The history of Tetris on the NES is one of the most infamous stories of the Silver Age of Video Games, and one of the most legally-motivated. It boils down to this: Tengen, recently divorced from Nintendo of America’s Draconian licensing practices by having successfully cracked the NES’s “lockout chip,” released a version of the seminal falling-block puzzle game for the NES in 1989, based (somewhat) on the comparatively rare Atari arcade Tetris. Nintendo, meanwhile, had acquried the rights to Tetris direct from the original Russian development house, and accused Tengen of copyright infringement. Exactly which side had Tetris first may never be known for verifiable fact, but the eventual outcome is well-known; the case went to court, and the courts ruled in Nintendo’s favor, forcing Tengen to immediately discontinue the manufacture, distribution, and sale of their own version. This created both an instant collector’s item and one of the bigger debates of the NES era, one that continues in some degree to this day — Which Tetris is better, Tengen’s or Nintendo’s?

As this year marks the twentieth anniversary of Tetris’s arrival in the US (the now-defunct publisher Spectrum HoloByte released versions for the IBM PC, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST in 1987), I thought it would be appropriate to revisit the Great 8-Bit Tetris Debate and see which one, given the perspective of years, has held up better.

We begin with the version released under Nintendo’s banner.

As you can see, it’s a pretty basic conversion on the surface, without much in the way of graphical polish… not that Tetris necessarily needs amazing graphics in the first place, of course! You get three gameplay options: The classic Tetris (”A-Type,” shown) where you continue to play indefinitely until the blocks reach the top; a variation (”B-Type”) where you have to clear 25 lines at a defined level and starting height; and a two-player game (”C-Type”) where you and a friend go head-to-head. That’s basically all there is to it. The B-Type game at maximum (Level 9, Height 5) is a challenge for even the loudest self-professed Tetris Master. (One nice touch: In the B-Type game, when you finish a screen at Level 9, you’re greeted with an intermission screen starring various other Nintendo characters; the greater the Height you clear, the more characters are part of the celebration.)

An interesting, if ultimately useless, feature is the “Statistics” box. This shows you how many of each of the seven types of Tetrads have already fallen. I’m not quite sure what the purpose of this is; though it can help to determine the probability of a certain piece to appear (for example, the stats in this screenshot would indicate that the 2×2 square Tetrad is least likely to show up), given the completely random nature of Tetris, this help can be misleading (in fact, after this screenshot was taken I was met with three 2×2s in a row!

Play control seems solid, but a bit sluggish; even with a good controller like the NES Advantage, I sometimes found myself having to really push in the direction I wanted the Tetrad to move. Music is limited to a choice of three looping tunes that quickly become annoying, yet won’t leave your brain (the worst is an NES rendition of the Nutcracker Suite; it lodges in my head and refuses to be evicted). There is, however, an oddly satisfying sound made when you complete a line that I really can’t describe in text; you’ll just have to trust me on this one (or play the game yourself).

And now, for an opposing viewpoint, here’s Tengen’s Tetris:

The first thing you notice is that, visually, it looks a bit more complex and interesting (although that blocky “TETRIS” in the middle has to go; it’s just too tacky). The “embossed” Tetrads are a nice touch, although the lack of individual block divisions on the pieces makes it slightly harder to place them with accuracy. This can become annoying on higher levels, when Tetrads are literally raining down and you have less time to react.

Tengen absolutely wins in terms of play options. In addition to the classic game and head-to-head contest, this Tetris also offers a computer opponent in the two-player mode, very useful for training purposes. There is also a unique “cooperative” mode that I haven’t seen in any Tetris before or since; here, you and a second player (or the computer) both drop different Tetrads into the same well, with whoever actually completes lines getting the points. This is a surprisingly fun game with the right partner, and I’m a bit surprised it hasn’t been done in at least one of the estimated fifty-two gadzillion Tetris clones and knock-offs that’ve come down the pike in the last two decades. It puts a different twist on the classic gameplay, and requires some real teamwork to pull off successfully. (Sadly, the different level challenges of the arcade Tetris, which included random garbage blocks in the pit and lines pushing the stack ever closer to the top, are not present.)

Even the classic Tetris mode is slightly different in that you only advance to the next level after clearing thirty lines. (In Nintendo’s and most other versions, you go to a higher level every ten lines.) However, you get additional bonus points based on how you got your lines (a Tetris is worth far more than a single-line score, for example), and an intermission screen shows some dancing Cossacks in the “TETRIS” blocks down the middle; the higher your bonus score, the more dancers you get. It’s a nice touch, I felt. You’ll also note that this version also keeps stats of which blocks have fallen, though as a bar graph this time rather than numbers. This is easier to read at a glance, though this information is, again, somewhat dubious given how random it all is.

Musically, there are more tunes to be had here, and few if any are as ultimately grating as the Nintendo’s three. Thankfully, there’s even a “Silence” option! Game control is much smoother than Nintendo’s offering; I never had any problems moving Tetrads to exactly where I wanted them, even at high-speed levels.

So, which is better? Ultimately, that’s up to you. However, for my money, I’d have to say it’s pretty much a toss-up. When it comes right down to it… it’s Tetris, and Tetris in just about any form is one of the most addictively fun games out there. The different options in Tengen’s port might make me sway my opinion in that direction, but its comparitve rarity and subsequently ridiculous asking price on the used market (it’s not unusual to see Tengen Tetris cartridges sold for in excess of $100 loose) make me hesitant to recommend it over Nintendo’s far more common, yet just as addictive, version. (Of course, there is always emulation… but you didn’t hear that from me.)

So… yeah. Tengen’s Tetris is slightly better, but you probably don’t want to take out a second mortgage to be able to afford a copy. Fortunately, Nintendo’s version is almost as good (save for a few minor annoyances), and won’t set you back more than about ten bucks at a flea market. Either way, though, you’re getting one of the all-time classic “twitch” games out there.

If you liked that, try...

1. Retro-Active: Top 10 Retro Puzzle Games NOT Called “Tetris”
2. NES Hacks Revisited
3. Retro-Active: Bionic Commando (NES)
4. Retro-Active: Action 52 (Genesis)
5. Retro-Active: R.O.B.

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