Tetris 99

Tetris 99 is an online version of the tile-matching video game Tetris, developed by Arika, and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch in February 2019. Incorporating elements of the battle royale genre, Tetris 99 has up to 99 players competing simultaneously to complete rows with falling tetrominoes, which in turn send attacks in the form of "garbage rows" to other players with the goal of knocking them out of the game. Arika would later develop similar games called Super Mario Bros. 35 and Pac-Man 99, which instead involve the games Super Mario Bros. and Pac-Man, respectively. The former also allowed up to a maximum of 35 players. Tetris 99 is a multiplayer puzzle game in which 99 players play against each other at the same time, with the aim to be the last player remaining. As with normal Tetris rules, players have the option to store a tetromino piece to swap out at any time. More garbage can be sent by completing combination moves in succession of making a "tetris" or performing a "T-spin" . During gameplay, small grids representing the other 98 players are displayed at the sides of the main board. The more badges a player completes and possesses, the more lines they can send to other players at a time . The game periodically features special "Maximus Cup" events; one of the first Maximus Cups was held in March 2019 where players with the top number of wins over a weekend play period would win rewards within the My Nintendo loyalty program. The DLC adds 4 offline modes in total: CPU Battle, where players battle 98 bot players; Marathon, where players play an endless game of Tetris, and challenged to achieve the highest score; Local Arena, where up to eight Nintendo Switch players play in the same arena via local wireless; and Two Player Share Battle, where two players share joy-cons and play the same game in local co-op. Tetris 99 was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation on February 13, 2019, and made available later that day. According to IGN Tetris 99 is a "wondrous pandemonium in a battle royale bottle" and that "the massive player count really ups the intensity."The Telegraph said the game is "fiercer than Fortnite" and "as exciting and cutthroat as any video game deathmatch." During a financial results briefing, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa reported that Tetris 99 had been played by over 2.8 million accounts as of April 2019. Furukawa also noted that the game has boosted "user engagement" with the Nintendo Switch. Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of the original Tetris, stated that he, "love the game" and called it, "one of the best games of Tetris of the last year.