Tetris

Tetris is Nintendo’s Game Boy adaptation of the block-stacking puzzle game and was bundled with the system in several territories. Seven differently shaped tetrominoes, each composed of four connected blocks, fall into a rectangular playfield. The player can move and rotate each piece, arranging the blocks into complete horizontal lines. Completed lines disappear, causing the blocks above them to fall, and the game ends when the stack reaches the top of the playfield.

The player can accelerate a piece’s descent to earn additional points. Clearing several lines at once awards a larger bonus, with a four-line clear providing the highest reward. Three music tracks can be selected, and the display showing the next piece may be turned off for an additional challenge.

The single-player game offers two modes. A-Type is an endurance mode in which the player attempts to clear as many lines as possible while the falling speed gradually increases. B-Type challenges the player to clear 25 lines at a selected speed and starting height, with randomly placed blocks already occupying the lower portion of the playfield. Successful performances in B-Type are followed by different celebratory animations based on the selected settings.

The original Game Boy version also includes a competitive two-player mode requiring two systems, two copies of the game, and a Game Link Cable. Clearing two or more lines simultaneously adds incomplete rows to the bottom of the opponent’s playfield. A round is won by clearing 30 lines or causing the opponent’s stack to reach the top, and the first player to win four rounds wins the match. This multiplayer mode is not available in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console release.