History Trivia / Tetris

* UncreditedRole: Arika, the development team for ''Tetris 99'', is not mentioned anywhere in the game's information or copyright screen.

** As the years went on that led the Tetris Company having a stronger oversight over licensed Tetris games and the consumer markets preferring digital storefronts over retail stores, it's become common to see when newer releases of Tetris games come out, older releases go out of print at retail stores and are pulled from digital storefronts. Want UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''Tetris''? It's no longer available legally outside used game sales. There are a number of mandatory rules to follow when making an official Tetris game, meaning that making a new Tetris game with the style of an old one is generally not allowed, as it wouldn't fit with the new rules.

** Beginning in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000's]], the Tetris Company began enforcing guidelines on what a game carrying the ''Tetris'' name should be like, such as exact playfield dimensions, piece colors, and piece behavior, especially piece rotations. This proved to be a problem for developers like Arika that have [[VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster their own ideas]] on ''Tetris'' games. \\

\\
It also meant the end of the Sega "branch" of ''Tetris'' games, though many aspects of Sega ''Tetris'' were incorporated into the guidelines (such as standardized piece colors[[note]]In fact, the seven colors of the seven Tetriminoes are the same ones used by Sega, just with colors shuffled around: S's are green rather than purple, Z's are red rather than green, I's are cyan rather than red, and T's are purple rather than cyan; the L, J, and O colors are left unchanged[[/note]] and delays before pieces that have landed lock into place). While Sega does continue to develop and publish ''Tetris'' games, they have TTC-mandated mechanics rather than those of pre-guideline Sega ''Tetris''. References to older Sega ''Tetris'' games are cosmetic at most, such as music remixes and graphical assets such as the "glass" style of block; this does ''not'' include piece colors since that would violate ''Tetris'' guidelines. Averted for ''Puyo Puyo Tetris'', at least in the visual sense, as the game contains a Tetris block skin that imitates the style of the 1988 Sega arcade game, including the different colors. It also contains some Tetris block skins whose colors are not seen anywhere else, such as the Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog skin, with colors like black (for Shadow) and pink (for Amy). As it seems, alternate colors are allowed as long as the standard colors are the default.

* KillerApp: This game ''made'' the GameBoy, and it was packed in with the system for years, and even was an early release on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

** In Japan, ''99'' has been nicknamed ''Donkatsu Tetris'', as a reference to the Japanese localization of the victory catchphrase from ''VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattleGrounds''.

* FollowTheLeader: ''Tetris'' has innumerable clones, knockoffs, and imitators.

** In 2014, due to the release of ''Tetris Ultimate'' granting Creator/{{Ubisoft}} a ''Tetris'' exclusivity contract, ALL other Tetris versions on digital storefronts were discontinued by the end of the year, including the much-acclaimed Gameboy version, which had been re-released on Nintendo 3DS at the time, and almost no other game has been able to get a license to release in the West since.[[note]]The Western release of ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Tetris'' managed to get 'round the restriction with both a physical-only release on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}} (Ubisoft only holds the cards when it comes to '''digital''' ''Tetris'' releases) and especially a primary physical/digital release on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, a console that wasn't even '''announced''' when Ubisoft's exclusivity deal was inked, ergo could not be listed in the contract. Presumably, ''Tetris 99'' got around this the same way, though nobody is certain as of now.[[/note]]

* PortOverdosed: Arguably the most widely-ported game in history. It is said that if you can program it, someone has made a version of ''Tetris'' for it, up to and [[{{Film/Pixels}} including the sides of buildings,]] while on the other side of the spectrum there's [[https://hackaday.com/2017/07/07/tetris-on-a-soldering-iron/ a version for a soldering iron]].

It also meant the end of the Sega "branch" of ''Tetris'' games, though many aspects of Sega ''Tetris'' were incorporated into the guidelines (such as standardized piece colors[[note]]In fact, the seven colors of the seven Tetriminoes are the same ones used by Sega, just with colors shuffled around: S's are green rather than purple, Z's are red rather than green, I's are cyan rather than red, and T's are purple rather than cyan; the L, J, and O colors are left unchanged[[/note]] and delays before pieces that have landed lock into place). While Sega does continue to develop and publish ''Tetris'' games, they have TTC-mandated mechanics rather than those of pre-guideline Sega ''Tetris''. References to older Sega ''Tetris'' games are cosmetic at most, such as music remixes and graphical assets such as the "glass" style of block; this does ''not'' include piece colors since that would violate ''Tetris'' guidelines.

** In 2014, due to the release of ''Tetris Ultimate'' granting Creator/{{Ubisoft}} a ''Tetris'' exclusivity contract, ALL other Tetris versions on digital storefronts were discontinued by the end of the year, including the much-acclaimed Gameboy version, which had been re-released on Nintendo 3DS at the time, and almost no other game has been able to get a license to release in the West since.[[note]]The Western release of ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Tetris'' managed to get 'round the restriction with both a physical-only release on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}} (Ubisoft only holds the cards when it comes to '''digital''' ''Tetris'' releases) and especially a primary physical/digital release on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, a console that wasn't even '''announced''' when Ubisoft's exclusivity deal was inked, ergo could not be listed in the contract.[[/note]]

* FanNickname: The pieces are officially called L, J, S, Z, I, O, and T. The S and Z blocks are often called "squigglies", the O is called "square", and the I is called "line piece".

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: As the years went on that led the Tetris Company having a stronger oversight over licensed Tetris games and the consumer markets preferring digital storefronts over retail stores, it's become common to see when newer releases of Tetris games come out, older releases go out of print at retail stores and are pulled from digital storefronts. Want UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''Tetris''? It's no longer available legally outside used game sales. There are a number of mandatory rules to follow when making an official Tetris game, meaning that making a new Tetris game with the style of an old one is generally not allowed, as it wouldn't fit with the new rules.

* PortOverdosed: Arguably the most widely-ported game in history. It is said that if you can program it, someone has made a version of ''Tetris'' for it, up to and [[{{Film/Pixels}} including the sides of buildings.]]

** In 2014, due to the release of ''Tetris Ultimate'' granting Creator/{{Ubisoft}} a ''Tetris'' exclusivity contract, ALL other Tetris versions on digital storefronts were discontinued by the end of the year, including the much-acclaimed Gameboy version, which had been re-released on Nintendo 3DS at the time, and almost no other game has been able to get a license to release in the West since.[[note]]The Western release of ''PuyoPuyo Tetris'' managed to get 'round the restriction with both a physical-only release on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}} (Ubisoft only holds the cards when it comes to '''digital''' ''Tetris'' releases) and especially a primary physical/digital release on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, a console that wasn't even '''announced''' when Ubisoft's exclusivity deal was inked, ergo could not be listed in the contract.[[/note]]

** Subverted by ''PuyoPuyo Tetris'', in one of the most audacious abuses of small print ever as stated above.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20040502042412/http://www.fatbabies.com:80/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3649&amp A post in this forum thread] describes problems caused by Henk Rogers during the development of Tetris Worlds.

It also meant the end of the Sega "branch" of ''Tetris'' games, though many aspects of Sega ''Tetris'' were incorporated into the guidelines (such as standardized piece colors[[note]]In fact, the seven colors of the seven Tetriminoes are the same ones used by Sega, just with colors shuffled around: S's are green rather than purple, Z's are red rather than green, I's are cyan rather than red, and T's are purple rather than cyan; the L, J, and O colors are left unchanged[[/note]] and delays before pieces that have landed lock into place). While Sega does continue to develop and publish ''Tetris'' games, they have TTC-mandated mechanics rather than those of pre-guideline Sega ''Tetris''; references to older Sega ''Tetris'' games are cosmetic at most (such as music remixes and graphical assets such as the "glass" style of block; this does ''not'' include piece colors since that would violate ''Tetris'' guidelines).

It also meant the end of the Sega "branch" of ''Tetris'' games, though many aspects of Sega ''Tetris'' were incorporated into the guidelines (such as standardized piece colors[[note]]In fact, the seven colors of the seven Tetriminoes are the same ones used by Sega, just with colors shuffled around: S's are green rather than purple, Z's are red rather than green, I's are cyan rather than red, and T's are purple rather than cyan; the L, J, and O colors are left unchanged[[/note]] and delays before pieces that have landed lock into place). While Sega does continue to develop and publish ''Tetris'' games, they have TTC-mandated mechanics rather than those of pre-guideline Sega ''Tetris''; most references to older Sega ''Tetris'' games are typically in the form of music remixes and graphical assets.

** Beginning in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000's]], the Tetris Company began enforcing guidelines on what a game carrying the ''Tetris'' name should be like, such as exact playfield dimensions, piece colors, and piece behavior, especially piece rotations. This proved to be a problem for developers like Arika that have [[VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster their own ideas]] on ''Tetris'' games. It also meant the end of the Sega "branch" of ''Tetris'' games, though many aspects of Sega ''Tetris'' were incorporated into the guidelines (such as standardized piece colors[[note]]In fact, the seven colors of the seven Tetriminoes are the same ones used by Sega, just with colors shuffled around: S's are green rather than purple, Z's are red rather than green, I's are cyan rather than red, and T's are purple rather than cyan; the L, J, and O colors are left unchanged[[/note]] and delays before pieces that have landed lock into place). While Sega does continue to develop and publish ''Tetris'' games, they have TTC-mandated mechanics rather than those of pre-guideline Sega ''Tetris''; most references to older Sega ''Tetris'' games are typically in the form of music remixes and graphical assets.