Gameboy Tetris wasn’t the first Tetris I played (that was Mirrorsoft Tetris on the ZX Spectrum, with its spooky AY theme music), but it is the Tetris I always go back to.
For such an early GB game, it feels almost perfect. A compelling combination of apparent simplicity and hidden depth, it was (and still is) ideal to pick up and play for five minutes at a time. I think it is fair to say that the GB wouldn’t have done half as well without Tetris.
Sure, it lacks features that modern Tetris implementations have - like hold, or being able to rotate infinitely in place, or fancy flashing backdrops - but it seems somehow better for that. Tetris in its purest form, just one more go, for ever and ever.
What are your memories of GB Tetris? Do you still play it? Do you think it holds up? What is your go-to Tetris?
I was on a train once and was finally - FINALLY! - getting close to finishing 150 lines on Mode B. Totally in the zone, for once feeling like there was a direct connection between my brain and the game, all the pieces were landing just right…so after goodness knows how long, I finally did it. I saw the spaceship lift off for the first time, and…I had missed my stop and had to spend the next hour and a half walking to my destination.
Totally worth it.
What hardware is this? (Sorry if I’m completely out of the loop)
It’s a Miyoo Mini Plus… a relatively cheap ($60) Chinese Linux device.
Wow that brings back memories! I used to play this in the back of the car with a torch! Lost my GB years ago.
Thanks for bringing back good memories!
Have you played Apotris? It’s on GBA but it’s an awesome Tetris clone https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Apotris_GBA
Funnily enough, I just tried this last night after talking about GB Tetris. It really is awesome!
i had a gba sp in my bedside draw for years with my og tetris cart in it for the occasional game. i found my original grey gameboy when cleaning out recently and sadly it no longer turns on
There are people who repair them. There is not much that goes bad on them. Sometimes you can clean the battery contacts with a wire brush and they will work after.
Great game!
I was able to get both Tetris GB and Tetris DX cartridge recently, to use with an Analogue Pocket. I need to get my lazy self into action and research how ‘save games/high scores’ work on the cartridges themselves (like on the original had, I assume). Right now, my top scores are lost after each power off… I am assuming it’s a battery that needs to be replaced.
At least in the case of the Tetris GB, there was no battery save in that cartridge. It really was a case of losing your score after every power off.
@davetansley@lemmy.one, is this modded with a backlight? It looks cool as hell.
It’s actually a Miyoo Mini Plus… a fairly cheap ($60) Chinese Linux based console for playing retro games. I definitely recommend it.