Tengen's Tetris, officially called Tetяis: The Soviet Mind Game, is a fun puzzle game developed by American arcade games producer Atari Games. It was an unlicensed NES version in 1989 of their 1988 arcade hit Tetris under their Tengen brand.
Issues with the title's publishing rights got Nintendo to gain the rights to publish their NES version of Tetris. As a result, this great Tengen version of Tetris was only on sale for a month before Atari was forced to pull it out of stores and destroy any remaining inventory of it.
That is why this great Tengen version of Tetris is much sought after by game collectors because of limited copies. The official one made by Nintendo version for the NES is crap while this version by Tengen is the superior one.
The Story
Tetris is a fun and dynamic puzzle game that looks deceptively simple enough: Rotate and flip the geometric blocks moving down in motion into unbroken rows. When you have completely fill up the bottom row, it disappears from view and your score rises. When the right amount of rows vanish, the blocks move down faster.
But when you can not find a way to make the pieces fit together and more blocks fall down to clog the screen until it touches the top side of the screen, then it is game over for you.
The Graphics and Sound
Tengen's Tetris' graphics are a better improvement over the Nintendo version. Less colors are used but the blocks are looking kInd of solid and form a solid color when they are put in place. It kind of looks that you always know which piece is falling. The black background gives a better atmosphere to the game. Plus, the Nintendo version lack the dancing Russian cartoon characters.
The music is a charmer. Russian traditional music tunes that were digitized for the NES sound chip seem to sound great while you are playing this game.
The Gameplay
You can set the difficulty to begin with to add some challenge. This game has a two player mode which the Nintendo version horribly lacks.
You can also play against the computer in 2 player Co-op where you and your friend place blocks in the same drop box.
Replay value is damn high because the 2 player mode is a lot of fun and the co-op mode is so challenging.
My Verdict
If you are into puzzle games then you should not miss out on this one. Most gamer dudes may even say that Tengen's Tetris is the version that should have been the right official one on the NES!
If you can find and buy the NES cartridge, then you got a valuable collectible in your hand. Play it on the NES or on emulators. Go play with a friend to get the most fun out of it.