 There have been tons of Tetris variations over the years. The Super Nintendo alone saw Tetris Attack, Yoshi's Cookie, Word Trist, Tetris 2, and to a lesser extent Wario's Woods, but here's one that stayed in Japan and was never released in North America. Tetris Battle Gaiden was made in December of 1993 by Bulletproof Software, and the number one thing that makes this Tetris variant stand out is that it's strictly Tetris Versus, so to speak. it's against a second player, or in a single-player campaign mode against the computer. Tetris put into a strictly competitive setting like this may not be for everyone, but I think the extra stuff this game has to offer makes this one worth playing today. Now, this isn't the first Tetris multiplayer game, so there's some familiar stuff here, like if you get at least two lines together, that'll add filler lines at the bottom of the other player's screen. That's nothing new. But there's two main things that make this game stand out. To start out, you select from one of eight different characters, everything from a ninja, a shaman, a rabbit, a princess, a wolfman, some kid, a group of kids, and a jack-o-lantern dude, I guess. Each of these characters has different magic abilities that you can either use to make life difficult for your opponent, or to make life easier for yourself. You earn magic by completing lines that have these small orbs in them, and they can stack up so you can hold as many as 20 at once. Magic is divided up into four different skills, using one orb executes a level one spell, using two orbs would be level two, and so on. Level one spells are usually to help your own stack, but levels two and four will be spells that mess with your opponent, with level three spells being a bit of a wild card. All you gotta do to use a spell is just press up on the d-pad. To give some examples, the ninja character's level one spell, using just one orb, will push all the blocks in your own stack to one side, sealing up any gaps that could be problematic for you. A level two spell attacks your opponent, randomizing their next four pieces they select in the queue. Level three puts a big spiderweb on your opponent's view screen, causing certain pieces to get stuck for a short period. And level four, the most powerful attack, turns every normal block in their stack into solid immovable brick. There are some spells that are just downright rude though, like this jack-o-lantern dude. Their level three spell just straight up steals all the orbs on the opponent's side. Jeez. If you play against the Aladdin character, their level three spell actually just copy-paste their own crappy stack directly onto yours. Ugh. Another interesting gameplay mechanic here is the shared Tetris piece queue in the top middle of the screen. You each start out the game with the same piece, but after that, it's first come first serve. This is an especially key component because you have to keep an eye out for pieces with orbs in them, not only to collect them for yourself, but to keep them away from your opponent. It adds a wrinkle of strategy, which I really like, and you really have to be constantly aware of what pieces are coming, so you can plan ahead. But even then, it might not do you much good because of the chaos that the magic spells bring to the game. That's really the best way to describe this game, it's just Tetris chaos. There's so much going on and so much to keep track of. It reminds me a little bit of the versus mode in Yoshi's Cookie, but Tetris Battle Gaiden is more fun, more crazy, and more frustrating. Seriously, there will be some controllers spiked into the ground if you play this one. There's lots of tiny bits of strategy in the gameplay here that really go a long way. Ultimately, each match is going to boil down to see who can collect more orbs faster, so you can lay down some magic spells that really piss off your opponent. You can be really petty about this too, like if you notice your opponent is about to place a piece with an orb in it, you can use pretty much any magic attack that you may have ready to go, and your opponent's piece will automatically be replaced with something else. My only real issue with the overall gameplay here is that there's no counter attacks, so you can just get bombarded with spells if your luck turns sour. Still, I do think this is a really fun multiplayer versus game that's a good blend of speed and strategy. One thing you gotta keep in mind though, is that since up is used to cast spells, there is no hard drop in this game, no ghost pieces, as well as some of the other smaller things you might be used to in a Tetris game. This one is closer to the original Game Boy and NES games in terms of the nuts and bolts of the basic Tetris gameplay. So yeah, just a quick video on one of the better multiplayer Super Nintendo games that not many people have heard of. The strategy that comes into play, just based on having a shared queue, really adds a lot. I mean, if you see a piece that you want to take two spots down, you can sit there and slowly wait for your piece to land, hoping your opponent will have to take the next piece, so then you can jump in and get the one you want. But your opponent could see that coming and speed things up and take that piece before you get a chance. Of course, the spells here are both really fun and incredibly maddening. I highly recommend checking this one out because it's simultaneously one of the very best Super Nintendo versus games and one of the most frustrating, but in a good way. And since this one was never released anywhere else, this is when you gotta play any way you can. Alright, I want to thank you for watching and I hope you have a great rest of your day.