spot on the ground. Taking the challenge of defeating his brother in his game he loved. Mikey's eyes lit up as Leo sat down and took the controller that Raph threw.

"Challenge excepted baby bro" Leo said calmly as MIkey fixed his position on the ground and restarted the game. Leo had some insight on how the game was played from watching his brothers play just then. Keeping a plan inside of his head as to how to defeat his brother at his games. Raph nudged Donnie's shoulder slightly, getting his brother's attention just to roll his eyes and point at Leo. He made the purple masked wearing turtle smile slightly as he rolled his eyes as well. That's when they started to play and the two on the couch took some notes on the game too. Leo tried his best to keep his strategy up, taking a couple shots at Mikey before shooting the monsters behind him. It seemed to be working for a while at the rate he was going, taking some of his health off and depending on the monsters to take more off of him. But to his surprise Mikey was taking more and more of his health off at times. He was just going at it and trusting his gut with his moves. Leo stared wide eyed at the screen when it said Player 1 Wins across it. Leo clenched his fists as he heard his brother laughing beside him, doing a little victory dance. Leo let his breath go and calmed himself before standing up from he ground. Handing Donnie the controller with a smirk.

"Go beat him Donnie" Leo said as he took his intelligent brother's spot on the couch next to Raph. Watching as the purple masked turtle took the spot next to Mikey, his cocky grin never faded from the past two wins he has gotten. Donnie knew this was his chance when it came to winning, Mikey was sure to mess up more since he thinks he can wins with ease. But he really underestimated his older brother when it came to things like these. Mikey smirked as he started the game up for them to play. Already taking shots at Donnie which his brother returned in between timing his blocks which surprised Mikey completely.

"What Mikey, ya getting scared!" Raph trash talked his brother as he relaxed back on the couch with Leo. Only getting a small struggled sounding No as a reply. Donnie was smiling from ear to ear as he got more hits on Mikey as he did him. Taking the time to shoot the monsters and used his shield in order to block off MIkey's attacks behind him. Mikey was now glaring at the screen as they played, he was sure he was going to be able to beat all of his brothers like he did in the Battle Nexis champion ship. But now he wasn't sure if he was going to able to or not and that scared him. Out of all of his trash talking he was finally going to get beat at his game, he couldn't let that happen, he needed the win in order to rub it in all of their faces. Donnie turned his character back around and fired a few quick shots at Mikey before he could pull up his shield to block him.

"Cut it out with the shield Donnie come on!" Mikey said, meaning he was getting frustrated with his brother's strategy that he couldn't very well beat. His brothers started to laugh behind him as he pleaded.

"Sure Mikey" Donnie replied, taking it down only to unload all of his shots in to Mikey's character that he had been saving up in between shielding him. Mikey screeched as he tried to block off all of his brother's shots. Maneuvering through some of them but the screen paused and finally showed that Player 2 wins across the screen. Donnie stood up in triumph as his brothers surrounded him. Giving him high fives for his win as they watched their younger brother pout on the floor next to the three of them.  Crossing his arms as he was being a sore loser from  not winning. Raph only rolled his eyes as he picked his brother up off the ground and locked him in a head lock. Finally hearing his brother's laugh as he held him like that, giving him a noogie.

"Come on bro, quit being a baby about not winning against Don. I want a damn rematch after actually learning how to play" Raph replied as he dropped his brother back on to his spot and took the controller from Donnie to play once more. Leo and Donnie only smirked as they took their spots back on to the couch and watched as they played once more. Better then the last time they played since Raph actually learned how to play against he brother. It was nice to see them actually playing together like this for once. Nothing was on their plate and they could actually enjoy their time together like this. Leo even hoped they could spend more time like this with each other. But only time will tell with that, and if they can keep Raph from breaking the gaming machine.

[light-and-heartful]

Nutri Ventures - Hulu Kids - Trailer

I always had this idea of an RPG video game based off the Healthy Eating cartoon from Portugal, Nutri Ventures, where it would have the same battle system as "South Park the Fractured But Whole" (a very simple tactics battle system) (they’d even pitch it as the family friendly alternative to that game as well as it would be the world's first Edutainment RPG Video Game), and by the way the battle system would be the same as that game, but the overworld system won't it would be top down, with the same animation as in the show, and even voice acting during the text boxes that you can turn on and off (the voices) at anytime] and it'll be not just for younger players but also older and more experienced players as well, here's some ideas that you can even submit them to Ubisoft (since they're really good with RPGs made in the Western Region) to make it for a game for the Nintendo Switch, so please listen to these ideas and consider them

it would follow the story of the show (with some minor changes to make it follow a game more, but we'll get to that), will have ONLINE Player-VS-Player battles in the form as a device from one of the scientists in Grandland HQ, who's good friends with Theo's Grandfather, that you can find in the Grandland labs & can let you battle with yourself from different universes (aka different playthroughs of the game by different people), it will also have a mini-game multiplayer mode (for offline & online) that has up to four players play the mini-games in the game's story mode such as

the Candy Bowl where it plays just like the show and has the move around the game in a camera view where it focus on the screen moving side to side as it shows them moving in circle while keeping the view front side in a continuous moving track shot (with you passing the Goal Bowl of the game at top at certain times), think of it as like NBA Jam if it was for Candy Bowl

the Pod Races where it's a basic Mario Kart racing game (with two different versions, one that has it just on the ground and you can only turn left & right to race and another where you're underwater and you can move left, right, up, & down to race

the Deep Fryer Rally where it’s like that Mario Party 6 Mini-Game “Treasure Trawlers”, where you move topdown by pressing the L&R buttons together repeatedly and turn by pressing ether L or R repeatedly, and you’d aim your position on the paddle boat in order to try to scoop up the Fried Foods with a crane (but the scoop is a fry strainer) by pressing one of the d-pad buttons in order to score points, and it would use the rumble feature as a way to tell where’s the fry food is in the grease (with the more it rumbles the closer you’re at your mark) the player with the most points wins

the Veggie Games where it features all the events from the Green Kingdom chapter

Jousting where it's a four way Joust (or three way in story mode) where players has to charge into other players in order to take down one of his/her hit points while also controlling their horse, last player standing wins

and the Oracle's Quiz (that game is the final test to get the everlasting fruit in the Orange Kingdom Chapter) where the Oracle gives you questions related to food, cuisine, health, recipes, things like that

and the main feature of the game has the players gaining different status effects happen to them when they eat certain foods that's are each based off of their health benefit, like:

Meat & Eggs give you extra attack power cause it's for force for muscles

Dairy Products give you extra defense power cause it's for protection of bones

Vegetables give you extra maximum health cause it's for healing

Wheat & Grains give you extra mana for attacks cause it's for energy

Fish & Seafood gives you extra Experience Points cause it's for Intelligence

Legumes give you extra turns cause it's for boost

Fruit cures ailments cause it's helps with sicknesses

also I'd change the names of the Bad Kingdoms cause I feel like that's fair

Sugar Kingdom would be the Pink Kingdom

Fats Kingdom would be the Bronze Kingdom

Fried Kingdom would be the Gold Kingdom

Salt Desert would be the Silver Kingdom

(also the story behind the Bad Kingdoms is that the rulers of them were also scientists in Nutri-land, but cared more about making the food taste good rather than being nutritious, this lead to many of the other guardians experiments being ruined and the citizens loving their food but kept experiencing the effects of eating them to much, so the Nutri-Guardians kicked them out, and Alex made them into his main four guys for coming up the recipe for Gen-X 100 when he otherthrew Nutri-land and called themselves the big four, and were a team for a while until Alex had enough of the ingredients for Gen-X 100 to run for years, so they went their separate ways)

there are other features include:

-a pit of 100 trials-esc optional enemy gauntlet where you go through a tower of 100 floors with something to fight on each floor in order to progress, & each 10 floors there's a boss [the first 7 being a hologram of a guardian of a kingdom, the 8th being holograms of the rulers of the bad kingdoms all at once, the 9th being a hologram of Nexus, and the last one being hologram of a younger teen version of Merdock (who looks similar to Theo)] in order to get rare and powerful weapons for each character

-extra bosses in the Orange Kingdom, Red Kingdom, & Green Kingdom chapters if you lose the mini-games of those chapters [like if you lose the Candy Bowl, you'll have to fight Candyman, if you lose the joust Theo has to fight the winner, if you lose the Deep Fryer Rally Theo, Ben, & Lena would have to fight Fritz & Fritz Jr. (but you’ll still get chased out regardless)  & if you lose the Veggie-Games you have to fight, the team leader of the winning team with Lena, Ben, Nina, & Inca]

-the bosses added as the final boss to the chapter include:

the Mind Control machine turning into a giant baker robot in the Orange Kingdom chapter

Jomanda betraying the Red Kingdom by summoning a Hydra to attack the village after the big fight with Alex in the Red Kingdom chapter

a mechanized dinosaur tank that has the big laser cannon that Alex used to almost destroy the legumes on it's head and two small ones on it's arms (kind of like the Barrel Dragon from Yugioh) that the scientists made Alex that'll you'll have to defeat it on the train before it crashes into the castle in the Brown Kingdom chapter

a powered up Alexander Bluebeard who's gone mad with Nutri-Power (like he eats a big platter consisting of a Grilled Shrimp, Bell Pepper, and Steak Kabob, a bowl of Red Beans & Rice as for a Side, and a Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie as a Drink, and this fills his the Nutri-Powers to the max, and will use more foods in the fight to boost his stats) in the Blue Kingdom chapter

& that Two-Headed Dog from the first episode of Season 6 breaking in through the ceiling of the pyramid just as they were forming the Triads of Light & Darkness to attack the heroes in the Green Kingdom chapter

-Some of the timelines would be connected together to match the form of play, in the Red Kingdom chapter, at the end of the section where Theo, Genevieve, and Nose crash into the salt desert and have to reach the dragon, it would have Theo talking to the dragon, and then cuts to Genevieve & Nose waiting near the Volcano, fire coming out the top, and the Dragons coming after them and then cuts to black and you’d to a few moments earlier where it has the Red Kingdom preparing to defend the kingdom and have the big battle between Alex, with a neverending heard of G-Squads coming during the fight, until it’s interrupted with Theo, Genevieve, & Nose coming in riding on the dragon, and Theo & Genevieve joining the battle & in the Brown Kingdom chapter, it’ll have you play through Theo, Ben, & Guardian Brown getting trapped in the mine first, and when it gets to the point where Theo gets knocked out from exhaustion in the desert, then it cuts to earlier in the day where you play as Nina and go with Johnny to find the treasure and as the two fights Curling Stone & Betty, it would be interrupted with Theo coming in still unconscious as his medallion drags him into it, where Nina & Johnny gives him some Water, Theo joins the fight, and the battle continues, and then it would lead to Theo, Lena, Ben, Nina, & Johnny getting together to go deal with the war only when they get there they discover Alex using the weapon he got from his Father’s Diary on the Legumes

-the Pink Kingdom wouldn't do that whole alternate vision thing where everything is good when you're hypnotized but gross when you aren't, it would all look good, smell good, and taste good (which is how they get the people to be hypnotized by it), but still give you the negative effects of eating too much sugar (even when Lena & Nina enter it for the first time, and your playing as Lena you have the option to keep trying the candy from the Mistresses over and over again until you say no and trigger the first fight with the matrons or until a sudden snap happens and it shows that Lena's lost a tooth, and it would lead to her getting so disgusted at everyone's teeth and big bodies that she just yells everyone to stop, and that triggers the first fight between the Lena and the mistresses, with it later in the fight having it introduce Sid as he jumps into battle)

-whenever you are at sea (floating or diving) in the Blue Kingdom chapter, it would have you doing a board game esc movement, where you draw where you want to go, and it will move in that path, and as you move enemies can move in you too and can cause battles, it kind of works like "Star Fox Command" on the Nintendo DS

-the game has you leveling up your party members of Theo, Lena, Ben, & Nina in order to improve their stats, but there's also Guest Party members who can't level up and are part of certain parts of the story or when you find and meet up with them after you completed a chapter (but they'd leave if you leave the area too far), and they include

Sid for the Orange Kingdom chapter (he's a healer like Nina)

Genevieve (or the Black Knight early on) for the Red Kingdom chapter (she's a fighter like Theo)

Johnny for the Brown Kingdom chapters (he's a shooter like Lena)

Alexander Bluebeard for the Blue Kingdom chapters (who's only available when you have your pact with him) (he's a Brawler like Ben)

Inca for the Green Kingdom chapters (she's a shooter)

Fritz Jr. for the Dragon’s Fury Challenge section in the Red Kingdom chapter (where it would have more enemies there than puzzles and traps) & the Submarine and Neptune’s Trials part of the Blue Kingdom chapter (he's a fighter)

and FYI, the different classes each shows different ways of fighting and different weapons, this is the list of them:

Fighters like Theo uses Swords and other Melee weapons and attacks by pressing certain buttons with certain timing

Shooters like Lena uses Arrows and Guns and attacks by aiming at the right target by trying to keep the cursor in the center of the circle as the cursor moves on it's own

Brawlers like Ben uses Shields and Heavy Swords and attacks by holding a button down and letting go in the right time

Healers like Nina uses water to help other party members regain their health, and doesn't need to press buttons to attack

also all each character’s attack moveset would be determined on the weapon they use (which the weapons you can use are determined by a character’s Level an whenever if it has a “G” on it so that Guest Party Members can use it), as it has different attacks and added effects for it, and an added move specific for each character, Theo can get charge his attack for two turns, Lena can analyze the enemy to reveal it’s stats (including showing the amount of Health it has left onscreen), Ben can guard with his belly, and Nina can use her cuteness to try lower the opponents defenses

-the whole quest would have it not only regaining the seven kingdoms but also to find all the stones from the start, not just starting at the end of the Red Kingdom chapter [so in the beginning of the game Theo already has the White Stone but gets it's power after talking to a Kangaroo Rat in Racing Gear as one of the Guardians of the Temple of Nutrition, he finds the Yellow Stone from a tower in the Yellow Kingdom that used to bring the people hope but worn out when Ty-Paw’s army kept attacking, and after a vision with a Journey to the West-esc monkey in the Temple of Nutrition about never give up doing what's right, Theo gets the stone and uses it's powers to defeat the invading army, and in the Orange Kingdom chapter (where it would have the 2nd test be facing the Magician Rabbit from episodes 1 & 2 of Season 6 instead of fruit bats, cause the beginning of the Black Kingdom chapter would have it start with them using Theo’s pendant to power up the Rocket into Space) the Orange Stone is in the tower used to power the Antenna for the hypnosis machine, and after a vision from the Stone Monster in the Temple of Nutrition (when it had the pendant force Theo onto the stone when it looked like he tripped when they were trapped in the iron capsule) where he talks about trusting others and try listening to what they have to say, Theo gets the stone after he and his friends getting free from being locked up in the iron capsule thanks to Guga and uses the power of the stone to turn the Pink Kingdom into a Giant Fruit Filled Garden (as shown by a cutscene of all the buildings from the Pink Kingdom being crushed and destroyed by vines & growing trees and it having a shimmer of light peek from the cloudy skies and keeps growing more and more until the sky is completely bright and blue)], and each time the players complete a chapter and get the stone & gain it's power, you get an extra special move you can do by filling up a gage by doing good button commands when attacking to do special things to happen to attack foes or help yourself (like the Star Spirits or the Crystal Stars from "Paper Mario")

-there would be a travelling chef character in towns all over the kingdoms where you can make different recipes using different foods (which all the kingdoms will have food from all the different food groups from the start, cause they'd like to keep in touch with eachother) to turn and combine ordinary foods you have into better foods to the increase the amount of stats you'd gain (for example, if you have an Egg you can eat for extra attack power, but when you give it to the chef along with a Wedge of Cheese & a Grilled Ham Leg, he'll make it into an Omelette where it would not only give you tons more attack power than a regular egg but also extra health as well and extra defense too) and it will even have a recipe log with tons & tons of different recipes

-and lastly in the beginning of the game when you start a new save file, you may not be able to change the characters' names, but you'd be able to explain a little bit about you the player, including your name, what kind of playstyle you want to do for button commands (which are described by Theo's Grandfather as an Easy Game or to play a Little Bit Harder) so all players can enjoy it, and you'd also put which food group your favorite food is (which will give a slightly more better chance at getting extra stats when you eat a food), and it would be a profile for each time you'd do a PvP battle or play an online minigame with someone, they're kind of like street passes

I just think it would be a perfect fit, don’t you think?

[gameplayandtalk]

Tetris Effect: Connected - Review

2020 hasn't been the greatest year for... well, humanity. But it is shaping up to be a great year for Tetris players.

The last decade has had some ups and downs as well: Tetris Ultimate from Ubisoft was destined to be the new mainline Tetris game of choice, but was plagued by issues early on and failed to excite the fanbase. The popular “Tetris Friends” website was phased out in the middle of 2019, leaving a hole in the multiplayer online scene. Then there are some bright points: Tetris 99, the collaboration between Arika and Nintendo, brought Tetris into the battle royale scene for Nintendo Switch players free of charge (as long as you had an online membership.) Fan-made Tetris “inspired” clones (essentially Tetris in all but name) such as JSTris and Tetr.io have also sparked a resurgence in the online multiplayer scene with robust customization options and stat-tracking.

Another bright spot (like, REALLY bright — think lens flares and supernovas) was Tetris Effect, a VR Tetris experience. It’s safe to say nobody really asked for it, but there it was, and it was beautiful. It wasn’t simply Tetris with a new coat of paint though: Tetris Effect had plenty of new modes that kept veteran players coming back.

In Tetris Effect, the main single player campaign known as “Journey Mode” featured a new signature mechanic: the “Zone Meter”. This meter charges up as you clear multiple lines or perform combos, and once activated, the action freezes on-screen, allowing you to rack up as many line clears as you can before the meter runs out. Instead of disappearing, the finished lines sink to the bottom and glow. The resulting clears are named depending on the number of lines cleared, such as Octotris (8), Decahextris (16), Perfectris (18) and the very-difficult-to-achieve Ultimatris (all 20 rows). Unless you’re working your way from the bottom to the top, you will quickly run out of room as the clears push your board out of playable range, meaning your placement to achieve an Ultimatris must be perfect.

This board clearing mechanic, along with other great new single-player modes such as Purify, solidified Tetris Effect among fans of all types who had previously seen it all. However, Tetris Effect had no real multiplayer mode, and when Tetris 99 arrived on the scene about four months later (seemingly out of nowhere), it grabbed the spotlight in a big way.

Now, almost two years after Tetris Effect was initially released, Tetris Effect Connected brings back everything that made the original great, along with some of the most innovative multiplayer the series has ever seen. And the long wait was so incredibly worth it.

Let’s get the unfortunate news out of the way: People who already own Tetris Effect on PS4 or the Epic Store release on PC won’t be able to play Tetris Effect Connected on the legacy versions until the summer of 2021. In another casualty of timed exclusives, you will need to play Tetris Effect Connected on either Xbox One (and above) or on PC via the Microsoft Store, where Tetris Effect is appearing for the first time. Yes, just in time for the Xbox Series X/S launch.

I can’t imagine fans of this game will want to drop full price again to play it on a different platform, new modes or not. Luckily, the game is included with Xbox Game Pass as well as its PC counterpart. PS4 owners will likely be stuck shaking their fists until Summer, but for those of us who have already been playing on PC, I really recommend you go with this option and just install it again. Xbox One and new Series S/X users have absolutely nothing to lose.

Getting “Connected”

The centerpiece of Tetris Effect Connected is the new “Connected” mode. This mode actually isn’t competitive at all, but cooperative. While this isn’t the first time a version of Tetris has adopted a co-operative mode (Tengen’s version of Tetris for the NES and Tetris the Grandmaster 2’s Doubles mode come to mind), this mode is balanced in such a way that avoids that overbearing “too many cooks in the kitchen” feeling. Teams of three are matched together to take on several AI controlled bosses named after zodiac signs.

The action starts with each of you controlling your own boards, trying to charge a shared meter between the three of you by making clears. As you do this, the AI is charging its own meter that hits all human players with various status effects. These can range from things as simple as dropping random junk onto your screen, all the way to making your entire playfield temporarily invisible. Oh, and it is as hard as it sounds (Luckily, you can still see about where your piece will land in relation to the board thanks to the still visible “ghost piece”). Nevertheless, this is what tends to wreck most Connected players, if limited online experience up to now is any indication.

Your best chance against these zodiac-themed killer CPUs is to get your shared meter up to full charge and enter this mode’s spin on the “Zone” mechanic. The music motif will ramp up and prepare you to get in the zone, which happens automatically within a few seconds of maxing out the meter. Then, your boards collapse down, leaving no gaps in the columns, and all player boards are combined into one giant board.

The objective, much like elsewhere the Zone mechanic is used in the game, is still to clear as many lines on the board as you can, but this is much harder considering the now huge width of the board, and the fact that each player takes turns placing their own blocks. The first time you see it, you’re likely to feel completely stunned, but it’s important to keep dropping blocks. You’re likely to get a few third wheels on your team who take all the time in the world looking for the perfect spot, but the perfect placement rarely exists. The best strategy is just to keep moving, and if someone does accidentally foul up your progress placing over a gap, there are shining purple blocks randomly given out to the players that will push down all columns under them to iron out the kinks in the board. You’ll likely have to get your meter back up several more times to make each AI boss top out, so it’s important to stay diligent.

If that wasn’t enough, log in during what the game calls a “full moon” phase. Tetris Effect players might remember that on Saturdays, playing “Effect Mode” games online had a special collaborative leaderboard feature for a subset of the game’s many special modes, and if enough people sent in their high scores, a special goal would be met. Tetris Effect Connected also has a special feature for you on Saturdays: Connected Vs. mode. This time, a fourth human player takes the place of the boss AI character. Human bosses are even harder to take down, and there are special unlockable avatars for players who can rack up boss wins with the different types of zodiac characters.

Of all the modes on offer, “Connected” seems to take it home: Co-operative Tetris play has rarely been tried, and yet it just works here. The shared torment of all the status effects raining down on you and your teammates, combined with the rush of taking turns completing a giant board, brings about a feeling of camaraderie that is unmatched. That is, when you’re not yelling at the slackers to “JUST DROP IT SOMEWHERE!” You’ll also have, like in all modes, a letter grade and stats waiting for each player after the match, to show just how much you were carrying your team. It’s as competitive as co-op can get.

The game’s take on the standard “versus” mode is also something you can’t get anywhere else. You’ll be sending garbage to your opponent like usual, but you’ll also be building up a zone meter to use against each other. This mode is named “Zone Battle”.

Admittedly, the first time I saw the zone mechanic in single-player, it was charming but felt a bit supplementary. However, nailing a Perfectris in a match against another player (I’m sure some are crazy enough to try an Ultimatris in a heated match, too) is akin to the rush of pulling off a “Fatality” in Mortal Kombat. The feature makes so much more sense in this context. When you hear your opponent beginning a zone attack, going a note up the scale each time a line is cleared, you know something big is coming, and you’d better have something to counter it, preferably starting your own zone attack. Being a master at traditional versus Tetris isn’t a guarantee you will succeed here, as a well-timed and effective zone attack can quickly change the tide of battle.

The last two modes are Score Attack and Classic Score Attack. This might be what ends up sealing the deal for most Tetris maniacs. Amazingly, Classic Score Attack feels just like watching a match of Classic Tetris World Championships on Youtube. With the help of CTWC veteran Greentea, the developers were able to adapt the feel of NES Tetris to Tetris Effect, while still being its own thing.

It’s important to know just how different Tetris is between these two generations. In modern Tetris, the pieces are handed out in what is known as “7-bag”: You’ll get some configuration of the seven pieces randomly dispersed and then handed out again. This means another long block is never more than 12 pieces away. No such thing in classic Tetris: the pieces can feel truly random here, and you could be waiting forever in what competitors call “droughts”. Your longest drought will be counted up and presented at the end of the match along with your rate of “Tetris” clears as a percentage, among other info.

Obviously, there is no holding pieces, but also no hard-dropping (instantly dropping your piece), and your pieces will lock into place nearly as soon as they hit another piece. Most important to remember is the dramatic difference in scoring between “Tetris” clears and all other line clears. As the game gets faster, “Tetris” clears are worth more and more. It’s good to start stacking for Tetris’ early and often if you want to win. All of this is made even more foreboding by the spine-chilling remix of the classic theme.

If you wanted the feel of competitive NES Tetris at home, you would have to set up two systems and tube TVs back to back, whereas this mode truly brings the experience home by counting up the points for who is currently in the lead and by how much. It was wholly unexpected for Tetris Effect to try to tackle classic Tetris, but they completely nailed it. If this sounds like hell, and you’d rather be setting up Triple T-Spins, the regular Score Attack is also available to settle the score with other players.

As far as complaints are concerned, matchmaking in the “Connected” mode seems to have dropped off since launch. This is perhaps because tackling the hardest modes is best suited to a proven team of online friends.

Also, as of this writing, in both score attack modes, the game has been designed to let a winner continue playing even after the loser has topped out and is no longer able to play. This is leading to a lot of people closing the game out of impatience, as they have no other option but to let the winning player keep playing while they watch for the final results. If a topped-out player does this, the remaining player does not get credited a win, and their score ranking also goes down! I’m hopeful this will eventually be fixed, but in the meantime, be sure to top out once a losing player is no longer able to play. This is the best way to ensure that they will not try to disconnect and essentially take the win from you.

Another concern is more a request to developers for future updates than a warning for players, although it can be both. As I mentioned, it has become increasingly difficult to get matched up in the “Connected” mode. It’s easiest to find players at the first difficulty level, the only one available upon first entering the mode. However, some of these beginner players don’t seem to understand that your move once entering “the zone” isn’t complete until hard-dropping the block. I realize that some might not even know the default button for this, so from a design perspective it would be best to prompt players how to drop their block (along with the button assignment), especially if their move has taken an excessive amount of time. This will move the action along for the other players.

I would also like to have seen a multiplayer take on “Purify”, the game’s garbage clearing mode where you are tasked with clearing as many purple blocks as you can before the infection spreads. However, what is here is such a surprise.

Tetris Effect Connected is a labor of love by Tetris fans for Tetris fans, much like the many fan games out there. Certainly Tetris 99 was an upheaval of what people expected from Tetris, but thanks to this game and the popularity of CTWC and fangames, a complete resurgence of the game has finally been cemented. I may be preaching to the choir at this point, since most people reading probably already know of Tetris, but if it’s been a while, time to check back in. It’s better than ever to be a Tetris fan, and it seems we are here to stay. To those angry about double-dipping, yes, it is unfortunate. If you do take the plunge, however, I think you’ll be extremely pleased. I’m also confident the game will only get better from here on out!

See you on the battlefield. Thanks for reading!

Hi-Res Screenshots