Tetris (NES) Review

Tetris is the classic Russia puzzle piece matching game that was originally released in the west for numerous systems but most famously as the pack-in game for the Nintendo Gameboy in 1989. This is a review of the Nintendo version released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.


I won't go over how the game of Tetris works as I already did in my Gameboy Tetris review.

Nintendo was able to purchase the rights to release Tetris for consoles and developed a version for the NES. At the same time Atari Games, through their Tengen imprint, was developing their own version for the NES. Once Atari released their NES version Nintendo sued and won. Because of this Tengen had to stop selling the game only a month after its release which makes the Tengen version of Tetris harder to find and more expensive to buy today compared to the Nintendo version.

Nintendo's NES Tetris is a wonderful version of Tetris and even today is still my favorite. The music sounds great, I like the look of the graphics and the way it plays. One of my favorite parts is when you get enough points it shows space ships launching for some strange reason. While I like this version I'm not nearly as good as my wife and I never saw the alien ship looking craft that sits on the launch pad while the Kremlin itself launches into space.

This version has two modes of gameplay including type A which is the classic mode where new pieces continue to fall at a fast rate as you complete lines. Type B has you complete a set amount of lines. You can choose to start with the screen empty or with the bottom of the screen filled with Tetris pieces that you have to work with. Type B is fun but for me type A is my favorite way to play.

There are also three pieces of music that you can choose from to play, I always choose the first track which is the classic Tetris song.

The biggest drawback of this version is that it's a single-player only. The Tengen version allows two players to play against each other as a split-screen battle which can open up another whole world of play.

Overall the Nintendo version of Tetris is a great game with great-sounding music, graphics, and gameplay. The only thing holding this version back is the lack of multiplayer. I give the Nintendo version of Tetris a 9 out of 10.