Tetris is Tetris. It's basically perfect and always has been. This becomes abundantly clear when you load up the first playable game in the new interactive documentary and retro gaming compilation. Tetris forever: the original Tetrisas it was on the Electronika 60 computer which was already out of fashion when Alexey Pajitnov wrote the game in Russia in 1984. The text is all in Cyrillic alphabet, the blocks are formed in parentheses (the Electronika 60 had no graphics function at that time) . everything), the only color is green and the game lacks several design improvements, such as the score multiplier to clear multiple lines at once. And yet, rough as it is, the game is as instantly and fiercely playable as it is intuitive, and as deeply satisfying as any version of it since. It is a work of the purest genius.
The opportunity to try this vintage software yourself is the greatest privilege it gives you Tetris foreverwhich collects only a small handful of the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of iterations of Pajitnov's game from the past four decades. The most powerful revelation contained in the collection is the instantaneous, first-hand understanding that almost everything you do Tetris cool was present in those first lines of code. After, Tetris forever Digital Eclipse developer has everywhere and nowhere to go.
Image: Digital Eclipse
Tetris forever is the latest in Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series, a format that combines expertly emulated classic games with a wealth of multimedia information presented in an interactive timeline: filmed interviews, archival videos, documentation, artwork, photographs and more. It's officially the third entry in the series, after the deep dive of a single title. The creation of the Karateka and the surprisingly complete Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (which is basically real life UFO 50), although the format was established in the excellent developer Atari 50.
TetrisThe complicated publishing history is a double-edged sword for Digital Eclipse. It's a compelling story, but it also makes putting together a definitive compilation of playable versions of the game an impossible task. Meanwhile, the story told by the versions that are It includes successive talented game designers, including Pajitnov, searching in vain for a way to improve upon perfection.
The behind-the-scenes story is the stuff of video game legend: a game conceived behind the Iron Curtain in the waning days of the Cold War becomes the subject of an intrigue-filled rights battle involving the USSR, Nintendo and the shady British media barons. and a buccaneer businessman named Henk Rogers. The story even has a happy ending, in which Rogers and Pajitnov form an unlikely bromance, solidifying the rights and managing the future of the game while raking in the cash for the rest of the time.
Image: Digital Eclipse
It's also a story that has been told many, many times before: in a classic work of business journalism, a solid Agency documentary and a rather silly biopic, to name three. Still, the familiarity of the story should not detract from the material Digital Eclipse has assembled to tell it. There's plenty of time for interviews with Rogers and Pajitnov, as well as expert witnesses from several luminaries, including Tetris effect designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Rogers weaves a great story and brings great moments to life.
What really distinguishes Tetris forever of those more conventional interpretations of the Tetris The story is your dedication to following the evolution of the game through countless editions on every platform imaginable. But, while all the key variations of Tetris are mentioned (and a few others), the publishing rights are so scattered throughout the story that there is no way Digital Eclipse (or even Rogers and Pajitnov's rights holder, The Tetris Company, which clearly collaborated) closely in this release) include playable versions of many of them.
Nintendo, as fiercely protective as ever of its back catalog titles, has not given up the rights to any of its own. Tetris project variants. This means that possibly the two definitive versions of Tetris — the iconic Game Boy Tetriswho found the perfect combination of form and function, and NES Tetriswhich remains the gold standard in competitiveness Tetris play – are not included. (The Game Boy game is available on Nintendo Switch Online, and the NES game will be added to the service this winter.) Sega's classic arcade version is now available, as are Arika's Tetris: The Grand Master games.
Image: Digital Eclipse
And those are just the essentials. It is irritating to have to ignore the brief mention of such a fascinating curiosity as the Philips CD-i. Tetriswith its spaced-out New Age vibes and impeccable 1992 screensaver aesthetic, without being able to see it in action, much less play it. (For an authoritative and entertaining overview of some of the games omitted in Tetris foreverI recommend Digital Foundry's John Linneman's hour-long video that runs through almost 30 versions of the game.) In recent years, two of the most vital and interesting reinventions of the game have emerged: Tetris 99 and Tetris effect – but, as current commercial titles, those too are outside the scope of this collection.
Instead, what the game has is a collection made up primarily of versions released by Rogers' own Bullet Proof Software in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s: the 1988 Famicom release (not to be confused with the game Nintendo NES), Tetris 2 + BomBliss. series and the cute versus game Tetris Gaiden Battle. There are a couple of relevant departures from the Bullet Proof catalogue, such as the Famicom Go game that endeared Rogers to then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, and Pajitnov's charming but rather weak sequel. Hatris.
There are things worth doing here. Gaiden Battle remains one of the best multiplayer interpretations of Tetrisand bombabliss (by Land designer Akihiko Miura) is one of the most successful attempts to develop the game, doing so by introducing bombs that can be activated by completing lines. But the best any of these designs can hope to do is limit how much they dilute the purity of Tetris. bombabliss is very good, especially in its puzzle-like puzzle mode, but even a variation as accomplished as this feels like a run-of-the-mill puzzle game that's somehow tacky and basic when placed next to the monolithic genius and impeccable of his father.
Image: Digital Eclipse
Digital Eclipse's own contribution is a new game, time warp tetriswhich has a fun trick: every time the player clears 10 lines, a time warp block falls, sending the player back to a previous era of Tetris: the Electronika 60 version, a daring Game Boy facsimile Tetris16 bit bombablissetc. Completing a timed challenge inside the time tunnel awards a huge point bonus before returning to the modern era. There is a decent and pleasantly chaotic multiplayer version of time warp which also supports up to four players.
Tetris It's definitely forever. You can't blame Digital Eclipse for wanting to commemorate it, nor Rogers and Pajitnov for taking another victory lap, this time interactively. This game will always be worth studying and celebrating.
But Tetris It's also too perfect to evolve over time, too big to contain in a build, and too pure to need explanation. Spin, drop, click, repeat. It's all there in the first five seconds. The rest are just lines to clarify.
Tetris forever was released on November 12 on Atari VCS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Switch using a pre-release download code provided by Digital Eclipse. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. you can find Additional information about Polygon's ethics policy here.