Tetris (noun) - a game that I buy at least once on every platform I own.
Tetris was the reason I bought a DS, unable as I was to resist the addictive line-completing puzzling, and the number of hours I sunk into the original Tetris DS (the one with Mario, Link and everyone running along the top screen as you played) could get me a Guinness world record. Then I bought Tetris Party on the DS as soon as I knew it was out, and a few months later, I bought the same Tetris Party on the Wii - even though it's pretty much identical to the DS version, apart from the addition of Wii Balance Board Tetris, and the crazy navigating-a-piece-through-a-course-with-a-steering-wheel mode. As a slight excuse, it is much more convenient for playing full screen multiplayer games, like the brilliant co-op Tetris, so I'm not completely mad.
And now, it turns out the amazing Tetris Party (so good I bought it twice) is getting a sequel of sorts for the 3DS. Developed by the same company, Hudson Soft, who were the brains behind Bomberman and are sadly no-more/have been swallowed up into Konami, the best part of the Tetris Party games was the sheer abundance of different modes, which added a twist to the well-known block-dropping game. Brilliantly, 3DS Tetris is looking to be no different, coming with a slew of brand-new modes, as well as some old favourites for good measure. We're already sold. Take my money now!
Shadow mode is a lot harder than it sounds...
A Tetris game wouldn't be a Tetris game without the standard Marathon mode, where you'll just need to assemble the Tetris blocks to form complete rows which will then disappear, whilst the speed of the falling blocks increases with the number of rows you remove. Other favourites from Tetris Party also see a slightly altered return - Shadow Wide sounds like it's a 3DS version of Shadow, which had you filling in a shadow with Tetris pieces to reveal a picture; Tower Climber, which sees you building a staircase of sorts for a little man to climb to the top of, and Sprint, which sees you trying to clear 40 lines in the shortest time possible (I spent forever trying to get that 'clear in under 1 minute 30' award which I still haven't got). Stage Racer sees you navigating one of those L-shaped blocks through a course as quickly as you can; Bombliss had you clearing lines by exploding bombs, and there was also the sheer awesomeness that was co-op Tetris, where you and a friend worked together in a Marathon-style mode, which certainly made a change to the usual competitive sending-lines-over-to-each-other competitive multiplayer of other Tetris games.But that's enough gushing over the previous game, as Tetris on the 3DS will come with a whole host of new modes too - although, seeing as they're new, little is known about what these will involve. For a start, there's "augmented reality" modes, AR Marathon and AR Field Climber, which use your 3DS's camera to let you play Tetris on your desk, lap, or even a cat - anywhere you can place an AR card, really. There are also modes called 'Capture' and 'Fit' slated, although sadly, for these, the name is all we know - while something called 'Fever' will also be included, which will let you collect items via StreetPass.
That's a hell of a lot of potential Tetrises...
Sadly, Tetris fans will have to wait till October for this latest instalment, but we're expecting a drip feed of new, blocky information over the next few months, so don't forget to keep checking back. If you can't face a long summer without a Tetris game, you could always pick up Tetris Party Deluxe on the DS or Wii - at £12.99 for the Wii version to £14.99 for the DS version for loads of modes, you won't be disappointed.
