Tetris is a classic title. No doubt about it. It is such a simple title that is so hard to master, if it can ever truly be mastered. Glancing at various websites shows Tetris has never really gone away, it may not be in the news like it was when first released, but fans are keeping it alive and well. One such fan is currently working on a port of the Atari arcade classic for the Commodore Amiga computer. For those that did not know, the rights to Tetris were beyond convoluted and confusing with so many companies wanting a piece of the Tetris pie. Atari Games (not the same as the console maker, that was Atari Corps.) was just one such rights holder, this time for the arcade version.
So much action it could have been a James Bond plot
Tetris’ history is full of backstabbing, deals gone bad, and more. So much so that with a little tweaking it could have passed for a James Bond movie plot (there is a serious lack of beautiful women involved in the proceedings, that would have to change). I cannot replay most of the history here, it is just too much, but a few highlights include
Sega thought they had the rights and even produced a few copies of Tetris for Sega Genesis carts – it was based on the Atari Games arcade version.
Rights were split depending on platform. Nintendo got handheld and console rights while others got arcade and computer rights. For a first-time game developer, this was impressive.
At least one company ended up going bankrupt over the litigation situation and their misuse of their rights to Tetris.
The gaming scene might have been quite different had Sega been able to release Tetris as well, or if Nintendo was in the wrong and had to pull out.
Tetris was a phenomenon that comes around occasionally, few and far between.
The arcade game is very different than the Nintendo version
Atari Games were not out to recreate what Nintendo was doing. That is probably due to the Atari Games version releasing in 1988 while Nintendo would release their versions in 1989. Many feel the Atari Games version is superior to what Nintendo gave us.
The big differences between Atari Games and Nintendo Tetris
For one, Nintendo’s versions give the pieces a bit of personality with individual blocks making up the pieces. This allowed shading, colors, etc to be used to give the pieces individuality.
Atari Games’ version uses pieces that are solid colors, much like many of the computer versions of the game did.
This design choice gave the Nintendo versions a standout looks among so many versions of Tetris on store shelves.
Atari Games’ version did a few things differently than Nintendo. One, single player mode offers statistics on pieces used so far, broken down by color. Also, there is a puzzle mode where the play area is prefilled with garbage that must be dealt with as you attempt to eliminate a certain number of lines.
The Commodore Amiga version is very early right now so please do not be too harsh on it. This is a work in progress, but it is already impressive.
Source: English Amiga Board via Indie Retro News