Tetris (NES video game)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2019) |
| Tetris | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Producer(s) | Gunpei Yokoi |
| Composer(s) | Hirokazu Tanaka |
| Series | Tetris |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Tetris is a puzzle video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1989. It is the first official console release of Tetris to have been developed and published by Nintendo.
Development
By 1989, about six companies claimed rights to create and distribute the Tetris software for home computers, game consoles, and handheld systems.[1] ELORG, the Soviet bureau that held the ultimate copyright, held that none of the companies was legally entitled to produce an arcade version, and signed those rights over to Atari Games, and it signed non-Japanese console and handheld rights to Nintendo. Tetris was shown at the January 1988 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it was picked up by Dutch-born American games publisher Henk Rogers, then based in Japan. This eventually led to an agreement brokered with Nintendo that saw Tetris bundled with every Game Boy.[2] The Nintendo home release was developed by Gunpei Yokoi.
Music
The soundtrack was written by Nintendo composer Hirokazu Tanaka, who also scored the Game Boy version. The soundtrack features arrangements of "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker and from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. The former arrangement replaces the arrangement of "Korobeiniki", present in the Game Boy version, which has become strongly associated with Tetris.
Classic Tetris World Championship
The NES version of Tetris is featured in the annual Classic Tetris World Championship. Players compete with this version of Tetris in a 1-on-1 competition to score the most points.[citation needed]
Reception
The NES version had sales of 8 million copies worldwide.[3]
References
- ^ "From Russia with Litigation". Next Generation. No. 26. Imagine Media. February 1997. p. 42.
- ^ The Guardian, June 2, 2009, How Tetris conquered the world, block by block
- ^ Director/Producer: Magnus Temple; Executive Producer: Nick Southgate (2004). "Tetris: From Russia With Love". BBC Four. Event occurs at 51:23. BBC. BBC Four.
The real winners were Nintendo. To date, Nintendo dealers across the world have sold 8 million Tetris cartridges on the Nintendo Entertainment system.
