Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Random Screenshot 26: Tetris


Tetris (Game Boy) Nintendo 1989

Tetris has an interesting history. It was originally developed by Alexey Pajitov in the USSR during 1984. As with anything developed in Communist Russia, the game and concept were the property of the "people" aka the Soviet government. Over time the concept for Tetris spread outside the USSR and into Europe. After various companies attempted to make their own Tetris clones, the game's right were sold to Atari for an arcade version, and Nintendo for console and portable versions around 1988. Nintendo outsourced Tetris to another company called Bullet Proof Software. Bullet Proof Software created the Game Boy version that most people are familiar with, and enjoyed. The game was a massive success, and it led to many sequels and unofficial versions by a company known as Tengen. On the Game Boy version's title screen, Soviet style buildings are depicted, giving some small credit to the game's Russian origins. Too bad most players assume Tetris is Japanese, when it is was only licensed to Nintendo.

No comments: