Tetris Game by Nintendo/Bullet-Proof Software Reviewed by Philip "Pocket Squirrel" Wesley Save: NONE Released: 1989 Works with: All Game Boy Units except for the Game Boy Micro. ESRB Rated: N/A (This was before the ESRB) Rating Descriptions: None! Quick Opinion: Own **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Once upon a time, Nintendo released the Game Boy handheld entertainment system. Originally, the system came with a Video Link cable, digital stereo headphones, 4 AA batteries, and one game: Tetris. Tetris was invented by a Russian Mathematician named Alexey Pajitnov in 1985. The game is inspired by the math toys known as polyominos. Polyominos are plane geometric figures formed by the joining of one or more equal squares in various edge to edge formations. The term polomino was invented by Solomon W. Golomb, who is also responsible for the type of compression coding we use in image data compression today. Polyominos come in about 12 different variations. These variations are named for the amount of "minos" or equal squares that are attached in the shape. Here is a chart of the minos and their names. One Mino = Monomino Two Minos = Domino Three = Tromino or Triomino Four = Tetromino (Some Tetris games refer to the four shapes as Tetraminos.) Five = Pentomino or Pentamino Six = Hexomino or Hexamino Seven = Heptomino Eight = Octomino Nine = Enneomino or Nonomino Ten = Decomino Eleven = Undecomino or Hendecomino Tweleve = Dodecomino or Doudecomino Now if I wanted to be silly, I could mention that each side of a mino represents a numerical value of 1. An average Tetramino has a value of 16. The area represented in the Game Boy version of Tetris is 10 wide by 18 high. So, you could fit 180 minos in that area. The area is called The Well. If you filled the Well with solid Tetraminos, you could fit a value of 720 in minos. However, it is impossible to fill the Well with Tetraminos because a full line of 40 causes the line to disappear. Thus you need to leave a gap in all 18 lines. So, it should be (180-18)4 = 648 total value. Sometimes it is difficult to come up with interesting comments or jokes for this part of a review. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Description: The area where you play is called a Well and the pieces that fall into the well are called Tetraminos. You move each Tetramino left or right as it falls down the Well. You can rotate the Tetraminos clockwise or counter-clockwise as they fall. When a Tetramino makes contact with the bottom of the well or another Tetramino, they have a set number of milliseconds before they lock into place. The point of Tetris is to form a straight and complete horizontal line with the Tetraminos, causing the blocks to disappear. You can clear multiple lines at once in forms of DOUBLES (2), TRIPLES (3), or a TETRIS (4) using the Tetraminos. The lines above the line (or lines) that has (or have) been cleared fall down, but individual Minos do not fall off. This is called Naive Gravity and means that some pieces may "float." The pieces also lock in place fairly quickly. In later versions of Tetris, a piece would not lock if you kept rotating it. This "spinning" allowed players to march pieces around the board. The Tetris that was released for the Nintendo Game Boy does not have that feature. Tetris has three constant rules of play. First: One of Seven different kinds of Tetraminos will fall into your Well. Second: The Tetraminos stack on top of each other until you form a line. Third: If you fail to form lines, the Well will fill to the top and the game is over. Tetris for the Game Boy has two different play modes: Type A and Type B. Type A is a Marathon Mode where you choose a level to start at from 0 to 9 and then play to see how many levels you can survive in an effort to get a high score. The game level is determined by the number of lines that have been cleared: 10 being Level 1, 20 being Level 2, and so forth. Every level gets faster and faster until you lose. Type B is similar in that you have levels 0 through 9 to choose from and then a height of 0 to 5 to choose from. The height option determines how many rows of incomplete lines are in the Well when you start out. You have to clear a total of 25 lines to beat a level. The game also has a two player mode which requires two copies of Tetris for the Game Boy, a Game Link Cable (Also called a Video Link Cable), and two Game Boy units. In this mode, lines you clear from getting a DOUBLE, TRIPLE, or TETRIS are sent to your opponent. A DOUBLE sends ONE line, a TRIPLE sends TWO lines, and a TETRIS sends FOUR (!!!!) lines. The person who survives the longest wins. It is a best two out of three battle and one player is represented by Mario and the other by Luigi. Liked: Multi-Player is great and the single player options are fill of challenging, addictive fun. The game lacks many of the "innovations" of future Tetris games that diluted the challenge of the title. Hated: There are only two modes and multi-player can be a chore to set up. If all you have played is the modern versions of Tetris, this game will seem slow and much more difficult than what you are used to in the modern versions. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: The game revels in old Soviet atmosphere on the title screen and in the "victory animation" you earn from beating the Type B levels 9-0 through 9-5. The actual gameplay screens are very simple and it is easy to distinguish between the various blocks. The graphics are not flashy in any way, there are no pulsating lights, bells, whistles, moving backgrounds, or anything else to distract you. The area to the right of the Well lists your level, height or score, lines cleared, and what the next piece will be. You can turn off the next piece indicator by hitting the SELECT button. The Well has bricks on the side and the individual Tetraminos are distinct in their "coloring." Liked: Looks great and I love that it asks you to "PLEASE TRY AGAIN <3" when you get a game over. Hated: COMMUNISM! Actually, those spires on the title screen have nothing to do with Communism. The Onion Spires on the title screen represent St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square. It was built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Oddly, "Terrible" at the time of Ivan the Terrible meant "severe" or "intimidating." He was actually a Russian Orthodox Christian who built grand cities, libraries, churches, led Russia into great prosperity, treated people with severe fairness, and died of heart failure during a chess game. The spires were an inspiration to Jewish, Muslim, and even Buddhist religions until the Communists converted the churches into non-religious museums in an attempt to impose state atheism. So, I do not hate anything about the graphics of this game. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: AWESOME is the only word to describe the music and sound effects in this game. There are three tunes to choose from and the sound effects are appropriate to the game. The three songs are interesting because they are 8-Bit adaptations of actual songs. MUSIC A is a cover by Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka of the Russian Folk Song "Korobeiniki." There are actually lyrics to this folk song about Peddlers and the lyrics use metaphors to describe a peddler and a woman having a discussion about the price of a good. The song is based on an epic poem by Nikolay Nekrasov. Spoiler: The poem is romantic, funny, and ultimately tragic. MUSIC B is an original piece by Tanaka that draws inspiration from Sergei Prokofiev's "Troika." Oddly, the music in Kirby's Dreamland for Green Greens also draws from that piece. MUSIC C is a cover of "French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: Menuet" by Johann Sebastian Bach. Tetris is just all musical class. Liked: Everything. Hated: That RASPBERRY sound when you lose. It is so mean and irritating. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The game is fun, challenging and innovative. Tetris was a relatively new concept at the time when the Game Boy version came out. Falling piece puzzle games would not become a dime a dozen until much later. The Directional Pad moves your blocks left or right. Pressing down on the D-Pad causes them to speed up their descent. The A button rotates your Tetramino clockwise, B rotates counter-clockwise, SELECT hides the next piece box, and START pauses the game. Tetris is simple to pick up, but very difficult to put down. Liked: No gimmicks like endless spins, instant drops, or items. Hated: It is pretty simple and may seem very slow compared to the more modern adaptations of Tetris. **************************************************************************** Improve: Personally, I would leave the Tetris formula alone... RIYL: TETRIS! Also, puzzle games. **************************************************************************** Final Words: Tetris! From Russia with FUN! This game was the perfect title to include with the Game Boy. It utilized every feature on the device, the video link cable, and had great sound to boot. Including it with the system meant that it was not difficult to set up a multi-player game too. I believe that the inclusion of Tetris was one of the main reasons that the Nintendo Game Boy defeated the Sega Game Gear, Turbo Express, and Atari Lynx. The Sega Game Gear had Columns packed in, the Atari Lynx came with California Games, and the Turbo Express came with absolutely nothing. While Columns is a good puzzle game, the Game Gear did not include the Gear to Gear Cable in the box. This meant that the multi-player mode on Columns was not nearly as readily accessible as the Tetris multi-player mode. Tetris was an amazing title to launch with AND it was packed in the box. Tetris was released as a stand alone game later on and is still pretty easy to get ahold of. It also stands as an excellent portable puzzle game to this day. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: ***** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ***** Play Control/Game Design: ***** Value: ***** Star Total: 72 Personal Opinion Merit: 20 Final Score: 92% Letter Grade: A ****************************************************************************