Total Game Boy


Tetris DX
By Nintendo
Game Boy Color

 
Published in Total Game Boy Issue 01

Tetris DX

Tetris is back... in colour! 'Nuff said.

When you achieve perfection, there's nothing you can do to improve on it - after all, that's what perfection means. Tetris came about as close to videogame perfection as anything ever has, and thus has been extremely difficult to improve upon.

Nintendo has been very wise indeed with this update of the classic game; leaving the gameplay totally alone and choosing instead to tweak mainly just the aesthetic qualities instead.

Tetris DX

The immediately obvious change from the original is the addition of colour to the game.

Tetris fans will now be able to distinguish the different blocks from each other far more easily as each shape is colour-coded - so there's now no excuse for dropping a block in the wrong place by mistake!

One change which isn't so obvious though is one which can't be seen from screenshots. Probably the biggest problem with the original Tetris was that when you got really good at it you'd find that you'd often not have time to play a game all the way through to the end. The better you got, the longer the game went on, and so the more likely it was that something would interrupt you.

Tetris DX

Which is why this version of Tetris has... wait for it... its own battery back-up! Yes, now you really can make a game last for days! It means that you can start a game whenever you want, switch off to deal with interruptions where necessary and then pick up where you left off!

The only thing which can really be faulted with Tetris DX (and which stopped if from getting a perfect 100%) is the music. Although there are three nice tunes included, each of which picks up the tempo to keep pace with the gameplay when the lines reach a certain height; unfortunately, the old Russian-style tune has, for some reason, been removed and, as far as we're concerned, the game just ain't the same without it!

Tetris is the perfect game for anyone of any age providing they've got fingers. This one game on its own justifies the existence of the Game Boy Color, and if you only ever buy the one game for your pocket marvel, then make sure it's this one!