Tetris Party Deluxe

Overview

Tetris Party Deluxe, known in Japan as Tetris Party Premium, is a falling-block puzzle game developed by Hudson Soft (along with Tetris Online, Inc.) and published by Majesco for the Wii and Nintendo DS in North America on May 25, 2010, with a Japanese release by Hudson .

An updated successor to the 2008 WiiWare title Tetris Party, Tetris Party Deluxe features a reworked user interface (with widescreen support) and several new game modes (including the return of Bombliss), with additional support for the Wii Wheel and Wii Speak peripherals.

In addition to the Wii version, the game includes a handheld Nintendo DS version with most of the original's modes and features. Instead of Miis, this version utilizes cartoonish avatar faces. This version also utilizes the touchscreen (for Item usage in multiplayer), built-in microphone (for online voice chat), and Download Play (for local multiplayer using one game card). This version later received a limited downloadable release on November 22, 2010, known as Tetris Party Live, that is limited to the Marathon, Computer Battle, VS Battle, and Duel Spaces modes.

The game was later succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS game Tetris Axis.

Game Modes

The game includes up to 23 game modes in total, 6 of which are new additions and 1 of which is exclusive to the Japanese release. Some modes, namely the Wii Balance Board modes, are not available on the DS version. For the 16 game modes included in the original, see Tetris Party.

Single-Player

Some modes from the previous game have been updated, with Field Climber adding an endless mode setting (known as "Everest", with players collecting oxygen tanks instead of flags), Shadow adding a puzzle editor, and Stage Racer adding both an endless mode setting and support for motion controls (intended for use with the Wii Wheel accessory).

• Sprint is the game's standard Time Attack mode, tasking players with clearing 40 lines as fast as they can.

• Master Mode is a more difficult version of the Marathon mode, with pieces being hard-dropped immediately after spawning (giving players a limited amount of time to place the piece properly before locking).

• Bombliss Mode is a stage-based mode where players have a limited amount of pieces to clear the board and are scored based on how many they do not use. Rather than clearing the blocks, line clears instead detonate the line's Bomb Blocks (which clear blocks and detonate additional Bomb Blocks for a chain reaction). Larger line clears grant larger explosions, players can combine a square of Bomb Blocks to form a larger Bomb Block (with a larger explosion), and blocks above the explosions can unlock and drop down (potentially causing a chain combo). Each dropped piece contains one or more Bomb Blocks, and in addition to tetrominos, the game utilizes dominoes and trominoes. The game includes 30 total stages.

• Mission Tetris, exclusive to the Japanese version, is a stage-based mode that tasks players with completing a series of 10 objectives (such as clearing a number of lines, or using a specific tetromino to clear a line).

Multiplayer

The VS Battle mode now has an optional "Auto Handicap" variation that automatically grant player handicaps based on the balance of wins and losses. In addition, motion control is supported for VS Stage Racer and all modes with Items have new types of Items added.

• Co-op VS Co-op is a four-player competitive variation of the Co-op Tetris mode, with each two-player team having their own 20×20 playfield. Teams can send garbage block rows to the opposing team by clearing lines.

• VS Sprint is a multiplayer version of the Sprint mode, with players racing to be the first to clear 40 lines. Similar to VS Battle, players can enable an optional "Auto Handicap" variation that automatically grant player handicaps based on the balance of wins and losses.

Other Modes

Although Beginner's Tetris is similar to the original game, players can now choose between Beginner's Marathon and a new All Clear Sprint (in which players attempt to get 20 "All Clears" in the shortest time).