History VideoGame / Tetris

* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisAtari Tetris (Atari)]]'' by Creator/{{Atari}}, the first Western arcade release of the game. This version is focused around clearing a target number of lines to clear each stage. This version was adapted to the NES by Atari's Tengen version within the same year, eschewing the stage-based system in favor of a more conventional endless mode, and also adds a co-op mode where two players share an extra-wide well; this version infamously was the subject of a lawsuit that forced Atari to recall all remaining stock of this game.

* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisNintendo1989 Tetris (Nintendo)]]'', the Game Boy and NES versions that were developed by Nintendo and released in 1989.[[note]]Not to be confused by the other ''Tetris'' game on NES that is a port of the Atari arcade version and was ported by Tengen, which infamously caused legal issues.[[/note]] '''The''' versions that brought ''Tetris'' to mainstream audiences worldwide. Both games have near-identical gameplay minitiae (such as having both endless and "clear 25 lines" modes, and "sticky" piece physics), although the Game Boy version has a slightly shorter well.

* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisSega Tetris (Sega)]]'', released in 1988. This version was a smash hit in Japanese arcades and features a lot of enhancements that would not be seen in many other ''Tetris'' games until much later.

See also: ''VideoGame/{{Tetrisphere}}'', ''VideoGame/WesleyanTetris'', ''VideoGame/NotTetris'', ''VideoGame/NullpoMino'', TheTetrisEffect [[http://tetris.wiki Tetris Wiki.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisSega Tetris (Sega)]]'', the original arcade iteration of ''Tetris'' released in 1988. This version was a smash hit in Japanese arcades and features a lot of enhancements that would not be seen in many other ''Tetris'' games until much later.
* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisNintendo1989 Tetris (Nintendo)]]'', the Game Boy and NES versions that were developed by Nintendo and released in 1989. '''The''' versions that brought ''Tetris'' to mainstream audiences worldwide. Both games have near-identical gameplay minitiae (such as having both endless and "clear 25 lines" modes, and "sticky" piece physics), although the Game Boy version has a slightly shorter well.

* ''[[VideoGame/TetrisSega Tetris (Sega)]]'', the original arcade iteration of ''Tetris'' released in 1989. This version was a smash hit in Japanese arcades and features a lot of enhancements that would not be seen in many other ''Tetris'' games until much later.

* ''VideoGame/TetrisPlus'', a 1996 game by Creator/{{Jaleco}} in which the player must escort a character called the Professor through the stack of blocks and to the goal at the bottom before the DescendingCeiling crushes him.

According to legend, the game's creator, Alexey Pajitnov, nearly didn't complete the game; he was too addicted to playing the prototype. More on the game's long, weird, complicated history can be found on the [[Analysis/{{Tetris}} Analysis]] page.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: All of the Tetris-themed characters in ''Puyo Puyo Tetris'' correspond to a Tetrimino — except for Ex, whose shape can only be made with at least five blocks (a Pentomino) rather than Tetris's standard four. [[spoiler:This is because he is the antagonist of the game and engages in Tetris at a higher skill level than the others. He's also the only Tetris character in the game who isn't a crewmember of the starship ''Tetra''.]][[note]]Then again, [[spoiler:Chapter 10 in the same game reveals that Ex ''was'' the original captain of the crew and previous Tetris King before passing them down to Tee, so there's that.]][[/note]] The X-pentomino does not actually exist in that game, though.

** Characters from ''{{VideoGame/Bomberman}}'' make an appearance in ''Axis''[='=] Compter Battle mode.

* ObviousBeta: Creator/{{Ubisoft}}'s version of ''Tetris Ultimate'' on the Platform/PlayStation4 and Platform/XboxOne is notorious for having lag issues, as well as crashing entirely.

* NintendoHard: [[https://tetris.com/play-tetris The version on tetris.com]] features 30 levels where past level 19, tetrominoes instantly drop to the floor and the lock delay gradually decreases until you don't even have enough time to manipulate the tetromino anymore.

In late 2018, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, under the Resonair label of developer, released a new Tetris game called ''VideoGame/TetrisEffect'' for Platform/PlayStation4, with the unique gimmick of blending in traditional Tetris gameplay with the visual and musical styles seen in Mizuguchi's other games. It was ported to PC and then released to Platform/EpicGamesStore in 2019, with an UsefulNotes/OculusQuest version coming early the following year.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: What mathematicians spell "tetromino", the Tetris Guideline spells "tetrimino".

In late 2018, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, under the Resonair label of developer, released a new Tetris game called ''VideoGame/TetrisEffect'' for Platform/PlayStation4, with the unique gimmick of blending in traditional Tetris gameplay with the visual and musical styles seen in Mizuguchi's other games. It was ported to PC and then released to UsefulNotes/EpicGamesStore in 2019, with an Platform/OculusQuest version coming early the following year.

Creator/{{Arika}}'s arcade version of ''Tetris'', called ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'', features a few deceptively simple changes that transform ''Tetris'' from a classic action puzzle game into nothing less than the most cognitively strenuous high-speed twitch game ever devised[[note]]Whisper these words to the Google search box: "TGM Shirase"[[/note]]. But, due to the creator's frustration with clones of that game, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork its future is bleak]]. Arika did, however, re-surface in 2019 with its UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch title ''Tetris 99'', an online multiplayer title which combines the game with elements of the [[BattleRoyaleGame battle royale]] genre.

In late 2018, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, under the Resonair label of developer, released a new Tetris game called ''VideoGame/TetrisEffect'' for UsefulNotes/Playstation4, with the unique gimmick of blending in traditional Tetris gameplay with the visual and musical styles seen in Mizuguchi's other games. It was ported to PC and then released to UsefulNotes/EpicGamesStore in 2019, with an UsefulNotes/OculusQuest version coming early the following year.

In February 2023, Nintendo would announce that the Game Boy version of ''Tetris'' would be releasing along with other Game Boy games as part of the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch Online]] program, after they had already gone through decades of [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal issues]] with the Tetris Company surrounding rereleases of the game. The same year, [[Film/Tetris2023 a feature film]] regarding the game's origins was announced for release on Creator/AppleTVPlus in March.

* ''VideoGame/Tetris99'', a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch-exclusive BattleRoyaleGame that stacks the player against 98 others, and the last man standing wins. All lines cleared send garbage to another player's field, which must be cleared lest they eat a Game Over.

** Played with for ''Tetris 99'' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. You can download the game and play its main modes[[note]]("Tetris 99", the titular battle royale mode; "Tetris 99 Invictus", for those who managed to get 1st place in the former; and "Team Battle", a three-team variant of the main ''99'' mode)[[/note]] for free so long as you have a subscription to the console's online system. However, if you want to access to the remaining modes (including classic ''Tetris'' and a few local/offline multiplayer modes), you'll have to cough up some extra funds for the "Big Block DLC" pack.

** ''Tetris Worlds'' has no less than ''five'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_Worlds variations]] on the classic formula, ranging from simply enabling gravity for stray pieces to the far-fetched "Fusion Tetris" whose goal is to combine as many 1x1 blocks as possible rather than clear lines. Players are slowly introduced to these game modes as they play the campaign. The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version of ''Worlds'' also has "Popular Tetris", which is accessed via cheat code and [[{{Retraux}} emulates the classic Game Boy version]], gameplay mechanics included.

* TheBackwardsR: Both Atari arcade and Tengen's UsefulNotes/{{NES}} version spell the title as TETЯIS. In other words, ''TETYAIS''. The Atari version goes even further by substituting Я for the regular R in-game, for example, showing "GAME OVEЯ" ("GAME OVEYA") when you lose.

* TheBusCameBack: Meta version: Arika, known as the creators of ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'', was formerly out of the ''Tetris'' business for years after the cancellation of ''Tetris: The Grand Master 4'', but have made a surprise return with UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online's free-to-play ''Tetris'' installment, ''Tetris 99''.

* ObviousBeta: Creator/{{Ubisoft}}'s version of ''Tetris Ultimate'' on the UsefulNotes/Playstation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne is notorious for having lag issues, as well as crashing entirely.

** Music C in the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version is an arrangement of Music/{{Johann Sebastian Bach}}'s French Suite No. 3 In B Minor, BWV 814, IV. Menuett – Trio. In the game, the song actually plays in F sharp minor.

* {{Sampling}}: ''The New Tetris'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 has an impressive amount of this for a cart-based game. The soundtrack samples everything from vocals, to drum breaks, to chords, and even to melodies.

** The even more obscure UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy game ''3D Tetris'', which was also a surprisingly good game. Featured genuinely challenging puzzle modes along with the "normal" play.

** 2001's ''Tetris Worlds'' (released on the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}) is this in its entirety.

First released in 1985, ''Tetris'' products or other programs implementing the same game rules have appeared on nearly every video game console, computer operating system, graphing calculator, mobile phone, and PDA ever released, as well as the lighting systems for a couple of ''buildings'' (its simplicity makes porting it very easy). By far, however, the most famous and popular version was released on the Nintendo UsefulNotes/GameBoy in 1989, bundled with the system upon its release (and becoming its KillerApp at the same time, long before ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' was created). The first of that version's three musical options, a Russian folk song called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korobeiniki "Korobeiniki"]] (although the game just referred to it as "Music A"), has become one of the most [[StandardSnippet iconic]] pieces of video game music of all time.

{{Creator/Arika}}'s arcade version of ''Tetris'', called ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'', features a few deceptively simple changes that transform ''Tetris'' from a classic action puzzle game into nothing less than the most cognitively strenuous high-speed twitch game ever devised[[note]]Whisper these words to the Google search box: "TGM Shirase"[[/note]]. But, due to the creator's frustration with clones of that game, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork its future is bleak]]. Arika did, however, re-surface in 2019 with its UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch title ''Tetris 99'', an online multiplayer title which combines the game with elements of the [[BattleRoyaleGame battle royale]] genre.

** The original version was optimized for the UsefulNotes/{{Elektronika60}} mini, but these were big and expensive, so mostly it was run on smaller and cheaper DVK [=PCs=]. These were quite a bit slower, though, and with unpatched E60 binaries the controls were notoriously unresponsive.

** ''Block Out'', a 1989 game by California Dreams, features the same core gameplay but in 3-dimensional wells of varying dimensions and pieces that are 1-3 blocks large in addition to the usual tetrominoes. Instead of clearing "lines", you clear "faces",

** Another game similar to ''Welltris'' and also released in 1989 was ''Blockout'' by California Dreams. [[http://blockout.net/ An open-source version]] for modern systems is still actively maintained.

** T-Spin Doubles (twisting a T-piece to clear 2 lines) are worth a hefty amount of points and send a lot of garbage lines to the opponent, and are nearly as valuable as a good old Tetris. A T-Spin ''Triple'' (T's are impossible to score Triples with if you don't twist them) is very difficult to set up, but in several games, it awards more points and sends more garbage than ''even a Tetris''.

* ShownTheirWork: Neil Voss went to great lengths to make music for ''The New Tetris'' fit the overall folk music of each location featured in the game, albeit with his signature techno mixed in. "Morocco" is a good example in that he opted against using generic Arabian-sounding instruments in the Arabian music scale, and instead created traditional-sounding Berber music.

* SimpleYetAwesome: The titular Tetris is this. You simply need to stack blocks such that you leave a shaft that's at least four cells tall, then drop an I-piece into it. While this is more difficult in earlier games due to those games using largely-random randomizers, in modern ''Tetris'' games it's easier due to the "Bag" randomizer guaranteeing an I (along with the other six tetrominoes) in each seven-piece sequence, and it's easier to pull off than T-Spins which require more conscious piece placement.

* ''VideoGame/TetrisPlus'', a 1996 game by Jaleco in which the player must escort a character called the Professor through the stack of blocks and to the goal at the bottom before the DescendingCeiling crushes him.

* SimpleYetAwesome: The titular Tetris is this. You simply need to stack blocks such that you leave a shaft that's at least four cells tall, then drop an I-piece into it. While this is more difficult in earlier games due to those games using largely-random randomizers, in modern ''Tetris'' games it's easier due to the "Bag" randomizer guaranteeing an I in each seven-piece sequence, and it's easier to pull off than T-Spins which require more conscious piece placement.