Tetris 99 - Side Order Cup (Splatoon 3)

Since it’s been about four months after Side Order, I certainly didn’t expect THIS one! The very first skin you could get from a Tetris 99 Maximus Cup was based on Splatoon in general…though that could mean either no more Splatoon themes (because that one represents the series as a whole) or more of them in the future (because now that they’ve done it once, it’s easier to do another one). Well, after about five years, we’ve gotten one for Splatoon 3, but specifically, the Side Order DLC, which is weird. I wonder if that means we might get a skin based on The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero to stand for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, considering we had skins for Pokémon Sword and Shield and for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

In any case, there is enough material in Side Order to pack a Tetris 99 skin full of references to it. The backgrounds depict Agent 8 and the Pearl Drone in the Order Sector, and your playfield is designed to resemble a Palette, Agent 8’s tool to store Color Chips. The Tetriminos themselves resemble said Color Chips: Z-blocks corresond to Power Chips, L-blocks correspond to Range Chips, O-blocks correspond to Lucky Chips, S-blocks correspond to Drone Chips, J-blocks correspond to Mobility Chips, T-blocks correspond to Support Chips, and I-blocks have Marina’s emblem on them, not corresponding to any chips in particular. Garbage blocks are their own original gray Color Chips, using a texture not found in Side Order. The countdown is done in the Side Order font, while all other text not native to Tetris 99 are done in the normal Splatoon 3 text font. The Pearl Drone is your target reticule, players you KOed personally have a turquioise splat, while all other KOed players have a muted reddish splat. Badges are Prlz. A pair of Marching Andantes accompany the “Watch Out!” signifier.

The countdown before a match begins are the sounds when Agent 8 is being carried onto a floor via the basket on the zipline. The background theme when a match begins is “souven1r” (the theme for the ∞-ball objective for floors 1 through 9). When 50 players remain, the theme changes to “souv3nir” (the theme for the ∞-ball objective for floors 21 through 29). When 10 players remain, the theme changes one more time, to "CΘld StΘrage" (Pinking Marciale's theme). Moving Tetriminos around, hard drops, and soft drops make sounds used when Agent 8 is examining their Palette. A single line clear uses a minor powerup pickup sound, a double uses a major powerup pickup sound, a triple line clear makes an echoing version fo the major powerup sound, a Tetris uses the sound when you complete the CD so Pearl can use her Step-Off Song move, and a T-Spin makes the sound when you recover after taking critical damage (the kind that slows you down). When you KO someone, you hear a Jelleton splat sound. Finishing at 2nd place or below plays a jingle I’ve heard but can’t remember when it’s used, followed by the music that plays when the game counts up your collected Color Chips after a failed run. Finishing in 1st place, however, plays the jingle after defeating a boss, followed by the music when your Chips get counted up after a successful run.

00:07 Match #1
Skin: Special Theme 34 (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
Mode: Normal
Most of the time, I play these Maximus Cups around the time they begin. In my time zone, as we’re on Daylight Savings, that would be midnight. And this being a Thursday night (technically Friday morning), I was pretty exhausted after a long week of work plus sleepy. As a result, I wasn’t playing at my best, playing slower than normal, mking bad decisions, and making some mistakes here and there, one of them being a crucial one that may have cost me a 1st place finish. This is not to discount the other people playing here though! I was honestly surprised I went as far as I did! I had just come off a 98th place finish a little bit prior.

08:34 - Match #2
Skin: Special Theme 34 (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
Mode: Invictus
This is probably a match I’ll remember for a long while, because I had recovered from the brink of defeat and wound up KOing everyone else in my way in the process! It’s quite the turnaround, one I’m sure none of my opponents had expected. Heck, even I didn’t expect it!

15:42 Match #3
Skin: Special Theme 34 (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
Mode: Normal
I decided to just go back to Normal to have another match to fill in these videos. Perhaps I should’ve done another Invictus one so I don’t hog points for someone else who needs them, considering this match was as ordinary as it gets for me. Nothing weird or memorable about it.