The year: 1985. The place: The Soviet Union. In the country known for vodka and Communism, a programmer named Alexey Pajitnov was creating a little game in his spare time. Drawing on his love of puzzles, in particular pentominoes, Pajitnov created a computer game in which players could place blocks to form lines. The completed lines vanish, the goal to create as many lines as you can before the playing field get filled up with blocks.
He called the game Tetris, a combination of the Greek word 'Tetra', meaning 'four' (A reference to the game using tetrominoes) and his favorite sport: Tennis. The game would end up making its way to West in well, quite a crazy way. The simple puzzle game would end up being regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, and would be ported to over 60 platforms. It would be a killer app for the Game Boy, which is where I first discovered it.
In anticipation of the game's 40th anniversary, The Tetris Company and Digital Eclipse have released Tetris Forever, a compilation/interactive documentary. This compilation collects 15 versions of Tetris, including some that were never officially released in North America. Let's look at the trailer!
Man, I can't help but wonder, when Alexei Pajitnov had came up with the idea for Tetris, he'd end up creating something that would stand the test of time?
We certainly played Tetris, Mr. Pajitnov. We certainly did.
15 versions of Tetris?! Sheesh! I wonder if we'll also get the Tengen version. I mean, that version is a collector's item for a reason.
I will admit, A part of me finds it bizarre that this is a collection of what are basically all ports of the same game with the only real changes being some of the version have color and backgrounds. The version I played was the Game Boy version, by the way. But I can imagine that like me, many gamers have a port that they have a nostalgic connection to. So, I get it.
The Gaming Historian did a fantastic documentary of his own on the history of Tetris and how it came to the West. I love that documentary. Watching it, I remember hearing rumors about a Tetris movie that was a science-fiction film, and I thought, "No! The story of how it came to the West is crazy! That is what a Tetris film should be about!" Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and that film did come about. I want to watch it.
Well, consider me interested. Tetris was one of the first video games I ever played. Back in the day, I could get over 100 lines on the Game Boy. No joke, I could do that. I am curious about the various versions, especially the ones that never left Japan. And Hatris sounds hilarious. I want to add this game to my collection. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!
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