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[3DS] Tetris Axis coming on October 2, Nintendo publishes!

The M.O.B

Member
After buying the bare-bones iOS version, I could really go for a meatier Tetris game.

The DSiware Tetris Live is also incredibly bare-bones, and Tetris DS is still like $15-20 to find it used.

This one seems packed full of content and has awesome dancings mii's on the bottom screen.

For $30, this is mighty tempting.
 
What honks me off with this version is that you cannot use the slide-pad to control. Instead it's for camera functions only. Even in Marathon mode, it won't allow me to change the controls.

I know some won't be bothered by this, but I thought I'd bring it up.
 
Picked it up about an hour ago from K-Mart (selling for 30, plus I had a 20 dollar coupon from buying Gears 3, making it a 10 dollar purchase). Not a bad package at all. Since not much of the online has been covered, I'll try to give a description below:

Since no one's playing right now, it took a few minutes to get into an online match - but what's nice is that while you're waiting for a competitor you can play a practice mode. You can choose to play with items or no items. I got put into a game with items and did not do so well - felt so stupid, I have no idea where the mic is on the 3DS. There was a fog item or something and mic icon came up, but had no idea where I was supposed to be blowing. Had started out so well, but that item decimated me and I lost. Looks like you can rematch, but the person I played against disconnected after he won. But basically you press Start and a Ready Icon appears next to your name to continue.

Similar to the DS, you have an overall points ranking - every time you lose, points get taken away, and when you win, points get added. One great thing is that it tracks your score separately for games with items on and off. Both start at 5000 points. There is also a number ranking to go along with your score when you go to the Records Menu. I imagine this may be a ranking similar to Tetris Friends, but not sure.

Also there are a ton of achievements if you're into that. Achievements for most of the modes (didn't see any for online play, but maybe it's buried) which include things like getting a certain number of t-spins, getting all-clears, defeating the computer, and climbing a certain height in Tower Climber.
 

SmokyDave

Member
Watched the Giant Bomb quick look yesterday, bought a 3DS today. Now I just need a copy of this game and a Vinny Caravella and I'm set.
 
More quick impressions:

Really weird to see my Mii in a dress. You can equip hats, different clothes sets, and dances.

After going to the World Ranking section, I noticed that there is in fact a number ranking, currently Rank 1. (had this wrong from my first impressions)

Friend Rankings are in place (I imagine they're leaderboards), which is awesome. Hope some people on my friends list pick this up to have some scores to compete with. Go to Records > World Ranking > Personal Records Ranking > Friend Ranking.

Friend Rankings for: Marathon Endless ON, Marathon Endless OFF Score, Marathon Endless OFF Time, Computer Battle Knockout (Time), Survivor Endless ON (score), Survival Endless OFF (score), Jigsaw (time), Shadow Wide Time (2000%), Fit Endless ON (Planes), Fit Endless OFF (Time), Tower Climber Everest ON (floor), Tower Climber Everest OFF (time), Bombliss Plus Endless ON (score), Bombliss Plus Endless OFF (time), Course J, L, S, T, Z Beginner/Advanced/Abyss (time), Capture (time), Master Mode Endless ON/OFF (score), Master Mode Endless OFF (time), Sprint (time), Co-op Tower Climber Everest ON, Marathon Consecutive Tetrises, Marathon Maximum Lines, Marathon Consecutive B2B, AR Marathon Score, AR Marathon Time, AR Climber.

Of course you can look at Global Rankings for all these modes as well.
 
D

Deleted member 284

Unconfirmed Member
The M.O.B said:
The DSiware Tetris Live is also incredibly bare-bones, and Tetris DS is still like $15-20 to find it used.

That is an amazing price if you can get it complete btw.
 
JacksUsername said:
I got put into a game with items and did not do so well - felt so stupid, I have no idea where the mic is on the 3DS. There was a fog item or something and mic icon came up, but had no idea where I was supposed to be blowing.
Look at the Start button on the 3DS. Almost exactly below it and a bit to the right, you should see a tiny hole-- pretty sure that's the mic.
 

RaidenZR

Member
Just played some quick rounds of online with 2 other people simultaneously. Really decent build of Tetris, and we all know that's not always guaranteed.
 
we in Europe can't join the US friends till 21st Oct.

Wish Nintendo Europe would move with the times and release European software closer to the US dates.
 
Where are you guys getting it? Just got back from Target and they didn't have it up yet. I almost asked if they had it in the back or whatever, but the store was pretty busy and it's literally across the street from my apartment complex, so I'm just going to go back later tonight or after classes tomorrow.

I'm a little worried though, Target's website says that they don't see it in stores and that if you order it online it's backordered for 2-4 weeks.

The only other place I have nearby to get it is GameStop, which I'd really rather not do especially if the $10 gift card thing was true (the website doesn't mention it). Not only does GS not have the gift card, they're charging $5 more for the game.

Hopefully there's nothing to worry about, but Target's site explicitly says that it's not sold in stores. I don't know if we have any idea how many copies of this were made but on the chance it become rare like the DS version I don't really want to wait around too long to find out if Target is going to stock it or not.

I just checked the weekly ad on the site and it does have the $10 gift card offer and it says the game is "available now." Weird that the site doesn't reflect that though.
 

Acerac

Banned
Targets in my area all seem to have a decent amount of them, though they had a bit of a problem finding them when I called. Give them the DPCI# 207-02-1351 and it'll help them hunt it down.
 
Acerac said:
Targets in my area all seem to have a decent amount of them, though they had a bit of a problem finding them when I called. Give them the DPCI# 207-02-1351 and it'll help them hunt it down.
Alright, cool. Maybe I'll call later but like I said, I'm guessing they just haven't gotten them out there yet. Though it is 2:30, you'd think they'd put out all their new merchandise in the morning before the store opened.

But I guess you'd also think that their site wouldn't claim that they don't sell the game in stores when they clearly do, so who knows.
 

jooey

The Motorcycle That Wouldn't Slow Down
Tetris Party Live on DSi is not the only Tetris Party. People seem to forget that they also made Tetris Party Deluxe for DS a couple of years ago, and you can likely find it at least $10 cheaper than Axis if you guys still want a good alternative to Tetris DS that's still made by Hudson.
 
dr3upmushroom said:
Where are you guys getting it?

K-Mart, although they weren't on the shelf, the associate had to get it from below the register. Apparently they only got 2 copies though; convinced my friend to pick it up and when he went there, they told him they had received 2 copies and had sold both. He went to Wal-Mart as well, but they didn't have any.

jooey said:
Tetris Party Live on DSi is not the only Tetris Party. People seem to forget that they also made Tetris Party Deluxe for DS a couple of years ago, and you can likely find it at least $10 cheaper than Axis if you guys still want a good alternative to Tetris DS that's still made by Hudson.

Yeah, they actually still sell the DS version of Tetris Party new and sealed at my local Wal-Mart. Think they're still asking 30 bucks for it though.
 

WEGGLES

Member
olubode said:
That is an amazing price if you can get it complete btw.
Absolutely. Paid full price for Tetris DS. One of my most played DS games. I imagine Tetris and the Axis of Evil will be my most played 3DS game...
 
KenOD said:
Does Axis have anything along the lines of Catch mode from Tetris DS?

Not from what I've seen :/

But on a positive note, I'm pretty happy with my Fever rating - listed #1 in Global Ranking. I know it's because next to no one seems to have this game right now, but I'll enjoy my victory while it lasts (my 3DS name is Lane). Got a score of 1,868,224.
 

Acerac

Banned
Having a lot of fun with the game so far. I'm doing decently despite being wildly out of practice. This is probably the first Tetris game I've owned since the one on the GB and I can still get to the end of Marathon mode... with a bit of difficulty towards the end. I think I'm going to turn endless on. I know the key to the game is spamming tetrises (tetri?) but I need to get back in to the game a bit more before I go for competitive scores.

The music is good, the backgrounds are good, as is the gameplay. The only thing that bugs me is how the game lets you stall for time by rotating the blocks before they settle in. I know I could just choose to not do that, but when I'm in the situation where it matters it's difficult to make that choice.
 

jgkspsx

Member
Hmmm. I wonder if Amazon would match Target with a $10 credit. Anybody tried something like that before?

I'm leaning towards getting it now, though I'd still like to hear more impressions.
 

jooey

The Motorcycle That Wouldn't Slow Down
Acerac said:
The only thing that bugs me is how the game lets you stall for time by rotation the blocks before they settle in.
AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHH
 
jooey said:
AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHH
It's part of the official Tetris playbook. Blame the license holders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris#Easy_spin_dispute
Although not the first Tetris game to feature "easy spin" (see The Next Tetris), also called "infinite spin" by critics,[20] Tetris Worlds was the first game to fall under major criticisms for it. Easy spin refers to the property of a tetromino to stop falling for a moment after left or right movement or rotation, effectively allowing someone to suspend the tetromino while thinking on where to place it. This feature has been implemented into The Tetris Company's official guideline.
 

Acerac

Banned
jooey said:
AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHH
Having spent some more time with the game (and having read the link) the decision makes a lot more sense. It's an option for Tetris scrubs that those who are skilled with the game won't get much use out of. Honestly some form of this mechanic seems necessary once you start hitting the more absurd speeds, though it could have certainly be toned down.

That typo drives me insane every time I see it by the way. I don't suppose I can convince you to edit it? :D

I'm enjoying this game much more than any DS or 3DS game I've purchased since Street Fighter 4; perhaps it is because it has been so long since I've owned a Tetris game, but I am hooked. Certainly worth the 20 I paid for it, I highly suggest this game to all those who have wanted to get back in to the series. I'm not sure how it stacks up against recent installments, but it isn't a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.

I think Flight of the Bumblebee is going to end up as my most used track. I didn't like the remix when I first heard it, but it quickly grew on me.
 
Plinko said:
That was my same complaint with Tetris DS.

Tetris Party got rid of the "infinite" spin though. You can still stall for time, but you only got about 1 or 2 seconds instead of forever like in Tetris DS (which I agree, makes single player standard mode completely pointless)
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Acerac said:
Having spent some more time with the game (and having read the link) the decision makes a lot more sense. It's an option for Tetris scrubs that those who are skilled with the game won't get much use out of. Honestly some form of this mechanic seems necessary once you start hitting the more absurd speeds, though it could have certainly be toned down.
Not only is it unnecessary, it actually hurts play at higher speeds. When pieces are locking at a rapid pace it is vitally important to get an instinctive feel for when one piece has locked and input is being given to the next piece. In games without infinite spin, you can develop a rhythm and keep your thoughts and inputs organized by it. Even if you're manually locking pieces you know that pieces are going to lock after a certain amount of time or when you do so yourself. In games with infinite spin, you can get used to a slower pace then suddenly LOCK because LOLZ YOU DIDN'T HIT A BUTTON IN 30 FRAMES. It's incredibly frustrating to deal with and I despise playing with maximum gravity(20G) in guideline games.

Of course, you could argue that you need time to figure out what happens after you hit rotate, but that's just because the rotation system is broken and indeterminate to begin with. So you end up having to spam rotate anyway defeating the whole purpose of the game having higher speed.

What you actually need for play at 20G is the following: lock delay, spawn delay, the ability to rotate pieces during spawn delay, and a set of determinable rotations and wallkicks.
 
Is the game still broken, you know, how they ruined the series by removing all skill?

Acerac said:
The only thing that bugs me is how the game lets you stall for time by rotating the blocks before they settle in.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck


Good thing I still have the original Tetris and my GBA SP.
 

Acerac

Banned
The spin isn't infinite, for reference. You do get some extra time, but if you try to stall for more than a second or so the game locks you in.

It's still far more than I am used to, but not nearly infinite.
 

ShinNL

Member
Hitokage said:
If you have a DS flashcart, download the homebrew app NDS_TGM.
Do you use a flashcart in combination with your 3DS? I haven't put my flashcart in my 3DS yet because of all the flashcart warnings that Nintendo put out in the beginning about being able to ban/brick systems that use flashcarts (sounds pretty unfair to fair users!). So far I heard no reports of people actually being banned.

The problem is that half of my games are unplayable now because I have pretty much all my previous savegames on the flashcart and now I'm forced to carry them all manually and replay them :<
 

SmokyDave

Member
Hitokage said:
Not only is it unnecessary, it actually hurts play at higher speeds. When pieces are locking at a rapid pace it is vitally important to get an instinctive feel for when one piece has locked and input is being given to the next piece. In games without infinite spin, you can develop a rhythm and keep your thoughts and inputs organized by it. Even if you're manually locking pieces you know that pieces are going to lock after a certain amount of time or when you do so yourself. In games with infinite spin, you can get used to a slower pace then suddenly LOCK because LOLZ YOU DIDN'T HIT A BUTTON IN 30 FRAMES. It's incredibly frustrating to deal with and I despise playing with maximum gravity(20G) in guideline games.

Of course, you could argue that you need time to figure out what happens after you hit rotate, but that's just because the rotation system is broken and indeterminate to begin with. So you end up having to spam rotate anyway defeating the whole purpose of the game having higher speed.

What you actually need for play at 20G is the following: lock delay, spawn delay, the ability to rotate pieces during spawn delay, and a set of determinable rotations and wallkicks.
Reading this post made me suspect I am most definitely a Tetris scrub. Watching some high-level Tetris play just confirmed that fact.

TBH, I'll mostly be playing the AR modes and giggling like a schoolgirl anyway, I've got a real thing for AR at the moment.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Soneet: Good question, but given that NDS_TGM is pretty much the main reason I still have a DS at all I never saw the need to upgrade.

Of course, given the opportunity, I will be playing Tetris Axis. That's just the nature of my love/hate relationship with the franchise.
 
Acerac said:
The spin isn't infinite, for reference. You do get some extra time, but if you try to stall for more than a second or so the game locks you in.

It's still far more than I am used to, but not nearly infinite.

So it's just like the Tetris Party games then. Well, it's the best we could hope for I guess.
 

ShinNL

Member
Hitokage said:
Soneet: Good question, but given that NDS_TGM is pretty much the main reason I still have a DS at all I never saw the need to upgrade.
If you take Nintendo's warning seriously then yeah, upgrading IS annoying. The reason I can't sell my DS.lite now is because I will basically lose half my savegames, so I'm keeping it as the DS player. But in practice I never carry 2 DS when I go outside, so I'm usually stuck between choosing 40-ish DS games I own or just 4-5 that I want to carry max in my 3DS bag. I havent tried too much homebrew besides Colors though, and that TGM port looks really good. I'll try it (and boot the old DS again ._.)
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Nuclear Muffin said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWkjA1VYdg

Holy crap! I never even knew that there was a homebrew DS version of TGM. It looks amazingly polished!
The development was ended prematurely so some things aren't implemented like the COOL/REGRET system for TGM3 Master mode or Torikan for Death/Shirase.

Also, the timings aren't a perfect match but the rotation system is a solid reproduction.

I'd buy that on DSiWare for sure!
It beaks guideline. :(
 
Surprisingly great game of Tetris. The amount of modes is overwhelming. I picked it up at Taget and got a free $10 gift card, so if you're on the fence, that's a pretty solid deal.
 

Mudkips

Banned
Mdk7 said:
Nintendo, where's my Tetrisphere 64 3D?
C'mon, you know
very few
people want it!

I want it. I want it badz.
Axis should be at my door sometime this eventing, I'll spam my 3DS friend code here sometime tonight.
 
I picked it up yesterday at Target and got a gift card with it. If anyone wants to play sometime just PM me when you see me on the board.
 

Mudkips

Banned
Friend Code is 4553-9975-1509 (Brian).
I hate the scoring system. If I'm ranked higher and i win, I get like 60 points, but if I lose, I lose like 100.
And if I'm ranked lower and I win I get like 50 points, but if I lose I lose like 60.

In general there's a net loss of points in every game I play. more points lost by the loser than own by the winner.
 

kunonabi

Member
I can't stand that easy spin nonsense and being able to hold pieces. I'll probably skip Axis now. More Tetris Battle Gaiden for me then.
 
I can't get the damn game to connect online most of the time. I am getting fed up with the 3DS online. This and RE: Mercs are just about impossible to get online -_-;
 

Acerac

Banned
MidnightScott said:
I can't get the damn game to connect online most of the time. I am getting fed up with the 3DS online. This and RE: Mercs are just about impossible to get online -_-;
That's a shame, I have had mostly positive experiences with SF4. I'll probably try some online play once I get a bit better. I still feel that I'm too out of practice at the moment.

Minor celebratory note, it is nice to break in to the leaderboards at 21st on marathon. Granted that isn't overly impressive in the grand scheme of things, but for somebody who has been out of the series for ages it feels pretty good to rank up to the point where my name is being displayed. :)
 

Bii

Member
MidnightScott said:
I can't get the damn game to connect online most of the time. I am getting fed up with the 3DS online. This and RE: Mercs are just about impossible to get online -_-;

I don't think it's "3DS online" as a whole. I can update/post new scores for Tetris Axis yet the multiplayer mode gives me communication errors. I've been trying to get a multiplayer game going today and yesterday to no avail. :(
 
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