Greatest Tetris Variations of All Time

List some of your favorite new takes on Tetris.

Tetris exists on nearly every platform in one form or another, and though ubiquitous some titles stand out as making changes to the familiar system that actually better the gameplay. These titles ought to be commended, as most companies creating tetris games merely clone a formula while these standout titles took a financial risk to better the experience. Tetris developers, look here for models of how to make your game the next must-own version of a game everyone and their grand-nanny loves!

My favorite takes include Push Tetris (Tetris DS, Nintendo DS) and the system of silver/gold squares (The New Tetris, N64):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxp8vZZzqfc

^Push Tetris -

Both players play on one board, which on their screen appears as if their own pieces are falling with the other person's pieces rising to meet in the middle. Tug-of-war style lines were added above and below the playing field, and breaking a line shifted the board towards the other person's tug-of-war line. Push the blocks beyond the tug-of-war line by breaking lines with the tetrads to win. This was a fresh take on competitive multiplayer tetris, and seeing the board fall down past your buddy's line to win was far more satisfying than merely throwing garbage onto someone else's screen (as was the case in nearly all competitive matches before this one). Very Satisfying!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENObKRhRzM8

^The New Tetris system -

Creating a 4x4 square of one type of piece turns them gold, and breaking them gives you additional points. Make a 4x4 with more than one type of tetrad for a silver, which gives you additional points for breaking them but not as much extra points as given for breaking a gold. This added new depth to multiplayer strategy, especially considering that more garbage was thrown to the other player when breaking gold/silver lines. Hectic!

To this day I still love Tengens version the best hands down!Dracula68

I don't know if this counts as a Tetris variation or not, but I will always love Tetris Attack on the Super Nintendo. What a classic!

I like the simplicity of this one

http://www.firstpersontetris.com/

Keeps the core mechanics intact and adds an interesting twist.

I have also seen this feature on a videogame TV show here about this former tetris record holder who likes to play this crazy turbo tetris thing - it was insane watching him play it.

I may very well be the only person who liked it but I sure thought Tetrisphere was awesome.

I've always been a fan of the Gravity variation, in which the remaining pieces of blocks would fall allowing for chains of lines to be made. A small alteration, but a good one nonetheless. It's a shame that it hasn't been worked into more versions of Tetris, though.

I like the simplicity of this one

http://www.firstpersontetris.com/

Keeps the core mechanics intact and adds an interesting twist.

illmatic87

Yeah, literally. Easily one of the most downright crazy variations of Tetris ever.

I may very well be the only person who liked it but I sure thought Tetrisphere was awesome.

Euaggelistes

I was thinking the same thing. I still like getting it out every now and then and spending days just playing it.

What's the deal with Tetris anyway? I thought Nintendo owned the game because on my NES cartridge it has the Nintendo publishing logo.Fightingfan