ARIKA will release Tetris the Grand Master 4: Absolute Eye for Switch via Nintendo eShop on June 4 for 2,800 yen, the developer announced.
The more the Tetris company does with the IP, the more I’m convinced the best ones are the Game Boy one, the NES one, and third party knockoffs. I remember one called “Tetrix” for the Amiga, it was freeware or shareware, this was back in the 80s. It was simple, just the grid and you could see the next piece. One thing it did that I liked was you could “speed up” the drop but it wasn’t a committed drop, so you could just get it in place faster, and still maneuver it (e.g. an L block sliding into a Z block). I think official Tetris games added this feature at some point, but IIRC it wasn’t there from the start and only the clones had it at first. Could be wrong but that’s what I remember. That the best ideas came from the community.
I don’t know if it came from the community, but the idea of Tetris 99 is great. The adrenaline of being one of the last players on the board and having all these pieces falling down, trying to survive while you attempt to attack other players… Pure magic! 😆
I totally understand Tetris fatigue. As this game has been releasing different spins for so long. However, I cannot go back to playing the older ones (Game Boy, NES, etc.) because they lack some small features I quite enjoy in Tetris. Having a block that I can hold adds to the depth of planning for the next move. I also enjoy having grids, as it helps depth perception as far as where I am dropping blocks. The speeding up part of newer Tetris games is another welcomed feature.
Outside of those, there hasn’t really been much evolution of Tetris besides the likes of Tetris 99 being a “battle royale” style.
All that being said, $40 for a Tetris game feels absurd. I won’t be picking this up unless I get it on a steep sale.
