Tetris is a video game icon up there with Pac-Man and Mario. There is no doubt about the impact this Russian developed puzzle title had on the world, not just gaming. Having come to North America in the mid to late 80’s, landing on nearly every platform possible (outside consoles and hand helds), Tetris quickly took gaming by storm. Computers were almost unanimously supported if there was even inkling of support from fans. That brings me to the Commodore 64 version, originally released in 1988, recently got a slight improvement release by fans. As with most things concerning popular games, other fans are not happy with this update.
If it isn’t broke, don’t break it
Tetris is simple. Tetramines fall from the top of the screen and your job is to arrange them to complete lines across the play area. You are given a preview of the next piece in the sequence in the upper right corner. Pieces can rotate as they fall and you have a short period of time to move left or right before the piece finally lands and the next piece enters the play area.
That is about it as far as mechanics are concerned. Tetris is simple in nature.
The Commodore 64 version featured minimalist graphics, to say the least, at least when discussing the Tetramines themselves. The graphics that fill the rest of the screen, while minimalist, are interesting and well done.
The music is apparently a fan favorite if the comments on the Indie Retro News article is anything to go by. It seems there is a problem with memory constraints and how the music was coded between the two games. More detail on the change in music can be found in the discussions going on under the Saberman YouTube video. It is all above my head to try and relate to you here.
The graphics that fill the screen outside the play area have not changed between versions. Tetris Recoded focuses on the graphics of the Tetramines themselves with some slight gameplay improvements bringing the Commodore 64 version closer to what most fans know and enjoy.
Improvements are visual as well as slight
The biggest improvement I want to talk about is the graphics of the Tetramines. The original version by Mirrorsoft featured bland colored blocks in the shapes we were familiar with. That was fine but it really came off as very “Atari” looking to me, even back in the day, the Commodore 64 version appeared “old” to me. Comparing it to the Nintendo Entertainment System version, released in late 1989, just made the C64 version look worse. Add to that, for me and I am sure many gamers too, buying C64 games was a process of buying from magazine ads featuring less than stellar pictures (if you got one) of the games. This made the Commodore 64 version look even worse in comparison to nearly all other versions available.
Tetris Recoded fixes those graphical problems, giving the pieces detail and personality if you will. Now, when you see pieces of a Tetramine onscreen, you can easily identify which one it came from, giving the game a bit of personality that is missing in the Mirrorsoft version.
Next are the control changes. According to C64Online.com the new piece look is not the only improvements fans can expect. There is now a soft (pull down) and hard (push up) drop to the pieces. In the original game, placing pieces required a good eye as you only had a hard drop, or wait for the piece to descend at its own pace.
There are now 15 levels to play through, PAL/NTSC speed adjustments, and new sound effects as well.
CSDB.dk mention a few more additions. You can enable a ghost piece, shows exactly where the piece will land, as well as rotate clockwise and counter clockwise (great for those challenging “pro” moves placing pieces in impossible placements) and more.
If you are rocking Commodore 64 and are a fan of Tetris then Tetris Recoded is the ideal version. Sadly, the original Mirrorsoft version simply has not aged well, especially considering it started off looking dated at release.
Grab your copy of Tetris Recoded from Pokefinder.