History Main / FallingBlocks

* ''Super [[StreetFighter Puzzle Fighter]] II Turbo'' also uses gems, but rather than just lining them up, you have to use special "crash gems" that will destroy any adjacent gems of the same color. Another twist in the game was that the Junk Blocks had a countdown, and turned into regular blocks when it ran out. This gave a struggling player the chance to make a comeback if they survived long enough.

* The ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' LicensedGame ''Comet Battle'', released for the Chinese Monon Color system, features a falling blocks section where you stack blobs and eliminate groups of them in the same color by stacking potions onto them.

* ''Pac-Attack'' had VideoGame/PacMan and ghosts packaged in with Tetris-like blocks.

* ''Cleopatra Fortune''

* ''Puyo Puyo Tetris'' is a crossover between ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' and ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''. Not only can you mix-and-match gameplay types is verses matches, but it also features two entirely new modes of play:

* ''VideoGame/{{Lumines}}'' features blocks of squares(or is that squares of blocks?) that are eliminated by a moving line when they are arranged into blocks/squares of all the same color.

** Similar to ''Klax'' is ''Audiosurf'', which combined the concept with levels generated from ''your'' music files.

* ''Puyo Puyo Tetris'' is a crossover between ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' and ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''. Not only can you mix-and-match gameplay types is vurses matches, but it also features two entirely new modes of play:

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dee dee DEEE, dee dee deeee, de dee DEEEEEEE.]]-] ]]

** Its SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/CrystalCrisis'', follows the same formula except with a few unique mechanics of its own (namely, wrapping crystals from one side of the board to the other and character specific [[LimitBreak Limit Breaks]]).

* ''VideoGame/SegaSonicBros'' uses various re-colors of Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog that are dropped onto the playfield. If Sonics of one color are arranged to enclose in a circle (using the sides of the board if necessary), they are cleared. Interestingly, it was never given a commercial release after it failed a location test in Japan.

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dee dee deeee, de dee de DEE de dee.]]-] ]]

** In some versions of ''Tetris'' (''Tetris DS'' and ''TetrisTheGrandMaster'', for instance), pieces don't even bother falling once you hit higher levels; they ''instantly hit the stack.''

* In {{Sega}}'s classic ''{{Columns}}'', the player arranges sets of gems into [[MatchThreeGame lines of three or more. ]]

** ''Gorby's Pipeline'', a more obscure title also developed by {{Compile}}, can be described as ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' meets ''PipeMania''.
** After Compile lost the ''Puyo Puyo'' franchise to {{Sega}}, it created a SpiritualSuccessor called ''Pochi and Nyaa'', which plays rather similarly.

* ''IrisuSyndrome'' combines this with a basic physics engine.
* The cartridge packaged with the {{SNES}} Super Scope had ''Blastris A'' and ''Blastris B''. The former was a Tetris-like where the player shot parts of the blocks off instead of rotating them, the latter was more of a Columns/Dr. Mario-like.
* Another variation is the ''MrDriller'' series, where the blocks have already fallen, and your job is to dig through them. Of course, your digging can shake them loose again, and cause them to fall on ''you''. Blocks of the same color will stick together if they come in contact (and will all vanish at once when you drill them, and sets that fall into arrangements of four or more will disappear. The trick is in using these rules to not only score points, but more importantly to clear out large numbers of blocks and/or keep them from squashing you.
* Yet another variation is {{Konami}}'s ''Quarth'', where the player doesn't control the falling blocks; instead, a ShootEmUp type ship is used to shoot down the block formations as they inch toward the player's doom.

* "It is the nineties, and there is time for... {{Klax}}." This popular arcade game featured falling colored tiles, which were to be placed in "klaxes" (rows, columns, or diagonals of [[MatchThreeGame same-colored tiles]]) in a 5-by-5 grid. The real challenge was building complex formations that yielded big points, as klaxes made other tiles fall into scoring positions. Tiles could also be thrown back. Memorable for its quirky look and feel.

* Namco's ArcadeGame ''Emeraldia'' has colored blocks whose tiles connect horizontally, vertically and diagonally to form chains. These chains can be cracked and then shattered by dropping tiles of the same color on top of them.

* The long-running ''PuyoPuyo'' series features blobs, which are arranged into groups of four or more--unlike many, they don't actually have to be lined up, just connected horizontally and vertically. ''Puyo Puyo'' also was one of the first games to add "Junk Blocks", which are dropped onto the opponent's playing field.

* ''TrashPanic'', except the "blocks" are garbage.

* ''Pac-Attack'' had {{Pac-Man}} and ghosts packaged in with Tetris-like blocks.

** In {{Tetrisphere}}, the player plays from a top-down perspective ''of the falling piece''.

* The cartridge packaged with the {{SNES}} Super Scope had ''Blastris A'' and ''Blastris B''. The former was a Tetris-like where the player shot parts of the blocks off instead of rotating them, the latter was more of a Columns/Doctor Mario-like.

* Arcade game ''{{Rampart}}'' was a variation of the falling blocks genre. The player is given several castles to [[TowerDefense defend against an invading navy]]. Using Tetris-like puzzle pieces, the players must surround one or more castles with walls within a limited time to keep playing. This earns the player cannons, which can be used to repel the invaders. The one-player game is fiendishly difficult, but a classic nonetheless.

* A bizarre twist on the falling-block game occurs in the little-known game Friel. You maneuver pairs of monsters into a smallish grid, trying to make them disappear. How do you get them to vanish? No sort of in-a-row or adjacency requirements -- monsters vanish when there are five of the same one in any given 3x3 square. I'd link that to GuideDangIt... but this little bastard of a game ''doesn't have any guides.''

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