Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I don’t know when this Maximus Cup took place, but it pertained to Kirby Air Riders (which came out in October of 2025), and I missed it. Currently, the Special Themes from past Maximus Cups are available to unlock in Tetris 99 for 2 Tetris Tickets apiece, and this was missing from mine, so I got it, and I strove to place 1st in at least one match so I could continue to have done so at least once for every skin I have.
The most recent Maximus Cup skins are not yet available to unlock though, so I am still missing Special Theme 43. Its Maximus Cup was held over December 2025, and its theme was NES Tetris.
The Switch 2 does not notify when a Maximus Cup is going on, so I have to get it from outside sources and check each weekend. I happened to be checking if there is one for Splatoon Raiders or even Rhythm Heaven Groove, and I found this announcement that previous ones have become available and at a discount (they are normally 10 Tickets apiece).
I will likely do anther one of these for Special Theme 43 should it be made available afterwards.
00:00 - Unlocking Special Theme 40 (Kirby Air Riders)
00:21 - Match (Invictus)
Now that I’ve played a lot of Kirby Air Riders, I do recognize where they take things from here. The music when you begin a match is of Florio Fields, the first Air Ride course. Once 50 players remain, it becomes the instrumental of “Starlit Journey” used for City Trial. Once 10 players remain, it becomes said instrumental that plays during the final areas of Road Trip. (Together, this takes from three different game modes.) The single, double, and triple clear sounds are of spitting out an enemy, while a Tetris and T-Spin play the sound of copying an ability. Appropriately enough, placing 2nd or below plays the jingle when you place 2nd or below, followed by the race results music; placing 1st plays a different jingle and different results music, which is reflected here. A lot of actions seem to be accompanied by those audience cheering sounds Masahiro Sakurai is fond of using.
The 3-2-1-GO! countdown resembles the one used before a race, while Badges resemble Offense patches used in City Trial (which increases your attack power). KOed players are denoted with the skull-and-crossbones icon used for when a player has been eliminated from a match with Kirby Air Riders’ “KO” sign. The background is gray, but players you have KOed will have a yellow background. The overall skin background is the cover art for Kirby Air Riders, while the Next box resembles the speedometer/boost gauge, with Kirby peeking out in the way it looks if you chose Kirby as your character. The crosshairs icon is the player icon when people are joining a room and you’re just practicing the racetrack or City Trial arena (Skyah).
The Tetriminos each have a different Air Ride machine’s icon, corresponding to the color occupying the most space on that machine’s appearance:
I-block - Winged Star
J-block - Formula Star
L-block - Swerve Star
O-block - Warp Star
S-block - Wheelie Scooter
T-block - Vampire Star
Z-block - Slick Star
Meanwhile, garbage blocks have no icon (but it would’ve been fun to see the Tank Star or Bull Tank icon for that one, being mostly gray).
Overall, though, the red glow that the playfield takes on when you have the Danger! status makes it too hard to see. In particular, the “phantom block,” the guide for where the Tetrimino will land, to blend in with the red glow. I’m not sure why this doesn’t happen with other skins, but it means I won’t be using Special Theme 40 too much in the future. Otherwise, the playfield background has good contrast with the actual gameplay elements.
For the record, I spent over two hurs in the regular Tetris 99 mode trying to get 1st place with no luck (but got as high as 3rd place), then moved to Invictus and got the total victory on my first try.
I don’t know when this Maximus Cup took place, but it pertained to Kirby Air Riders (which came out in October of 2025), and I missed it. Currently, the Special Themes from past Maximus Cups are available to unlock in Tetris 99 for 2 Tetris Tickets apiece, and this was missing from mine, so I got it, and I strove to place 1st in at least one match so I could continue to have done so at least once for every skin I have.
The most recent Maximus Cup skins are not yet available to unlock though, so I am still missing Special Theme 43. Its Maximus Cup was held over December 2025, and its theme was NES Tetris.
The Switch 2 does not notify when a Maximus Cup is going on, so I have to get it from outside sources and check each weekend. I happened to be checking if there is one for Splatoon Raiders or even Rhythm Heaven Groove, and I found this announcement that previous ones have become available and at a discount (they are normally 10 Tickets apiece).
I will likely do anther one of these for Special Theme 43 should it be made available afterwards.
00:00 - Unlocking Special Theme 40 (Kirby Air Riders)
00:21 - Match (Invictus)
Now that I’ve played a lot of Kirby Air Riders, I do recognize where they take things from here. The music when you begin a match is of Florio Fields, the first Air Ride course. Once 50 players remain, it becomes the instrumental of “Starlit Journey” used for City Trial. Once 10 players remain, it becomes said instrumental that plays during the final areas of Road Trip. (Together, this takes from three different game modes.) The single, double, and triple clear sounds are of spitting out an enemy, while a Tetris and T-Spin play the sound of copying an ability. Appropriately enough, placing 2nd or below plays the jingle when you place 2nd or below, followed by the race results music; placing 1st plays a different jingle and different results music, which is reflected here. A lot of actions seem to be accompanied by those audience cheering sounds Masahiro Sakurai is fond of using.
The 3-2-1-GO! countdown resembles the one used before a race, while Badges resemble Offense patches used in City Trial (which increases your attack power). KOed players are denoted with the skull-and-crossbones icon used for when a player has been eliminated from a match with Kirby Air Riders’ “KO” sign. The background is gray, but players you have KOed will have a yellow background. The overall skin background is the cover art for Kirby Air Riders, while the Next box resembles the speedometer/boost gauge, with Kirby peeking out in the way it looks if you chose Kirby as your character. The crosshairs icon is the player icon when people are joining a room and you’re just practicing the racetrack or City Trial arena (Skyah).
The Tetriminos each have a different Air Ride machine’s icon, corresponding to the color occupying the most space on that machine’s appearance:
I-block - Winged Star
J-block - Formula Star
L-block - Swerve Star
O-block - Warp Star
S-block - Wheelie Scooter
T-block - Vampire Star
Z-block - Slick Star
Meanwhile, garbage blocks have no icon (but it would’ve been fun to see the Tank Star or Bull Tank icon for that one, being mostly gray).
Overall, though, the red glow that the playfield takes on when you have the Danger! status makes it too hard to see. In particular, the “phantom block,” the guide for where the Tetrimino will land, to blend in with the red glow. I’m not sure why this doesn’t happen with other skins, but it means I won’t be using Special Theme 40 too much in the future. Otherwise, the playfield background has good contrast with the actual gameplay elements.
For the record, I spent over two hurs in the regular Tetris 99 mode trying to get 1st place with no luck (but got as high as 3rd place), then moved to Invictus and got the total victory on my first try.
