I love Tetris and Puyo Puyo (it’s Japanese evil twin if you will) and always have. I remember going on camping trips and during the boring times pulling out my Game Boy and cranking up Tetris to get me by.
Tetris, of course, is a popular puzzle game created by Russian Alexey Pajitnov in the early 1980’s. It’s been on about every gaming and computer platform (officially and unofficially) since its release.
(On the left is Tetris for the Commodore 64 and on the right is an Atari Tetris arcade cab.)
I think the thing I like so much about the game is that you essentially create your own puzzle board as you go. Based on the speed that you drop blocks at or whether you’re going for a 4-line Tetris or just going line-by-line, you drive the game and the challenge.
The game is also very zen-like in nature. When you get into the rhythm there’s a certain calm (lower levels) before the storm (later levels) effect. And, like Street Fighter, I find this difficulty progression helps me work through internal dialogue (gradually replaced by focus on the game) to reach a calm centered state by the end of the play-session.
There are probably a lot more Tetris versions published over the years than you realize. Let’s take a look at some Tetris titles on various retrogaming platforms.
Tengen Tetris – NES
While I will talk about the excellent Nintendo version of Tetris in a moment, the unlicensed Tengen Tetris (originally developed for arcade by Atari) came first and is the more uncommon and interesting version for the NES. Though less colorful in presentation, it remains an excellent port worth owning.
(As it was unlicensed, the cartridge was – like other Tengen titles – in a black shell.)
With a simplistic representation, this would seem like a no-frills version of Tetris, but instead is feature-packed. It includes two multiplayer modes: a vs. and a co-op. This version also shows block stats on the right when in single-player mode. Tengen Tetris also has awesome music. And yes, there’s even some animations during the scoring, as dancers come out to the center behind the letters.
After some legal battles, Tengen lost the rights to all but the arcade version of Tetris (which is why Nintendo later developed and sold their version). So, by court order, the black-cartridge Tengen version of the game was pulled off shelves and has become a collector’s item. That’s unfortunate because the game is quite enjoyable for the average Nintendo gamer.
Nintendo Tetris – NES / Game Boy
Having wrested console rights away from Tengen (Atari), Nintendo published Tetris for both the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and for the Game Boy.
The game offers mode A (endless mode) and mode B (clear 25 lines). You also can set the level (i.e. the starting speed) and music. For mode B, you can set the height of existing random blocks for additional difficulty.
Nintendo’s offering is very well-polished and colorful, with a lot of charm. Clearing a level in Mode B presents cool animations during scoring – including Nintendo characters, dancing ostriches, fiddlers, blimps, etc). The higher the score, the more cool animations appear.
The handheld version for Game Boy was wildly successful as well – and reached a much wider audience. Tetris is basically the title that put a Game Boy in every home during the 80’s/90’s (along with the later Dr. Mario – both of which eventually came bundled on the same cart).
The Game Boy version is an excellent port, looking great (even in monochrome) and having that distinctive soundtrack we all have come to love. It also offers multi-player through a link cable.
A later version for Game Boy Color, Tetris DX, added color and three player profiles for score-keeping.
Hatris – NES
Hatris (which came out on NES, GB, and TG-16 is a puzzle game also developed by the same Alexey Pajitnov that created Tetris. It has a different rule set than traditional Tetris – having you swap hats between columns until 5 hats are matched (causing the column to disappear).
Hatris is not a game I’d go out of my way to acquire, however. If you like puzzle games, you’ll appreciate it. But even then, this is a quirky game for collectors more than any sort of go-to game on a NES puzzle-game short list.
Yoshi’s Cookie / Yoshi – NES / SNES / Game Boy
Yoshi’s Cookie is another puzzle game involving Tetris inventor Alexey Pajitnov (for the Puzzle mode on the SNES) – this time with Yoshi (Nintendo’s lovable dinosaur mascot). In this game you rotate a series of cookies until you make a series of four to make them disappear.
The appeal of these games, of course, is the mascot Yoshi – so if you like that character, you’ll want this game. Otherwise, these are rather mediocre puzzle games – not in the same league as Tetris (similar to Wario Woods).
There’s also Yoshi for the NES and Game Boy. Similar to Hatris, this game certainly isn’t for everyone.
Tetris 2 – Game Boy / NES / SNES
Despite the name, this game is barely recognizable as Tetris (in fact I don’t believe Pajitnov had anything to do with it). It’s much more akin to Dr. Mario in that you match blocks of three colors to have them disappear.
Trying to cash in on the craze, many of these sort of games are mediocre or stray too far from the path (i.e. Tetris Blast, Wordtris, Tetris Attack, etc). This is probably one of the better spin-offs all-in-all.
Unlike the original, blocks here contain squares of different colors. And after a match, you can control the remnant falling squares. Also, matching 3 blocks next to a flashing block results in all blocks of that color being eliminated.
There are multiple game modes centering around clearing the levels. Again, if these sorts of games are your thing, you’ll want a copy, but for the average gamer it’s better to stick with the original.
(There were plenty of mediocre Tetris spin-offs around the same time as Tetris 2)
Other Great 16-bit Variations – Super Nintendo / Super Famicom
There are many other variations of Tetris. I think after seeing the spin-offs do so poorly, there was a refocus during the SNES era to return to the game’s roots.
If you’re looking for a good version of Tetris on the SNES, there’s the traditional route with Dr. Mario & Tetris and the much-better Super Tetris 3 if you have a Super Famicom.
There’s also the amazing Tetris Battle Gaiden for Super Famicom – in which you fill up your opponent’s field by eliminating lines and by using special abilities.
3D Tetris – Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s “handheld” foray into 3D – using red LEDs in a visor – is generally regarded as a utter failure. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t have some interesting games. This one, a 3D version of Tetris, operates as a wireframe cube (kind of like a Rubix cube) where you rotate the field in order to position falling 3D blocks. In this case, a layer (or plane) disappears once it’s been filled.
Tetris Plus – PlayStation / Sega Saturn
In this version of Tetris, you are trying to keep an explorer (think Mr. Magoo) alive as he bumbles his way through ancient ruins. In this case, there are spikes descending from the ceiling, so you must clear lines quickly to succeed. An interesting twist with this game is how the explorer interacts with the blocks you lay down – climbing them, bumping into them and changing direction, and falling through them. So while trying to eliminate lines, you may also find yourself placing blocks to direct the explorer’s walk – all the while racing against the descending ceiling.
If I had to recommend a more solid Tetris game for PlayStation, I’d stick with The Next Tetris – more true to the original game in visuals.
(Next Tetris is available for PlayStation or Dreamcast.)
From around the same time period, there’s also the excellent Mickey’s Magical Tetris Challenge.
(This came out on the N64 and Game Boy Color as well.)
Tetrisphere – N64
This is another 3D Tetris, though now with a spherically-shaped field rather than the cube of the Virtual Boy game. Another difference is that instead of filling a line or plane to eliminate it, this time you want 3 blocks of a similar color to touch.
Tetris’ creator, Alexey Pajitnov even lent a helping hand on this project – though H20 Entertainment developed it. One interesting note is that Nintendo announced a deadline for it that wasn’t in keeping with H20’s development planning. When the date Nintendo announced wasn’t met, this had dire consequences for the developer’s company value. Needing a puzzle game on their N64 system, Nintendo also had to step in to help finish the project (an all-too-common story for N64 titles at the time).
Wetrix – N64 / Game Boy Color / Dreamcast
Another title like Tetris 2 that only vaguely resembles a Tetris game, this game involves managing water by terraforming a 3D surface to hold it. The game started out as a water physics demo and was later developed into a game.
You place “blocks” beneath the plane to control the land elevation. The game centers around trapping water until there’s a fireball block to evaporate it. You then get points for the volume. If you’re interested in checking this game out, the Game Boy version is the worst while the Dreamcast version is the best.
Tetris has been and continues to be the go-to puzzle game for many people. As each new console generation comes out, this game consistently sees a port to it. It’s just a really great game and continues to remain a classic.