Line #30 Trivia/Tetris


1	* DuelingWorks: An unusual case of two versions of the same IP. [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atari Games]], through its subsidiary Tengen, released a port of Ed Logg's arcade version of ''Tetris'' for the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] in 1989. As with most of Tengen's other NES games, it was produced outside of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s licensing system for the NES, which had already led to a number of legal battles between Atari Games and Nintendo. This also conflicted with the NES version of ''Tetris'' produced by Nintendo's in-house development team in Japan that was released later that year. Nintendo had obtained the legal rights to ''Tetris'' on consoles produced outside of Japan. The courts found in favor of Nintendo, and Tengen was forced to recall and destroy all unsold copies of its version of ''Tetris''. The 100,000 or so copies that Tengen managed to sell before the court-ordered recall are among the most sought-after rarities for NES collectors.
2	* DummiedOut:
3	** The NES version has an unfinished [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKX10r3qMLE versus mode]].
4	** ''Tetris DX'' has a rendition of Korobeiniki hidden in its data, but it goes unused.
5	* ExecutiveMeddling:
6	** The fates of the Tengen version of NES ''Tetris'' and the 1989 [[Platform/SegaGenesis Genesis/Mega Drive]] port of Creator/{{Sega}}'s arcade version of ''Tetris''.
7	** Beginning in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000's]] with ''VideoGame/TetrisWorlds'', 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 Creator/{{Arika}} that have [[VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster their own ideas]] on ''Tetris'' games.
8	*** 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.
9	*** The 2019 Genesis Mini version of 1988 Sega ''Tetris'' seems to have slipped past the Guideline, being the first new ''Tetris'' release in ''13 years'' not to use the Super Rotation System or other Guideline staples. It probably gets away with it by being a faithful emulation of the original Sega arcade version, though, making it grandfathered in.
10	*** ''Tetris Effect'' by default does not use guideline piece colors in most of its game modes, including the main Journey mode, instead using mino models based on the current stage's theme, with no color difference between pieces. However, there is an ingame option that will force the use of 'Traditional' mino colors and a standardized theme which works with all singleplayer modes and the Zone Battle multiplayer mode. With how the same does not apply to Classic/Score Attack and Connected Mode, perhaps the guideline on alternate colors is flexible enough to allow some modes to not have the option to use them at all.
11	** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20040502042412/http://www.fatbabies.com:80/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3649& A post in this forum thread]] describes problems caused by Henk Rogers during the development of ''VideoGame/TetrisWorlds''.
12	** 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 Platform/GameBoy version, which had been re-released on Platform/Nintendo3DS 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 Platform/{{PlayStation 4}} (Ubisoft only holds the cards when it comes to '''digital''' ''Tetris'' releases) and especially a primary physical/digital release on the Platform/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.[[/note]] ''Ultimate'' has since been delisted from all storefronts as of February 2019. Since ''Puyo Puyo Tetris'' and ''Tetris 99'' are both on the Switch, the exclusivity contract is presumed to be dead. Because of this, [[https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2019/02/26/puyo-puyo-tetris-digital-playstation-store-soon/ Puyo Puyo Tetris was able to make it to the PS4 store.]]
13	* FollowTheLeader:
14	** ''Tetris'' has innumerable clones, knockoffs, and imitators.
15	** ''Tetris 99'' follows in the trend of massively-multiplayer [[BattleRoyaleGame battle royale games]] set by ''VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''.
16	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
17	** Tengen ''Tetris'' after it was pulled from sale in June 1989 (it had sold around 100,000 copies by that point). Tellingly, many people who had rented copies at the time decided they'd rather pay the fee for not returning the game. It's a staple of many "Famiclones", that is, bootlegs of the NES that come pre-baked with a few dozen games.
18	** Both Ubisoft's ''Tetris Ultimate'' and EA's mobile ''Tetris'' were pulled from online storefronts when their respective licences expired. Can't even circulate them, either, as they outright ceased to function after the licenses expired.
19	** And the ultimate "keep circulating the tapes" example: the Mega Drive version from Sega themselves. While Atari Games had produced the North American arcade version (which also saw release in Europe), they didn't bother exporting it to Japan, instead sub-(sub-sub-)licensing the Japanese arcade rights to Sega, which released their version in 1988, just before BPS released their Famicom version. Their arcade version was a big hit, and Sega planned to release a port of it for their just-released Mega Drive, but after Nintendo locked up exclusive worldwide console rights, Sega cancelled it shortly before release. However, a small number of cartridges had already been manufactured, and perhaps a dozen of those survive, making it the world's rarest Tetris (though Chinese bootleggers somehow managed to get a copy at the time, which led to the game being distributed on bootleg cartridges as well). The game was finally made officially available in 2004 as part of the Sega Ages ''Tetris Collection'' for the Platform/PlayStation2, but that was never released outside Japan. While the Genesis Mini does have a ''Tetris'' game based on the 1988 Sega version, it's not this particular version, but rather a new port written from whole cloth by Creator/{{M2}}.
20	** Another example: ''Minuet Tetris'', aka version 1.0 of Game Boy ''Tetris'' (the version everyone knows about is actually version 1.1). This version only ever sold in Japan for a short period of time due to The Tetris Company having some troubles securing the rights to Korobeiniki.
21	* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld:
22	** Dozens of companies have all made ''Tetris'' games that they cannot rerelease due to violating the current guidelines on ''Tetris'' games, among other things. While games can have visual themes styled after these games, they still must use the current mandated game rules. However, Sega did manage to get a port of their 1988 arcade game released on the Genesis Mini in 2019, without having to add anything mandated by TTC (the most it adds is clockwise rotation and hard drop).
23	** From 1987 to 1996, Alexey Pajitnov didn't actually own the rights of the game. It wasn't until the founding of the Tetris Company that he got the rights back.
24	* KillerApp: This game ''made'' the Platform/GameBoy, and it was packed in with the system for years, and even was an early release on the Nintendo 3DS eShop (before it was ScrewedByTheLawyers).
25	* NoExportForYou:
26	** Of the 11 non-handheld console Tetris games released between 1988 and 1995, 7 were originally only released in Japan, while 4 were originally only released outside Japan.
27	** Most versions based on Sega's original arcade version (though Bloxeed did get an English release).
28	** Both Platform/VirtualBoy releases: ''V-Tetris'' was released in Japan only, while ''3D Tetris'' was released in North America only.
29	** ''Tetris 64''.
30	** Subverted by ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Tetris'', in one of the most audacious abuses of small print ever as stated above.
31	* 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 is not uncommon for game development classes to have students create a ''Tetris'' game as an assignment.
32	* PromotedFanboy: Clearing 21 lines during Zone in ''VideoGame/TetrisEffect'' is called a Kirbtris, named after high-level Tetris player [=Kirby703=] that first showed clearing more that 20 lines was possible.
33	* ReferencedBy: [[Referencedby/{{Tetris}} Has its own page]].
34	* UncreditedRole: Creator/{{Arika}}, the development team for ''Tetris 99'', is not mentioned anywhere in the game's information or copyright screen. They were credited as developer in the Nintendo's game store website however. And this was eventually averted with the 2.0.0 update, which included "Staff Credits" in the options menu.
35	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
36	** [[https://www.4gamer.net/games/449/G044993/20190513034/ An interview]] with ''Tetris 99''[='=]s director, Ryuichi Nakata, reveals that ''Tetris 99'' was originally supposed to have 100 players, but they got rid of the 100th player because the last player would stick out on their own given the display.
37	** Many people consider Tengen's NES version of ''Tetris'', a port of an arcade game programmed by longtime Atari engineer Ed Logg, to be superior to the NES version produced by Nintendo. One of the big draws of the Tengen version was head-to-head two-player mode, which Nintendo's version lacked. It also featured nearly arcade-perfect renditions of the four musical tracks used in the arcade version, "Loginska," "Bradinsky," "Troika," and "Kalinka." A court injunction favoring Nintendo forced the recall and destruction of all unsold copies of Tengen's ''Tetris'', but 100,000 copies still managed to be sold before that happened.
38	** ''Tetris'' was going to have a Platform/GameAndWatch port. It was touted as "Coming Soon" when ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI Zelda]]'' was released but cancelled because Nintendo thought it would hurt sales of the Platform/GameBoy version. It was eventually released as part of the Mini Classics line in 1999. Ultimately, Nintendo missed the boat as many fly-by-night Chinese companies started putting out handheld Tetris game systems under the generic brand "[[BlandNameProduct Brick Game]]" which ate what could be further revenue for Nintendo.
39	** The Platform/NintendoDS almost got an [[https://tcrfwiki.tumblr.com/post/145420915583/prototype-release-thqs-unreleased-tetris-ds alternate version]] of ''Tetris DS'', developed by Creator/{{TOSE}} and published by Creator/{{THQ}}, which was originally slated to be released in 2005. Then it was unceremoniously cancelled due to running into legal disputes with The Tetris Company, with the latter arguing that THQ's license to ''Tetris'' expired. By the time the case was settled, Nintendo already released their version, while THQ was instead given to rights to ''Tetris Evolution'' on the Platform/Xbox360.

Context Trivia / Tetris