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?
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.
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.
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.