It's many years overdue, but we finally got the Game Boy emulators for Nintendo Switch Online. That's more games for me to play, so brace yourselves for more of me rambling about old games. First on our list is a game that needs no introduction (but will get one anyway). BACKGROUND:
Look, it's Tetris. I love Tetris. I've said as much in at least two blog posts here. I'm not going into all that again, but it is important to note that this is the very first version of Tetris I was exposed to. When I was very young, my dad owned the original Game Boy (which I still have in my possession, albeit not in working order), and this was one of the games he had. Kid me, unfortunately, did not understand the concept of the game at four years old, and it wasn't until Tetris DS that I truly fell in love with the game. It's also imperative to point out that this specific version of Tetris is one of the most legendary titles in all of video games. The Game Boy was insanely popular in its heyday, and this game (which propelled the series to icon status) is one of the reasons why it sold gangbusters. SUMMARY: Well, what is there to say? If you don't know what Tetris is (which, as I've said many times before, is highly unlikely if you've somehow come across my blog), here's the link to the browser version. Go drop some blocks and clear some lines. If there's anything that sets apart this version from modern iterations of the game, it's the fact that it's as old school as it gets. There's no way to hold pieces, you don't see too far ahead in terms of upcoming pieces, there's no hard drop, and there's no guide to tell you where exactly in the matrix it'll drop. I definitely miss hard drop, because I like playing Tetris quickly. For me, the most significant old school element is how the sequence of pieces isn't balanced the way it is today. If you play any modern Tetris games, they'll guarantee that you'll go through one of every unique Tetrimino before you repeat. Here, there is no such balance, so there are instances where you get strings of I-pieces (I once got four in a row) or spend three agonizing minutes not seeing a single I-piece. If you play a lot of Tetris like I do, the lack of balance in the sequence generation of the pieces is immediately noticeable. Apart from a simple two-player battle mode, there are no fancy additions in this Tetris game. All you can do is select your starting speed level and survive for as long as you can. Your score is tracked in a leaderboard, but this is pointless since this was one of the many Game Boy games that did not have internal save functions in the original cartridge. While the colors of the modern Tetriminos have since become iconic, part of me loves the old sprites where the main difference between the pieces is the individual block patterns they each have. Other than that, don't expect any mind-blowing visuals. This is an early Game Boy game, for crying out loud. This version of Tetris also has the equally iconic Tetris Type-A track, which still holds up as catchy nearly 35 years later. If that's not to your liking, there are two solid alternate options you can choose before starting a game. VERDICT: There are certainly more polished versions of Tetris now, either with dazzling presentation (Tetris Effect), unique gimmicks (Puyo Puyo Tetris), or a massive emphasis on competition (Tetris 99), but none of them would exist if it weren't for the incredible success of the Game Boy version. It may not have much except for the core gameplay, but the fact that said gameplay has gone on to persist as a fixture of gaming three decades later may speak to how inherently simple yet addictive it is. As much as the lack of sequence balance for the pieces throws me off, I can still enjoy old school Tetris as much as I enjoy the newer versions I play nowadays. I already linked the browser version of Tetris above, which is good enough if you simply want to play Tetris. There's no pressing need to check out this version unless you're like me and enjoy exploring past versions of something and comparing them to what we have now. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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