3D Tetris is a 1996 puzzle video game developed by T&E Soft and published by Nintendo for the Virtual Boy.
Players control multiple falling blocks, rotating and positioning them to clear layers in a three-dimensional environment similar to Tetris's gameplay.
The play field, called a well, contains 5 vertical layers that players fill with falling three-dimensional blocks.
[1] The HUD displays a radar which provides information about each of the well's five layers, as well as the next block to fall, which is represented by a character.
[4] In the 3-D Tetris mode, a layer disappears when it is filled with blocks, scoring players points which are displayed in the HUD.
[5] Points are gained based on the number of blocks in, the complexity of, and the height of the symmetrical layer.
[10] Like all other Virtual Boy games, 3D Tetris uses a red-and-black color scheme and uses parallax, an optical trick that is used to simulate a 3D effect.
[11] The game contains 30 different block types, and renders each one as a 3D wire-frame model until they fall to the bottom of the well, where they are filled in.
[18][14] Staff for Game Informer argued that a 3D Tetris had potential, but it was not executed well, criticizing its slow pace.
[17] Dave Frear of Nintendo Life agreed that it started out too slowly, but noted that pace increase in higher difficulties made it much more fun.