List of Tetris variants

This a list of variants of the game Tetris. It includes officially licensed Tetris sequels, as well as unofficial clones.

Official games

Title	Year	Platform	Publisher	Description
Welltris	1989	PC	Spectrum Holobyte	Designed by Alexey Pajitnov and developed by Doka. Pieces (including tetrominoes and occasionally pentominoes) slide down one of four wall surfaces in a well, the "well" being an 8x8 square. When a piece lands while fully or partially sticking outside of the well, the wall is temporarily blocked. The game ends when four walls are no longer accessible. Other versions: Amiga, Mac OS (1990, Infogrames [Europe], Spectrum Holobyte [US]) ZX Spectrum, CPC, C64 (1991, Infogrames) Arcade (1991, Video System)
Hatris	1990	NES, Game Boy	Bullet Proof Software	Designed by Alexey Pazhitnov. A variety of hats must be made to fall in to stacks of five identical hats. Other versions: Arcade (1990, Video System) PC-Engine (1991, Micro Cabin)
Faces... Tris III[1]	1991	Amiga, MS-DOS	Spectrum Holobyte	Alexey Pajitnov's fourth and final official game in the "Tris" series. Developed by Sphere, Inc. The player must rotate falling pieces to form a complete face, which include famous historical figures. Features 10 difficulty levels and a head-to-head mode.
Super Tetris[2]	1991	MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac OS	Spectrum Holobyte	Developed by Sphere, Inc. Added bombs, new special block types, and two-player co-operative and competitive modes.
Super Tetris 2 & Bombliss[3]	1991	Famicom	Bullet-Proof Software	One mode, "Bombliss", features bomb blocks that destroy surrounding blocks when a line is completed. Bombliss uses the gravity algorithm to re-arrange the stage after an explosion has destroyed some blocks. A "Tetris C" mode automatically rises the playfield one level after a certain number of blocks are used. Other versions: Super Famicom (1992, Bullet Proof Software) Super Tetris 2 & Bombliss Limited (1994) All Japan Super Bombliss Cup'95 (1995) Satellaview (1995, Blue Planet Software)
Tetris 2[4]	1993	NES, Famicom Disk System, and Game Boy	Nintendo	Uses disconnected colored tetrominoes instead of adjacent type tetrominoes, the goal of Tetris 2 is to clear all the bombs by making the blocks of the same color stick together. Released as Tetris Flash in Japan. Other Versions: SNES (1994, Nintendo)
Tetris Battle Gaiden[citation needed]	1993	Super Famicom	Blue Planet Software	Similar to Puyo Puyo in use of competitive mode, characters, and humorous storyline. Different characters can also unleash special moves that affect the opponent in some way. Also includes a Rensa mode, in which gravity takes a bigger part. Came to the attention of European gamers by way of a review in Issue 18 (April 1994) of Super Play magazine.
Tetris & Dr. Mario	1994	Super Nintendo	Nintendo	Compilation of Tetris and Dr. Mario with enhanced graphics and sound.
Super Tetris 3 & Sparkliss, Magicaliss, Familiss[5]	1994	Super Famicom	Blue Planet Software	Sparkliss is similar to Bombliss, but the bombs have orthogonal explosions. Some blocks need to be hit more than once by explosions before they are destroyed. Magicaliss has pieces that may also be one of four colors. Making a full line with one color destroys all the blocks of that color in the stage. The remaining blocks fall in place. Familiss is a four-player multiplayer Tetris.
V-Tetris[6]	1995	Virtual Boy	Bullet Proof	Only released in Japan. By using the L and R buttons, or the right D-pad, the screen shifts a block left or right respectively.
Tetris Blast	1996	Game Boy	Nintendo / Bulletproof[7]	The same as the Bombliss mode in Super Tetris 2 & Bombliss. In an added "Fight" mode, there are creatures that traverse the constantly changing 'terrain' of the play field and try to hinder the player from clearing the screen of blocks.
Tetris Attack	1996	SNES and Game Boy	Nintendo, Intelligent Systems	A version of the Japanese game Panel de Pon with redone art made to resemble Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Has no relation to Tetris other than name and genre. Also spawned Pokémon Puzzle League for the N64, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color, Puzzle League for the Game Boy Advance, and Planet Puzzle League for the Nintendo DS.
3D Tetris	1996	Virtual Boy	Nintendo	Released only in the United States. Different from the version (V-Tetris) released in Japan
Tetris Plus	1995 1996 1997	Arcade PlayStation, Saturn Game Boy	Jaleco Jaleco Nintendo	Added to the classic Tetris is the new Puzzle Mode. Each level begins with a character (the professor) standing on a different pattern of blocks. This is somewhat is similar to Welltris The goal is to clear the blocks out from under him to get him to the bottom. He climbs to the top of the blocks you're stacking up and the game ends when the professor and the descending spiked ceiling collide.
Tetris Plus 2	1997	Arcade	Jaleco	This version is an improved version of Tetris Plus.
Tetrisphere	1997	Nintendo 64	H2O Entertainment Corporation	Uses some of the tetrominoes (as well as two 3-block piece) with different gameplay than standard Tetris. The object of the game is to reveal the core in the center of the sphere (which is actually a torus as seen through a fisheye perspective). To achieve this, you need to stack similarly shaped pieces on top of each other. Once three are stacked, the pieces disappear and reveal the layer below. If the player doesn't clear blocks fast enough they lose one life, and if they lose three, the game is over. Wild card pieces, power-ups and a limited ability to slide pieces over the surface of the sphere all help with this task.
Tetris DX	1998	Game Boy Color	Nintendo	The Game Boy version of Tetris updated for the Game Boy Color
Tetris 4D[8]	1998	Dreamcast	Blue Planet Software
Tetris 64	1998	Nintendo 64	Amtex Software	Includes Normal Tetris, Giga Tetris that has tetriminoes of different sizes, and Bio Tetris that adjusts itself based on feedback from a heartbeat measuring clip that attaches to the user's ear.
Tetris: The Grand Master	1998	Arcade	Arika / Capcom	Released in Japan, designed for seasoned and skilled Tetris players. At higher levels, tetriminoes begin to drop so fast that they appear immediately at the bottom, with no airborne phase at all; Players only have a split-second to slide the block into designated locations before they lock down. This distinctive style is called "20G". Subsequent entries in the Grand Master series continued the high-speed trend.
Kids Tetris[9]	1999	PC	Blue Planet Software / Hasbro	Tetrominoes start out with two blocks and increase with further lines. Circus, Firehouse, Haunted House and Laboratory stages have different graphical effects with each cleared level. Includes printing option.
The New Tetris	1999	Nintendo 64	H2O Entertainment Corporation	Tetris with a new feature: when a 16-block (4 by 4) square is made, the tetrominos used to form the square are merged as 16-block squares. A square formed using different types of tetrominos is called a combo square or multisquare, and it appears silver. A square formed using four of the same piece is called a pure square or monosquare, and it appears gold. All pieces but the S and Z can form monosquares.
The Next Tetris	1999 2000 2001	PlayStation, PC Dreamcast Nuon	Hasbro Crave Nuon Toshiba	The Next Tetris was a version of the game with an emphasis on the cascade mode.
Magical Tetris Challenge	1999 2000	Nintendo 64, Playstation Game Boy Color	Capcom Capcom	Choose Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Minnie Mouse in Story mode. The game implements a new Tetris deviation of combos, where consecutive cleared lines give those clears greater value. Non-story variations include magical, updown, and endless mode with other mdes which can be unlocked in the story mode.
Sega Tetris[10]	2000	Dreamcast	WOW Entertainment
Tetris: The Absolute - The Grand Master 2[citation needed]	2000	Arcade	Arika / Psikyo	Sequel to Tetris: The Grand Master, featured faster gameplay than its predecessor. A later upgrade, Tetris: The Absolute - The Grand Master 2 Plus, featured several new modes including the "Death Mode" where tetriminoes fall furiously fast right from the beginning.
Tetris With Cardcaptor Sakura: Eternal Heart[11]	2000	PlayStation	Arika	Released in Japan, a Cardcaptor Sakura-themed Tetris game. It presents puzzles in which the player (as Sakura Kinomoto) has to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards by defeating Eriol's Tetris style Puzzles. The game also features player vs CPU and contains hidden extras based on the anime series.
Tetris Worlds	2001	PC	Blue Planet Software, THQ	Includes Tetris, Square Tetris, Cascade Tetris, Sticky Tetris (originally in The New Tetris), Hot-Line Tetris, and Fusion Tetris. Other versions: PS2 (2002, Blue Planet Software) Nintendo GameCube and Xbox (2002, Radical Ent.) Game Boy Advance (2002, 3d6 Games)
Pokémon Tetris	2002	Pokémon mini		Released only in Japan and Europe, a tiny keychain Tetris game with a Pokémon theme.
Tetris Elements[12]	2004	Windows, Mac OS	ImaginEngine	Includes classic Tetris and five variations: Stratosphere, which features meteors that can either help or hurt in eliminating rows; Earthquake, where tremors shake the falling shapes and move them around; Tempest, a double Tetris game where players are switched back and forth between screens; Ice, which has falling icicles that will knock into the falling shapes and make them crash down; and Fire, where heat can cause a chain reaction and melt multiple rows.
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct[13]	2005	Arcade	Arika / Taito	Sequel to Tetris: The Absolute - The Grand Master 2 Plus with several changes in game mechanics and a "Shirase" mode, analogous to Death Mode but with a drastic speed increase.
Tetris: The Grand Master Ace	2005	Xbox 360	Arika / AQ Entertainment	First console version in the Grand Master series, one of the launch titles for the Japanese launch of the Xbox 360.
Tetris Mania	2006	Mobile Phones	Electronic Arts	Cascade Tetris, Sticky Tetris and Fusion Tetris, all previously in Tetris Worlds.
Tetris DS	2006	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	First version for Nintendo DS. Includes local multiplayer and online multiplayer support. All based around the NES era of games.
iPod Tetris[14]	2006	iPod	Electronic Arts
Tetris Evolution[15]	2007	Xbox 360	THQ	First seventh generation Tetris game to be released in the United States. Includes play over Xbox Live.
Tetris Zone[16]	2007	Windows and Mac OS	Blue Planet Software	Features four game modes and the Combo system. Includes online Leaderboards and game playback.
Tetris Splash	2007	Xbox 360	Tetris Online	First Xbox Live Arcade title for Tetris. It is also the first game published under The Tetris Company's new third party Tetris Online.
Tetris Friends[17]	2008	Facebook	Tetris Online	Features ten game modes, including Marathon, Ultra, Sprint, N-Blox, Sprint 5-Player, 1989, Survival, Battle 2-Player, Battle 6-Player, and Rally 8-Player. Leaderboards can be based on Facebook friends, encouraging the "friends" aspect.
Tetris Party	2008	Wii	Tetris Online / Hudson Soft	A WiiWare title released on 20 October 2008; there are 18 modes, including one which involves building a tower that a tiny person on the stack can climb, and one using the Wii Balance Board.
Tetris Pop[18]	2008	Mobile	Electronic Arts Mobile	Features 17 mini-variations, including Ball, Circuit, Erosion, Filler, Flood, Furnace, Limbo, Meteors, Touchdown, Scanner, Split, Stacker, and Vanilla. Three game modes: Pop, Mix, Chrono. Tetris Pop to be released worldwide for mobile devices. Expected Winter 2008.
Tetris Party Deluxe	2010	Wii, Nintendo DS	Tetris Online / Majesco / Hudson Soft)	Sequel to Tetris Party. Online players can compete with Tetris Party players (i.e., Tetris Party for WiiWare + Tetris Party Deluxe for Wii / Tetris Party Live for DSiWare + Tetris Party Deluxe for DS).
Tetris Party Live[19]	2010	Nintendo DSi	Tetris Online / Hudson Soft	A DSiWare title featuring several modes (Marathon, VS, Battle, and Duel Spaces). The focus of the game is multiplayer, where players can compete with other players around the world in real-time.
Tetris Battle[20]	2010	Facebook	Tetris Online / Ace Studios	Similar in design to Tetris Friends, this game features competitive Tetris modes against friends or random people. Both direct "battles" and competitive 40-line sprints are included.
Tetris[21]	2011	PlayStation 3	Electronic Arts	Features PS3 exclusive Power Ups, Shared Mode, and Team Battle.
Tetris: Axis	2011	Nintendo 3DS	Hudson Soft	Published in October 2, 2011.[22]

Unofficial games

These games are not official Tetris products:

Title	Year	Platform	Developer	Description
Blockout	1989	Mega Drive/Genesis Commodore 64 Arcade Apple IIGS PC Atari Lynx	California Dreams	Object is to move and rotate polycubes falling into a well, viewed from the top, in order to make complete planes.
Frac4D[23]	1990		Max Tegmark	A version in which the falling pieces are tesseracts that can be rotated in four dimensions.
Emacs Tetris				Emacs has a Tetris implementation available by typing Meta-x then tetris (or pong).[24]
Quadrapassel (Formerly Gnometris)		Linux		A part of Gnome Games, and comes with the GNOME desktop environment.[25]
KBlocks		Linux		A KDE4 game available with many Linux distributions using KDE.[26]
TetriNET	1997	Windows Linux Mac OS X BeOS	St0rmCat7	A variant playable on Internet with up to 6 players. On clearing lines the player receives special blocks that can be used to damage the field of the opponent or help a teammate. This imitation uses general Tetris inferences, but the main differential is its 12 by 22 play field dimensions.
Wordtris		Windows Super NES Game Boy		Players try to complete words found in the dictionary file.
La Bastille	2000	Linux	Tech House, Brown University	A version implemented on the 10-story tall science library building at Brown University, using Linux.[27]
Tetris 1D[28]	2002		Ziga Hajdukovic	A joke version with a single column. The player is repeatedly given only the long piece, and only has one control key (to increase the falling rate.) 1D Tetris was included in the "Zero Gamer" Exhibition as a "game that tests the viewers' endurance in meditative inaction."[29]
Lockjaw	2006	Windows Linux Game Boy Advance Nintendo DS	Damian Yerrick	Noted for its gameplay speed by world champion Tetris player Jono Pearson.[30]
Tetris Grand Master 3	2008	Nintendo DS	MeRAMAN	A remake of the arcade game Tetris: The Grand Master with additional features such as invisible blocks.[31]
Rectangle Tetris	2008	Mac OS X	Pandamonia LLC	In this variation rectangles are placed on a grid with dimensions corresponding to dice rolls.[32]
NullpoMino	2008	Windows Linux Mac OS X	NullNoname	Tetris fan game notable for variety of gameplay modes and customizability. NullpoMino gameplay videos of Mario and Luigi patterns were shown in the Yoasobi Sanshimai show.[33]
Not Tetris	2010	PC	Maurice Guegan	Adds physics engine behavior to the falling blocks.[34]

See also

• List of puzzle video games
• Puyo Puyo
• Tetris effect

External links

• Arika Co.'s Movie Download Page (Japanese), including gameplay movies of the Tetris: The Grand Master Series

References

1. ^ [1] at MobyGames
2. ^ Super Tetris at MobyGames
3. ^ Super Tetris 2 at GameFAQs
4. ^ Tetris 2 at GameStats.com
5. ^ Super Tetris 3 at GameSpot
6. ^ [2]
7. ^ Tetris Blast at GameSpot
8. ^ Tetris 4D at GameSpot
9. ^ "IGN:Kids Tetris". http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/854/854694.html. Retrieved 2008-11-02. 
10. ^ Sega Tetris at GameSpot
11. ^ "Tetris with Card Captor". Gamespot UK. http://uk.gamespot.com/ps/puzzle/tetriswithcardcaptorseh/index.html. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
12. ^ "Tetris Elements for PC". GameSpot UK. CBS Interactive. http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/puzzle/tetriselements/index.html. Retrieved 2011-04-30. 
13. ^ Tetris: The Grand Master 3 at GameSpot
14. ^ "Tetris for iPod Review" at IGN Wireless
15. ^ Official THQ site
16. ^ Official Tetris Zone site
17. ^ Tetris Friends Online Games
18. ^ EA Mobile talks Tetris Pop Mobile
19. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (2011-01-10). "Tetris Party Live review". gamesradar.com. http://www.gamesradar.com/ds/tetris-party-live/review/tetris-party-live-review/a-20110110145541495050/g-20110110144235423039. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
20. ^ [3]
21. ^ [4]
22. ^ "Tetris: Axis Release Date". IGN. http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/119/1191324p1.html. 
23. ^ "12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made Interactive". Scientific American. Nature America. June 2010. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=interactive-12-events. Retrieved 2010-09-05. 
24. ^ Being Productive with Emacs by Phil Sung
25. ^ Gnometris - GNOME Live!
26. ^ KBlocks homepage
27. ^ Shankland, Stephen (2000-04-18). "Brown students create massive Tetris game on building". cnet. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-239433.html. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
28. ^ "Tetris 1D". http://www.tetris1d.org/tetris.php. 
29. ^ "Zero Gamer the Exhibition". http://www.http.uk.net/zerogamer/exhibition.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 
30. ^ "Australia's Best Gamers: Tetris". Good Game. ABC. Retrieved on 2011-09-06.
31. ^ Caoili, Eric (2008-05-21). "Japanese homebrew games that will blow your mind". Joystiq. AOL. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/japanese-homebrew-games-that-will-blow-your-mind/. Retrieved 2011-09-06. 
32. ^ "Apps: Filemailer, Alarm Clock Pro, Rectangle Tetris". MacNN. 2009-01-15. http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/01/15/allsecure.tone.foo/. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
33. ^ Yoasobi Sanshimai. Nippon Television. 2011-10-06.
34. ^ Caoili, Eric (2010-07-21). "Not Tetris Features Maddening, Physics-based Twist". GameSetWatch. http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/07/not_tetris_features_maddening.php.