Tetris: Axis spinning on 3DS Oct. 2

Ever since the original Game Boy, Tetris has been a staple on Nintendo's handheld hardware. Its latest portable will be no exception, as Nintendo today announced that it will publish Tetris: Axis for the 3DS on October 2.

Developed by Hudson Soft, Tetris: Axis features more than 20 variations on the classic puzzle game, with four of them (Marathon, Computer Battle, Fever, and Survival) considered "featured" modes. Among the remaining 16 ways to play will be party game modes, augmented-reality modes, and local or online multiplayer modes.

Tetris: Axis will also support download play, so two to eight 3DS owners will be able to play Marathon, Versus Battle, and Fever modes off a single copy of the game. Finally, Nintendo is also including SpotPass functionality, with players able to obtain new items for the game's Fever mode from other players' systems.

Nintendo has published versions of Tetris for all of its portable platforms except the Game Boy Advance. THQ held the Tetris license at the time and used it to release the critically reviled Tetris Worlds. In addition to the original Tetris on the Game Boy, Nintendo released Tetris DX for the Game Boy Color and Tetris DS for the Nintendo DS.