Nintendo announced on Monday evening that Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be the next crossover game to be featured as a Maximus Cup event in the free-to-play battle royale Tetris 99.
From 12 AM PST on April 22 to 11:59 PM PST on April 25, Tetris 99 will be reskinned with new background art, music, and block designs based on Forgotten Land. Players who jump into its online mode—a free-for-all where the last Tetris player standing out of 99 wins the match—will earn “event points.” At 100 points, participants can permanently add the Forgotten Land theme to their personal collection.
This follows the same blueprint as past Maximus Cup events, which have involved tie-ins for games like Skyward Sword HD, Miitopia, WarioWare, and Metroid Dread. This is the first event weekend for Tetris 99 since January, when Pokemon Legends: Arceus took over for a few days.
Naturally, as it involves online multiplayer, the Maximus Cup is only available for Switch Online subscribers. It also seems like it’s important to point out that you don’t have to win the Cup in order to unlock the theme. As in past Maximus Cups, you can fumble your way to 100 event points over the course of several games, although higher places will earn you more.
Winning is certainly the fastest way to your new theme, but is also a dicey proposition. Tetris 99 is populated entirely by straight killers, especially on an event weekend.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the first fully-3D game to star Nintendo’s pinkest character, came out at the end of March to rave reviews, earning an overall 85 rank on Metacritic. Our own Jake Valentine referred to it as “everything I’ve ever wanted out of a Kirby game.”
