A guide to Tetris Battle Gaiden for the SNES

A Quick Tier List on Characters and their abilities for Speedrunning

S Tier: Mirurun , Princess
A Tier: Ninja , Wolfman
B Tier: Shaman , Aladdin
C Tier: Halloween, Bit


Mirurun is probaby the most reliable in Easy mode, otherwise, every other Mode doesn't care about him.
So only use Mirurun in Easy since the Normal/Hard Ai's are programmed to utterly destroy you.
His gameplan is pretty much the same as always. Spam Level 3's and pressure your opponent as much as you can, and deny them of any and every Crystal.
-Level 1 (Erase) isn't too bad, just gets rid of 4 lines from the bottom.
-Level 2 (Invert) is just good in Easy since the AI doesn't really know what to do with Inverted controls
-Level 3 (Raise) is very good and you can easily get it to topple the Easy AI. Normal/Hard AI doesn't care.
-Level 4 (Mirror) is very dependant on the opponent's field.
It's only good when the opponent is close to toppling and to invert and give them maybe 1 hole and they can't place anything there.


Princess has good magic across the board, an is probably the most reliable in every Category.
Princess is very well balanced and can pretty much deal with any and every sort of situation thrown at her.
-Level 1 (Ray) can help get out of sticky situations and make a quick well for you
-Level 2 (Reflector) is a very good Uno Reverse Card, has the downside of not being able to use any magic while it's in play. Probably best used in Hard Mode.
-Level 3 (Paralyse) ability easily messes with the AI and you can actually take the time to build up and send lines over to your opponent while setting up for another instant level 3.
-Level 4 (Copy) is probably the worst and only dependant on what the opponent's board looks like since she copies the opponent's board.


Ninja is probably best used in Easy/Normal, I have yet to try him out in Hard Mode, but from how he plays.
Ninja is all about hitting hard and fast, he's very straightforward since his Level 1 sets up a side well for him.
-Level 1 (Wind) is easily one if not the best. Pushes all the blocks from one side the the other, creating a side well. Has the potential to really made a lot of quick combos and send a bunch of lines easily this way.
-Level 2 (Disguie) is okay, but AI doesn't have the problem of getting conffuzled by getting pieces tht they didn't expect and can react on the fly.
-Level 3 (Web) is just a ay to hinder your opponent. Normal and Hard mode it isn't really that big of an issue since the AI plays so fast and aggressive that they adapt to Tetris Type B really easily.
-Level 4 (Stone) has the same effect on the AI as Web. While scary to human beings, the AI can adapt on the fly and break through the rocks.


I almost counted out Wolfman and put him in B Tier, but I noticed his Level 2 ability which is probably the best Level 2 ability going against the AI or anybody else.
His strategy consist of getting Level 2, and using that time to build up for a Rensa Bomb.
-Level 1 (Slice) is a very good defensive ability that takes out the top 4 rows, so a reverse Mirurun Level 1.
-Level 2 (Slow) IS AMAZING. If used the early game, the opponent has no choice but to painfully wait until that piece has been placed down. Giving you ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to set up and take as much pieces for yourself. and set up for Rensa
-Level 3 (Frienship), any rows the opponent sends lower's Wolfman's stack instead of raises. It honestly pretty garbage since it kinda goes against what Slow and Rensa does for Wolfman.
-Level 4 (Rensa), for the next 4 pieces, once a line iss cleared, non-Crystal blocks fall straight down until they hit another block or the bottom of the field. Possibly creating additional lines. So this ability can give you this amzing Puyo Puyo effect where if you develop your board, you can clear a single line at the top, and everything drops to create additional lines and topple your opponent. This can easily be combo'd after using Level 2 Slow. It's very hype, and can probably pick up some wins here and there depending on how many lines you clear from the Ransa. If you do topple an opponent with Rensa, I like to call the a Rensa Bomb.


Shaman is kinda interesting, I personally don't think he's any good but compared the what's below, he's in an okay spot.
Pretty well rounded and almost overpowered as long as you're able to spam Splits and Dooms.
-Level 1 (Split) works relatively the same as Ninja's. Except you get a middle well. So it's a good defensive spell that could potentially send lots of lines over.
-Level 2 (Spiral) isn't that big of a deal to Normal/Hard AI. They pretty much spin and win.
-Level 3 (Death/Doom), is relatively dependant on how Shaman's feild is.You obviously want to have the power of sending inestructable blocks, so to be able to combo after using the Level 3 can be very hard since Normal/Hard AI can be very aggressive and avoid you sending anymore blocks if they place 4 down really quickly.
-Level 4 (Random) NEVER USE IT. DON'T FUCKING USE IT. IT IS TERRIBLE. Gamble your life away and take a random Level 4 ability and use it on yourself. Get Ninja's Level 4 and use STONE ON YOURSELF...
Easily the worst Level 4 ability out of everyone in the cast.


Aladdin on the surface, looking at his abilities... may not be the worst, and coul easily have been one of the best.
Aladdin's strategy is pretty much just get the opponent into a situation for the insta-kill.
-Level 1 (Shove) is so weak. It only sends 2 lines you have on the bottom over to your opponents. If it was 3 lines (4 might be pushing it?) then it would be worth the use since Mirurun, Halloween, Ninja, and Wolfman can get rid of 3-4 lines of their stack. Obviously Aladdin is sending lines from his side to the others instead of just getting rid of it from his own so that's what "balances" it. But Halloween gets rid of 3 lines, and sends 3 lines. So Aladdin just has a weaker version of that.
-Level 2 (Barrier) is pretty mediocre. It stops any lines the opponent makes send over to you. Magic bypasses it though.
-Level 3 (Fax) is the opposite of Princess' level 4, Copy your own field and give it to the opponent. On paper this sounds nice. But you'll be left with 0 crystals afterwards. So there's a lot to tak into consieration. How many crystals your opponent already has and how many you can potentially get after the Fax.
-Level 4 (Control) is actually THE BEST IN THE GAME. To be able to control you're opponent's pieces and place them yourself, you can easily abuse this and have them topple. However... this is only dependant on if your opponent is already close to the top, and the next 2 pieces in queue actually allow you to make them topple.


Halloween is pretty bad vs the AI. Looking at his Magic, he seems to be pretty okay. But looking at them closer and how the AI behaves...
Halloween's very balanced and has a lot of tools at his disposal.
-Level 1 (Fire) bottom 3 rows are filled,sending 3 lines to the opponent. It's an okay aggressive defensive spell
-Level 2 (Dark) hides the opponent's field except for a little area under the piece. The AI doesn't care about the lack of sight. It doesn't need it to kick your ass.
-Level 3 (Steal) takes the opponents crystals that they have stored an gives them to Halloween. It's very situational, and the AI kinda just uses their crystal instantly so it's not that useful.
-Level 4 (Bomb) is the best spell Halloeen has, because he can basically turn the oponent's field into Tetris Type B. However, AI doesn't have any problems with this at all.


Bit is the worst. Don't play Bit. If you play Bit, what are you doing with your life? Just... why? Bit is an absolute troll, to you, to the AI, and to itself.
Bit is an odd luck-based character who focuses more on being annoying rather than attack/defense.
-Level 1 (Starfall) is a line clearing gambling mechanic where you have the potential to clear 9 lines... but more often, you'll clear 1 or 2 lines. It only works when your stack is uneven
-Level 2 (Rally), until both players have placed a combined 6 pieces, every piece in the Piece Pool will be whatever piece Bit had when he activate this power. It's okay... Not really that big of a deal. 
-Level 3 (Bandit), steals all the Crystal Piecces on your opponents field leaving holes. And some of the stolen Crystals are given to Bit. It's pretty okay, but this requires giving your opponent crystals to begin with.
-Level 4 (Shuffle) randomly Shuffles the opponent's stack around. It has the potential to create lines for the opponent, but much often create uneven collumns.



This is all subject to change as I continue to experiment with all the characters
This is all my initial thoughts, especially since I only experimented with Mirurun, Princess, Ninja, and Wolfman. The other 4, looking at the old guide and trying to picture how their poers would be utilized... as we go up in Difficulty, Mirurun can EASILY be seen as the best for Easy Mode, and Normal/Hard are very brutal and unforgiving. And depending on what powers you have at your disposal, anything can really happen that could screw you over.

Nome	Autore
A guide to Tetris Battle Gaiden for the SNES	ScootieK 8 years ago
A Quick Tier List on Characters and their abilities for Speedrunning	THEpinknekos 5 years ago