Gameboy Tetris wasn’t the first Tetris I played (that was Mirrorsoft Tetris on the ZX Spectrum, with its spooky AY theme music), but it is the Tetris I always go back to.
For such an early GB game, it feels almost perfect. A compelling combination of apparent simplicity and hidden depth, it was (and still is) ideal to pick up and play for five minutes at a time. I think it is fair to say that the GB wouldn’t have done half as well without Tetris.
Sure, it lacks features that modern Tetris implementations have - like hold, or being able to rotate infinitely in place, or fancy flashing backdrops - but it seems somehow better for that. Tetris in its purest form, just one more go, for ever and ever.
What are your memories of GB Tetris? Do you still play it? Do you think it holds up? What is your go-to Tetris?
I was on a train once and was finally - FINALLY! - getting close to finishing 150 lines on Mode B. Totally in the zone, for once feeling like there was a direct connection between my brain and the game, all the pieces were landing just right…so after goodness knows how long, I finally did it. I saw the spaceship lift off for the first time, and…I had missed my stop and had to spend the next hour and a half walking to my destination.
Totally worth it.
Hah! Amazing!
What hardware is this? (Sorry if I’m completely out of the loop)
It’s a Miyoo Mini Plus… a relatively cheap ($60) Chinese Linux device.
Have you played Apotris? It’s on GBA but it’s an awesome Tetris clone https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Apotris_GBA
Funnily enough, I just tried this last night after talking about GB Tetris. It really is awesome!
The best Tetris implementation, IMHO.
Wow that brings back memories! I used to play this in the back of the car with a torch! Lost my GB years ago.
Thanks for bringing back good memories!
I loved the original but - and you may hate me for saying this - I think Tetris Effect is basically perfect. Amazing visuals, incredible music, the gameplay is classic but the holds and t-spins make it all the more fun.
I tried to go back and play the gameboy version reasonably recently and the lack of a bag system (where the available pieces go into a bag and are pulled out randomly, then once they’re all out they get put back in and the cycle repeats) means that the game is slightly less random and slightly more understandable.
It’s a classic whatever format it’s in though :)
i had a gba sp in my bedside draw for years with my og tetris cart in it for the occasional game. i found my original grey gameboy when cleaning out recently and sadly it no longer turns on
There are people who repair them. There is not much that goes bad on them. Sometimes you can clean the battery contacts with a wire brush and they will work after.
I remember linking a couple together with a data cable and having tournaments. And, coming from playing in those days, “infinite rotate” and “hold” just seem like cheats to those of us that were forged in the fire of head to head battle ;)
Oh I forgot it could 2-player with the cable. I only ever used the cable for pokemon.
Yes! Tetris was the pack-in game for my big brick GameBoy and it was amazing. You could count on everyone knowing it & playing it. It was such a universally loved & played game.
What are your memories of GB Tetris? Do you still play it? Do you think it holds up?
I think my biggest memory is the music, that classic song it plays. Other versions had different music, but the Gameboy version was most iconic. I think the game is still great to play today.
What is your go-to Tetris?
Hey check out this Rosy Retrospecitve Romhack for it, it adds some modern tetris features to the game but it still really feels like the original. It’s the one I usually play these days.
That’s really impressive… had a “quick” go and immediately had a 200 line game on it. It’s amazing how much difference the shadow piece makes (not to mention the hold and infinite spin).
Great game!
I was able to get both Tetris GB and Tetris DX cartridge recently, to use with an Analogue Pocket. I need to get my lazy self into action and research how ‘save games/high scores’ work on the cartridges themselves (like on the original had, I assume). Right now, my top scores are lost after each power off… I am assuming it’s a battery that needs to be replaced.
At least in the case of the Tetris GB, there was no battery save in that cartridge. It really was a case of losing your score after every power off.
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I mostly use mine for GBA games, and I think it’s perfect. The screen is considerably better than both the unlit GBA screen and the lit GBA SP screen, and is the perfect size for those games. Definitely recommend a Miyoo Mini Plus over the RG35XX, if just for the wifi (which makes it easy to load up ROMs, but also to do OTA updates and things like retroachievements).
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It’s actually a Miyoo Mini Plus… a fairly cheap ($60) Chinese Linux based console for playing retro games. I definitely recommend it.
My wife does not play games. When I handed her my DMG gameboy with Tetris in it, she played for 2 hours.
When I was in school, my go-to Tetris was on the TI-83. Nowadays, it has to be Tetris Effect.
I’ve not played Tetris Effect yet… the last recent one I looked at was Puyo Puyo Tetris. While I can take or leave Puyo Puyo, I loved the Tetris aspect of that game… especially the four player mode.
