Tetris DS

Nintendo exclusive

You can rediscover the timeless puzzle game Tetris on your Nintendo DS with Tetris DS. Now you can choose from six different game modes, all of which take advantage of the DS's touch screen. Each game mode features a theme from another Nintendo franchise, such as The Legend of Zelda or Metroid. You can challenge up to nine other players using one cartridge for local multiplayer play or three other players around the world with the DS's Wi-Fi connection.

Released: 20 March 2006
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genres: Arcade Puzzle Strategy Tetris variant
Developers: Nintendo
Publishers: Nintendo
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB E PEGI 3
Copies sold: 1.9 million as of 2007-03-31

About

Tetris DS is a puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo DS on March 20, 2006, in North America, April 13, 2006, in Australia, April 21, 2006, in Europe, and April 27, 2006, in Japan. An installment of the Tetris franchise, the game supports up to ten players locally, and supported online multiplayer of up to four players using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection prior to its discontinuation.

Tetris DS features several new modes of play, each with a different theme styled after retro Nintendo games. They include Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Balloon Fight, and Yoshi's Cookie. Multiplayer gameplay also incorporates items to be used competitively. The game received positive reviews from critics, who cited its additional game modes and multiplayer capabilities. Long after its release, it continued to be upheld as the best portable Tetris title, and one of the best in the series.

Keywords

spaceship
crossover
blocks
high score
falling blocks
turtle
block puzzle
deliberately retro
block matching
downloadable content
difficulty level
nintendo wi-fi connection

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is split into six unique single-player modes, some of which are usable in the game's multiplayer. Each game variant is represented by a different Nintendo theme and character from a retro game, with the Super Mario Bros. sub-series featured in the game's standard, default mode, while other series appear in the alternate modes that provide a different spin on gameplay.

The game's standard mode plays in a similar manner as classic Tetris, in which the player must move clusters of different-shaped tiles (tetrominos), manipulate them as they drop by spinning them, and place them in a pile at the bottom. Players must stack each piece without empty space so that they can continue clearing lines of the pile. Difficulty of this mode increases with every 10 lines cleared.

Development

Tetris DS was first announced on January 10, 2006. It was first released on March 20, 2006, in North America, with releases worldwide following on April 13, 2006, for Australia, April 21, 2006, for Europe, and April 27, 2006, for Japan.

The rights for Nintendo to make a Tetris game were licensed by The Tetris Company. In an interview, an owner of the company, Henk Rogers, stated that he believed that with Tetris DS, Nintendo would both "move Tetris forward" as well as make money. Also stating that Nintendo was given a great deal of creative freedom in designing the game, he called the game's producer, Hitoshi Yamagami, "one of the smartest game designers I know". Saying that he had "complete confidence in him", Rogers confirmed that there had been no issues combining Nintendo properties and characters with Tetris.

Reception

Tetris DS received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregation website Metacritic.

Several publications gave the game very high or perfect scores. GamePro rated the game 5/5 stars, praising the game's large variety of modes, and calling it "an amazing puzzle package, and [...] easily one of the best DS games to date". 5/10, stating that "you may not love all of it, but you will love much of it".