This is the start of a series of Retro Game reviews I’ll be posting up focusing on the most un-appreciated Gaming genre ever, the Puzzle Game series, which I by the way do love. Game Name: Tetris (Unlicensed Version) Developer: Tengen Published on: 1989 Region Released: According to GameFAQs this was released in the US, but seeing this game is an unlicensed game I highly doubt it. Also there is a licensed Tetris game that was released in the US but that was an easier less livelier version of this one which by some gamers’ opinions was the better of the two. Console this game was released on: The NES, again this is debatable, but here in Asia we had this on the FamiCom. Other ports: None Box Art , courtesy of GameFAQs: Front Back In game Title Screen: Developers: Concept - Alexey Pajitnov Design - Vadim Gerasimov Programming - Ed Logg Video - GraphicsKris Moser Audio - Brad Fuller ”…The Game that started a Global Pandemic!” Ah! Tetris, “THE game that started the whole puzzle game genre. That Russian guy Alexey Pajitnov was a genius! Think of it, coming up with a game with such a basic premise that you can just pick the game up & in just a minute or two you quickly understand what you should do, or is it? The Low Down: 10/10 Tetris was not just the result of one man smoking crack & writing done whatever hallucinogenic vision pops out of his mind just to come up with a game for easy money, like what most game developers seem to be doing at times when they’re fresh out of ideas for a hit videogame. No, in fact Tetris was the result of the clever use of some mathematical principles that some people use as a form of re-creation. You see, there is this field of Mathematics (forgive me if my use of “field of study” may be wrong) called the “Study of Polyominoes”. Polyomino is a term that is comprised of the Prefix “Poly” meaning many or numerous” & the shortened word “omino” for Domino. As you may, or may not know, Dominoes are does plastic rectangle toys used in a variety of games, one of which is a sort of Solitaire type of game where you need to place a domino which has one of its squares the same number of dots as the leading square of the domino the previous player before you placed on the table. Let’s say there are two of you playing & your playmate who was the one to start the game places a domino with a 3 – 5 face, you need to either place a domino which has a 3 or a 5 on one of its squares to either the 3 or the 5 end of his domino & so on, until one of you runs out of dominoes to play. The other way Dominoes are played with is by toppling them down in line or in intricate lines/paths. Now, there are some Mathematicians who’ve played with the concept behind dominoes, which are “two squares placed side by side to form a rectangular domino” & developed the field of Mathematical study known as Polyominoes, these folks developed more than just the common “2 square” domino, they also developed things like a monomino, which is a single square figure, a tromino, which is a 3 square domino piece & the tetromino which of course is the 4 square variant that Tetris is based out of. According to Mr. Pajitnov on a video interview I once saw on G4, that cable access British (I think it’s a British Station as their narrators all sound British) videogames focusing Channel, his inspiration to Tetris was a neat little Russian children’s toy called a Pentomino, which was a puzzle box made with wooden Polyomino pieces that you were supposed to fit together & line up in it’s rectangular base, a sort of Jigsaw puzzle if you wish, but with no visible pattern on one face to tell you which piece goes where & with Polyomino pieces instead of the regular Jigaws pieces you may know. Because you are not fitting pieces to form a picture but instead just need to find a configuration that’ll fit every polyomino piece in the frame there is a limited infinite ways to place the pieces in to finish the game. It was this idea that led Mr. Pajitnov in creating Tetris, which if you think of it is a actually an awesome innovative way to think up a game that started a Global Pandemic! Gameplay : 10/10 This version of Tetris is by far better than the one you Americans actually got by means of Graphics, Sounds & Gameplay, why I say so you might ask? Let’s start off with Gameplay, As you can see from this screenshot, this game offers two features the licensed version doesn’t have, those being the competitive “Versus Modes” & the challenging “Co-op modes”. In Versus Mode, you & either a friend or the game’s AI, which isn’t that great by the way, compete to get the highest score & you also compete to see who can go the furthest as you both go up a difficulty level at the end of each round. There are no power ups or a “Reward/Penalty” clause in here that you use to mess with each others’ game just like in more recent puzzle games, but that’s just because this game FOUNDED the whole puzzle game genre. What a n00b! Stupid computer AI! Co-op Mode on the other hand, can be annoying, especially if you’re playing with the game’s AI, which as I said isn’t exactly Einstein to begin with. Or if the human player you’re playing with is a total retard who wants nothing more than to eff’ up your game as his or her idea of fun, in which case I give you permission to go & kill said friend as retaliation Hey, computer AI, don’t mess up our game! Sheesh! Graphics: 10/10 Yeah, you might say a perfect 10 for graphics is just me being biased, but have you even seen the game per se? Balky Bartacamus: “Come cousin Larry let us dance the dance of Joy!” Yeah, this game rewards your efforts in the basic One Player Mode with a little Cossack style dance which varies by how good you are on each round. As you can see on my screenshots, having many Tetris & Triple line scores made the little Russian folk all dance for joy, but suck at it with measly singles & doubles & only two or three of them will dance for you. Audio: 10/10 I give this game a perfect score of 10 in Audio just because the game let’s you choose from five different back ground music instead of a measly three on the licensed version. And the dance of joy theme too is the other reason. Replay Value: 10/10 It’s Tetris for crying out loud! Who can ever escape its own brand of Awesomeness! It’s just like that Hotel California The Eagles told us about, “You can put Tetris down for a while, but you can never escape from its addictive fun factor forever!” The Final Verdict: The Low Down: 10/10 Gameplay : 10/10 Graphics: 10/10 Audio: 10/10 Replay Value: 10/10 Final Verdict: 50/50 Oh & if you want to see actual gameplay from this version of Tetris, check out this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_nrHuIxAs And here’s the Co-op Mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPPEKVUlY9w
Awesome review I love reaing retro reviews. I also love the history behind Tetris and also the creator of Tetris. Keep the awesome reviews coming in.
I remember watching the IrateGamer review...and he said the same thing. This game is better than Nintendo's. Fİnd and watch it IMO. Oh and awesome review.
Isn't the famicon just the jap version of the nes with a different design? I seen models with the controllers attached to the console permanently... (nice review btw-if it weren't for tetris I wouldn't even be here XD)
The unlicensed Tengen Tetris was released in the US for the NES but they are extremely rare as are Gauntlet, Pac-Man, and RBI Baseball also released unlicensed in the US. Tetris is just the rarest due to the lawsuit with Nintendo and having to recall the the game but like most recalls not everything was 'returned'. I remember most of this because I actually had the Tengen Gauntlet cartridge at one time, but of course I didn't know the rarity and it was sold or traded off some years ago and i'm sure for near nothing.
@mds64: Yes the FamiCom & the NES were essentially the same, but being in Asia (note I didn't specify Japan) has its perks ;D You have access to a lot of bootleg games back then that were quite frankly good in some cases but most are not though.
I know-isn't being fillo awsome in times like those XD (Too bad I'm used to avoid boot leg games-my past experiences with boot leg games have cost me and my mother dearly -so I stick to downloading roms and buying official games). ...I wish I had a first gen famicon-that'll be worth heaps!
Good review Cahos. It's nice to see people still appreciate the good old classics! Accepted, but will let it soak up some more comments before I move it because then no one will be able to post. Keep em coming.
The "top loading" NES system is still worth quite a bit here in the US as well. It was near the same design as the original famicom but the colors were different it was released about the time the Super Nintendo was released or it was already out at the time and apparently not very many were produced and a lot of people prefer it over the front loading system as there was no need in jiggling the cartridges around to get them to play.
