Tetris was first released on a new home gaming console called the Gameboy in the summer of 1989. This system was portable which meant players could take it with them anywhere they went. The Gameboy was only the size of a brick, but it was battery powered. However, from what I remember (I could be wrong about this), there was a re-chargeable battery pack that came with it. The Gameboy was my first ever gaming console that I got for my ninth birthday back in June 1992. Tetris came with the Gameboy, so this game is my first ever video game.

I remember spending all day playing Tetris. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it at first, but over time I really lost interest in it. To me, this wasn't a game that aged very well. I got Super Mario Land about a week or so later, and Tetris became a game that I basically quit playing. Today, I pretty much get the same experience out of it. Believe it or not, my dad actually used to play this game, and even he thought that it was a game based mainly on luck instead of any kind of skill. Maybe I can get a better understanding of why this game lost a lot of its appeal to me in this review.   

Graphics 4/10: To start with, the version of Tetris on Gameboy doesn't have much variety to it graphically. The opening scene looks pretty nice with the Russian buildings and sunset, and the cutscenes that you get whenever you clear a stage on level 9 of the B-type game look okay too. However, the rest of the game doesn't have anything much going on with it. All that you really get is just a plain, boring background that includes a playing field with shapes that fall down from the top. With this version of Tetris, the cutscenes are the only thing that brings any life to this game. If it weren't for that, the Gameboy version (and a lot of other ports of this game) would look dead!

Music 6/10: I feel like the music in Tetris is good and all, but it also lacks variety. What really gets me about the version on Vizzed is how the A-type music has been changed. Not only that, a lot of the sound effects from the game I grew up with have been changed as well. Vizzed is a pretty cool site, and I guess maybe copyright issues are to blame for this. Although, this really hurts my opinion of this version's soundtrack. They removed the best song of the game! So, you only have 2 main tracks: the B-type and C-type. You also get the opening song which is nice and catchy, but that's really all this game has to offer. This Gameboy version of Tetris has some good music in it that is A-quality, but there is very little of it!  

Gameplay 6/10: Tetris contains two types of games: A-type and B-type. The player has the option of playing either one in any order. In both game types, there are different shapes falling down the playing field. You have to move the shapes where you want them in order to create horizontal lines. When these lines are created, those lines of blocks disappear, and you get a line.

In the A-type game, the object is to beat your highest score. The highest score you can get is 999,999 which was almost impossible, so don't worry about trying to do that! Anyway, the more horizontal lines you get, the higher your score will be and earning 4-liners bumps your score up the fastest. I've found it is easiest to start the game out on level 0 because after earning a certain number of lines, the game changes levels, and the shapes fall faster. If the shapes reach the top of the playing field, you'll have to start all over again with your score.

Whenever I first got this game as a kid over 25 years ago, I spent all day trying to beat my highest score. It was a rainy day in mid-June, and I didn't have anything else to day even though it was my birthday. However, later on, I got tired of this, and I have the same experience re-playing the A-type game of Tetris as an adult. I feel like all it amounts to is just luck. Your score depends on how many lines you can get, and that relies on what shapes the game gives you. Sometimes, it will work in your favor and give you shapes you can use to get as many as 150,00 points, and other times I struggle to get 75,000. In my opinion, this isn't good game design, and players like myself might find themselves wanting to play more of the game, but if you can't get anywhere it becomes a game that isn't motivating at all! The A-type game is enjoyable but only under certain circumstances.

In the B-type game, the player has to score 25 lines in order to clear the playing field. If you want to, you can start on level 0 or level 9. However, if you clear the field on levels 0 - 8, you won't get anything. It is only on level 9 that the game plays you a song. The length of this song depends on the height of the lines you clear on level 9. When clearing the playing field on level 9-0, you get a guy on top of the screen playing a fiddle. If you clear the game on level 9-5, a whole band joins in with him, and you get a space shuttle. Level 9-5 is the highest you can go in the B-type game.

The B-type game is not easy. When you get to about 9-4, you don't have anywhere to put the shapes the game gives you. The player has to find the best place to put them quickly to keep them from filling up the playing field resulting in a Game Over. You need to get lines in order to clear the area before the blocks pile up. This is a long, tedious, trial and error process that isn't much fun. Again, you're basically at the mercy of the game, and it either lets you win or it doesn't. Most of the time it doesn't, so you basically waste an hour or two trying to clear the area in order to finish the game. I swear there isn't any skill to this, just pure, dumb, luck!

After re-playing Tetris over 2 decades later, I have started to realize why I lost interest in it. This is especially true for the B-type game. What a pain in the you know what! I remember my dad even getting pissed off trying to beat it. Sometimes even he couldn't get much of a score on the A-type game either. I think the A-type game is the only one I enjoy playing, but after a while if I know I'm not going to score any higher than a certain amount, I just give up. I almost always give up on the B-type game when I get to 9-5. Screw that! It doesn't matter which version or port of Tetris I play. I have the same feeling about its game design, and that is a feeling of mixed to negative emotions.  

Content 6/10: From what I've seen on YouTube, this version and the NES version of Tetris are the only two that contain both the A-type and B-type games. In the A-type game, you have 9 levels that are only about 2 or 3 minutes long. With the B-type, I only found myself wanting to play the 5 height levels on level 9 which are also about the same length. So basically, Tetris only amounts to a game that is about 35 to 40 minutes long if you are able to whiz through these stages. Most players (like me) just find themselves just re-playing these few short levels till they get tired of them. There isn't much to this game.

Difficulty 10/10: When talking about the difficulty of Tetris, there are a lot of things to keep in mind. This is a game where there is not much objective except for on the B-type game. Although, players who don't want to mess with that game don't have to play it, and I guess that's why the later ports of Tetris did away with it. Most people played the A-type game where they played against themselves to beat their highest score, and that was the game's main appeal. However, that really depends on what shapes the game gives you to work with. Tetris can be hard at times and other times it isn't. I have to say, I don't enjoy games like this all the time and find them pretty hard to get where I want to get with them.   

Overall 5.5/10: The Gameboy version of Tetris is a game that I can't rate very high. For some people, I can recommend the game, but it all depends on what kind of games you like. I felt like the NES version was better with its graphics and music. I hate how Vizzed got rid of the best song in the game which made this game even less appealing. My dad enjoyed this game more than I did growing up, but even he had his limits with it. Nobody likes playing a game they feel like they have no chance of getting anywhere with. That is especially true for a game like Tetris no matter which version you play.   

 

I get your review, and I actually agree with you, Tetris is not a game that I play for very long. But to be Devil's Advocate, the simple mechanics of Tetris it did help bring a ton of people to buy a gameboy, think of it like how Wii did for casuals and non gamers. And if you like Puzzle games  (i usually don't), Tetris was mad popular.

Nice, long review for a puzzle game! You did well describing the Game Boy's graphics, as well as the A-type and B-type modes. I barely ever played this version of Tetris so I didn't know the difference between the 2.

The B-type definitely sounds so much better. Being able to pick up on the level you got a game over at actually sounds fun, instead of painfully starting all over.

One thing that popped out at me is that you left the story section blank. If there isn't a story for the game, I suggest flat-out saying there isn't a story. Or you could use the story section to describe the objective of the game. That's only if you don't already do so in other sections, like you did with this review.

I also prefer the NES version since it has more impressive graphics and I like the way it sounds more.

endings : The simple mechanics are what made me like this game in the first place. Normally I don't care for puzzle games but I could easily learn the ropes of Tetris.