Tetris Battle Gaiden is a sloppy unbalanced mess of a game that has nearly brought me into physical confrontation with my friends. It is perfect.
True to its title, this is a multiplayer-centric Tetris game. Each player selects a character with their own unique set of magical skills. These spells exist on a tier, and by clearing lines containing orbs you're able to progress up to higher tiers of magic. Conventional wisdom would be to always build up to your highest tier of magic and then pop your "ultimate," but Battle Gaiden avoids this trap by smartly designing spells such that they have strong utility in certain situations. As an example, your opponent might be constantly sending garbage blocks your way, and your tier-1 magic will simply clear these lines out to make your well more manageable, whereas your tier-3 magic will reverse your opponents inputs. Inconveniencing them when their well is mostly clear doesn't do you much good when you're drowning in tetrominos.
You also can't play this like a traditional competitive Tetris. In fact, the way some spells work actually incentivize you to "play bad" in order to copy completely mangled rows over to your opponent. Likewise, since carefully managing which tier of magic you're building to is crucial to winning a game, you can't really boil things down to the same rote "build and clear tetrises" that forms a reliable baseline for other Tetris games. It's a thinkin' man's Tetris. Except it's also not!
Some characters are just built better than others, with clear counters that can make matches agonizing to win no matter how thoughtful you are while playing. There's definitely a lack of balance, and it can give those more familiar with the game a clear advantage and push away newcomers. The story mode might be a good way to acclimate new players, but the game's mechanical idiosyncrasies are better learned when you have another human being teaching you the ropes. As such, I have one friend who is way into Tetris Battle Gaiden who I can always rely on for a fair and challenging match, and another who just doesn't "get" the game and has perhaps said some things to me that should get him put onto a government watch list or two.
But, I love it. It's my favorite puzzle game, even if I might struggle to recommend it to others, especially in this current climate where getting a bunch of people in the same room to play games is easier said than done. It was also never released in America, so if you want to play it, you will likely need to restore to emulation. If, however, all of that sounds completely manageable to you, then I would highly encourage you to destroy a few friendships with Tetris Battle Gaiden.
True to its title, this is a multiplayer-centric Tetris game. Each player selects a character with their own unique set of magical skills. These spells exist on a tier, and by clearing lines containing orbs you're able to progress up to higher tiers of magic. Conventional wisdom would be to always build up to your highest tier of magic and then pop your "ultimate," but Battle Gaiden avoids this trap by smartly designing spells such that they have strong utility in certain situations. As an example, your opponent might be constantly sending garbage blocks your way, and your tier-1 magic will simply clear these lines out to make your well more manageable, whereas your tier-3 magic will reverse your opponents inputs. Inconveniencing them when their well is mostly clear doesn't do you much good when you're drowning in tetrominos.
You also can't play this like a traditional competitive Tetris. In fact, the way some spells work actually incentivize you to "play bad" in order to copy completely mangled rows over to your opponent. Likewise, since carefully managing which tier of magic you're building to is crucial to winning a game, you can't really boil things down to the same rote "build and clear tetrises" that forms a reliable baseline for other Tetris games. It's a thinkin' man's Tetris. Except it's also not!
Some characters are just built better than others, with clear counters that can make matches agonizing to win no matter how thoughtful you are while playing. There's definitely a lack of balance, and it can give those more familiar with the game a clear advantage and push away newcomers. The story mode might be a good way to acclimate new players, but the game's mechanical idiosyncrasies are better learned when you have another human being teaching you the ropes. As such, I have one friend who is way into Tetris Battle Gaiden who I can always rely on for a fair and challenging match, and another who just doesn't "get" the game and has perhaps said some things to me that should get him put onto a government watch list or two.
But, I love it. It's my favorite puzzle game, even if I might struggle to recommend it to others, especially in this current climate where getting a bunch of people in the same room to play games is easier said than done. It was also never released in America, so if you want to play it, you will likely need to restore to emulation. If, however, all of that sounds completely manageable to you, then I would highly encourage you to destroy a few friendships with Tetris Battle Gaiden.