The New Tetris

Last updated
The New Tetris
The New Tetris for N64, Front Cover.jpg
North American box art
Developer(s) H2O Entertainment
Blue Planet Software
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Artist(s) Christopher Bretz, Roland Longpre, Jon McBain, Jake Pokorney
Composer(s) Neil Voss
Series Tetris
Platform(s) Nintendo 64
Release
  • NA: August 2, 1999 [1]
  • PAL: October 15, 1999
Genre(s) Puzzle
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

The New Tetris is a puzzle video game for the Nintendo 64. The game was developed by H2O Entertainment and published by Nintendo, based on the Tetris series. The game was originally released on August 2, 1999, in North America.

Contents

The game shows scenic fly-bys of structures (for examples the Sphinx, the Pantheon, Saint Basil's Cathedral, a Mayan temple, and others) rendered in real-time. This is relatively difficult for the Nintendo 64 hardware to accomplish at the quality that is achieved. The New Tetris features a multiplayer mode with up to four players and an electronic dance music soundtrack by Neil Voss, who also composed the award-winning music for Tetrisphere .

Game differences

There are several key differences in gameplay from the original Tetris. First, in addition to clearing lines, one can also form 4x4 large squares of four pieces to form "blocks." When a block is created, it turns solid gold or silver, depending on the makeup of the block—a block built from all the same kind of piece becomes a golden block or "monosquare", while any other combination becomes a silver block or "multisquare". Blocks can only be constructed from whole pieces: if any part of a piece has been cleared, then it cannot be used to form a block. When a line that has pieces from a block is cleared, it earns more points.

Second, in order to aid in the planning of building blocks, the game shows three upcoming pieces and has a "storage area" where a spare piece can be stored. If the piece in the storage area is more desirable than the currently falling piece, the player can press the L button to swap the currently falling piece with the stored piece. One other feature is that the rotation is much more flexible than in traditional Tetris games, trying several slight nudges, which players have called "wall kicks", before finding one where the tetromino fits. Some of these compensations move the pieces away from walls even "over" other pieces. In fact, the game rewards players for performing these seemingly impossible "spin moves": If a line is cleared by doing a spin move, all the pieces above or below the spin move break apart into individual blocks and fall down, possibly clearing many lines and filling in empty spaces in the bottom portion of the play area. Unfortunately, the spin move process causes golden and silver blocks to become ordinary pieces again and so they no longer carry their multiplier when cleared.

Tetris Worlds includes the rules of The New Tetris under the name "Square Tetris", with even more flexible wall kick rules, although the rule for what constitutes a spin move differs significantly.

The lead programmer on The New Tetris, David Pridie, placed a secret hidden rant within the code which was dumped by hackers soon after the release of the game. [2]

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Tetris</i> 1985 video game

Tetris is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. It has been published by several companies on more than 65 platforms, setting a Guinness world record for the most ported game. After a significant period of publication by Nintendo, in 1996 the rights reverted to Pajitnov, who co-founded the Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage licensing.

<i>Zoop</i> 1995 video game

Zoop is a puzzle video game originally developed by Hookstone and published by Viacom New Media in 1995 for the Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, Macintosh, PlayStation, Game Gear, and Game Boy, then in 1996 for the Saturn and Jaguar. Zoop has similarities to Taito's 1989 arcade video game Plotting, but Zoop runs in real-time instead. Players are tasked with eliminating pieces that spawn from one of the sides of the screen before they reach the center of the playfield. By pointing at a piece and shooting it, the player can either swap it with the current player color and thus arrange the same color pieces in a row or column, or match the color.

<i>Tetris Attack</i> 1995 video game

Tetris Attack, also known as Panel de Pon in Japan, is a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A Game Boy version was released a year later. In the game, the player must arrange matching colored blocks in vertical or horizontal rows to clear them. The blocks steadily rise towards the top of the playfield, with new blocks being added at the bottom. Several gameplay modes are present, including a time attack and multiplayer mode.

<i>Tetris Worlds</i> 2001 video game

Tetris Worlds is a version of the video game Tetris. Originally released in 2001 for Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance, it was later released for Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2 in 2002. In 2003, an Xbox Live version titled Tetris Worlds Online and a single-disc compilation version were released for the Xbox. The latter was bundled with Xbox systems.

<i>Pokémon Puzzle Challenge</i> 2000 video game for the Game Boy Color

Pokémon Puzzle Challenge is a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. Released in Japan on September 21, 2000; in North America on December 4, 2000; and in PAL regions on June 15, 2001, it is the second Pokémon-themed entry in the Puzzle League series. While its Nintendo 64 counterpart Pokémon Puzzle League is visually based on the Pokemon anime, Puzzle Challenge instead draws inspiration from the Pokémon Gold and Silver games. The game features multiple modes of play and support for competitive play between two players. Puzzle Challenge was later digitally re-released via the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console line on November 6, 2014.

<i>Tetrisphere</i> 1997 video game

Tetrisphere is a puzzle video game developed by H2O Entertainment and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in North America on August 11, 1997, and in PAL regions in February 1998. The game, originally named Phear, was slated for release on the Atari Jaguar in early 1995, but was reworked into a Tetris game for the N64 after Nintendo obtained its publishing rights.

<i>Meteos</i> 2005 video game

Meteos is a 2005 tile-matching video game developed by Q Entertainment and published by Bandai for the Nintendo DS. It was produced by Q Entertainment founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi and designed by Masahiro Sakurai. Meteos was inspired by the video game Missile Command (1980), the film The Matrix (1999) and the television series 24 (2001-2010).

<i>3D Tetris</i> 1996 puzzle video game

3D Tetris is a 1996 puzzle video game developed by T&E Soft and published by Nintendo for the Virtual Boy. It was released on March 22, 1996, in North America. Players control multiple falling blocks, rotating and positioning them to clear layers in a three-dimensional environment similar to Tetris's gameplay. The game contains multiple modes and variations thereof, as well as different difficulty settings and levels. Parts of 3D Tetris are rendered as 3D wire-frame models. A version of the game entitled Polygo Block was set for release in February 1996 in Japanese markets, but was never released. The game received mostly negative reviews with critics panning it for a lack of originality.

<i>Pac-Attack</i> 1993 puzzle video game

Pac-Attack, also known as Pac-Panic, is a 1993 falling-tile puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Versions for the Game Boy, Game Gear and Philips CD-i were also released. The player is tasked with clearing out blocks and ghosts without them stacking to the top of the playfield — blocks can be cleared by matching them in horizontal rows, while ghosts can be cleared by placing down a Pac-Man piece that can eat them. It is the first game in the Pac-Man series to be released exclusively for home platforms.

<i>Tetris Plus</i> 1996 video game

Tetris Plus is a puzzle video game developed and by Jaleco for arcades in 1996, and ported to the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Game Boy later that year. The game would be followed by a sequel, Tetris Plus 2, in 1997. Ports were to be developed for the Atari Jaguar and Nintendo 64 but these were never released.

<i>Tetris DS</i> 2006 video game

Tetris DS is a puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo DS on March 20, 2006, in North America, April 13, 2006, in Australia, April 21, 2006, in Europe, and April 27, 2006, in Japan. An installment of the Tetris franchise, the game supports up to ten players locally, and supported online multiplayer of up to four players using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection prior to its discontinuation.

<i>Magical Tetris Challenge</i> 1998 video game

Magical Tetris Challenge is a 1998 puzzle video game by Capcom for the arcade, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and PlayStation. It is a version of Tetris featuring Disney characters. It is one of the few Nintendo 64 games to be entirely in 2D, in addition to being Capcom's first game for the console.

<i>Tetris 64</i> 1998 video game

Tetris 64 is a puzzle video game developed by Amtex and published by SETA for the Nintendo 64. It was released exclusively in Japan in 1998, and came packaged with a unique accessory, the "Bio Sensor", which alters the game based on the player's heart rate.

<i>Tetris Splash</i> 2007 video game

Tetris Splash is a puzzle video game, part of the Tetris games, was published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. It is the first game produced by Tetris Online, Inc.

<i>Trioncube</i> 2006 video game

Trioncube is a puzzle video game developed by Namco Bandai Games and released for the Nintendo DS.

<i>Tetris Party</i> 2008 video game

Tetris Party is a puzzle video game by Hudson Soft for WiiWare. An installment of the Tetris series, the game supports the use of Miis and the Wii Balance Board, and features both local and online multiplayer in addition to several single-player modes unique to the game.

<i>Tetris: Axis</i> 2011 video game

Tetris: Axis, released as Tetris in some regions, is a puzzle video game developed by Hudson Soft for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released in all regions in October 2011 and was published by Namco Bandai Games in Japan, Nintendo in North America, and Tetris Online in Europe and Australia.

<i>Tetris 2</i> (1993 video game) 1993 video game

Tetris 2, known in Japan as Tetris Flash, is a puzzle video game developed by Nintendo and Tose and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was ported to the Game Boy in 1993 and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994 by Bullet Proof Software.

<i>Tetris 99</i> 2019 Tetris multiplayer competitive video game

Tetris 99 is a 2019 puzzle video game developed by Arika and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch, and is an online multiplayer adaptation of Tetris. Players move and drop puzzle pieces called tetrominoes onto a playing board, and must clear rows by filling them completely with pieces. Players lose if tetrominoes overflow off the top of the board or their next piece is not able to spawn because it overlaps an existing block on the playfield. Matches contain 99 players, who send additional rows to other players' boards by clearing a row on their own board; whoever is the last man standing without an overflowed board wins the match.

<i>Tetris</i> (NES video game) 1989 video game

Tetris, also known as classic Tetris, is a puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Based on Tetris (1985) by Alexey Pajitnov, it was released after a legal battle between Nintendo and Atari Games, who had previously released a Tetris port under an invalid license. Bullet-Proof Software had previously released Tetris for the Family Computer in December 1988, while Nintendo had released Tetris for the Game Boy earlier in 1989. The game will be re-released for the first time on Nintendo Switch Online in winter 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "Entertainment News Wire for August 2, 1999 [Renaissance Online Magazine News]". renaissancemag.com. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  2. ↑ David Pridie (July 1, 1999). "New Tetris Rant". Bretz.ca. Archived from the original on March 17, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "The New Tetris for Nintendo 64". GameRankings . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  4. ↑ Scott McCall. "The New Tetris - Review". AllGame . All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  5. ↑ EGM staff (1999). "The New Tetris". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Ziff Davis.
  6. ↑ Jay Fitzloff (September 1999). "[The] New Tetris". Game Informer . No. 77. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on March 11, 2000. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ "REVIEW for The New Tetris". GameFan . Shinno Media. August 4, 1999.
  8. ↑ Four-Eyed Dragon (September 1999). "The New Tetris". GamePro . No. 132. IDG Entertainment. p. 146. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  9. ↑ Air Hendrix (1999). "[The] New Tetris Review for N64 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 13, 2004. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  10. ↑ Jeff Gerstmann (August 9, 1999). "The New Tetris Review". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  11. ↑ Nick O'Shea (November 1999). "The New Tetris". Hyper . No. 73. Next Media Pty Ltd. p. 70. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  12. ↑ Aaron Boulding (August 3, 1999). "The New Tetris". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  13. ↑ "The New Tetris". Nintendo Power . Vol. 122. Nintendo of America. July 1999. p. 113. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  14. ↑ "The New Tetris". Nintendo Official Magazine . No. 85. October 1999. p. 28. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  15. ↑ Nemesis. "The New Tetris". es:Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 90. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  16. ↑ "The New Tetris". Gamers' Republic . No. 16. p. 77. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.