Tetris (Atari Games)
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ed Logg (programmer), Randy Broweleit (Tengen president) |
| Products | Tetris (arcade, 1989) |
| Owner | Warner Communications (parent company at time) |
| Parent | Warner Communications |
Tetris (displayed as TETЯIS) is a puzzle video game created by Atari Games and initially launched for arcade machines in February 1989. This title, inspired by Alexey Pajitnov's original 1985 Tetris, involves players arranging descending blocks to eliminate complete horizontal rows. It offers various difficulty settings along with a simultaneous two-player mode.
In May 1989, Atari's subsidiary Tengen released an unlicensed port of the arcade game to the NES. This led to legal battles concerning publishing rights, ultimately resulting in Nintendo securing exclusive console distribution rights and confining Atari’s releases to arcade platforms. As a result, Tengen’s NES version was available for only about a month, selling under 100,000 copies before a court mandated the recall and destruction of remaining inventory.
Following this, Nintendo developed and published their own NES and Game Boy versions of Tetris, both achieving significant commercial success and retaining the license for an extended period. The limited Tengen edition has since become a sought-after collector’s piece. Reviewers have praised Tengen’s rendition for features such as its two-player functionality, which surpasses that of Nintendo’s official NES adaptation.
Development and history
In 1987, Robert Stein of Andromeda Software acquired global licensing rights for Tetris directly from creator Alexey Pajitnov, subsequently sublicensing these rights to Mirrorsoft for Europe and Spectrum HoloByte for North America. After encountering the game on an Atari ST, programmer Ed Logg persuaded Atari Games to obtain a license to develop an arcade edition, which debuted in early 1989. Atari’s Tengen division commenced work on an NES port in June 1988, culminating in its May 1989 release.
Concurrently, Mirrorsoft granted sublicensing rights to Henk Rogers of Bullet-Proof Software for the Japanese market. Rogers then approached Nintendo with a proposal for a Game Boy version and secured authorization from Soviet authorities. However, because Stein’s license was obtained directly from Pajitnov rather than through Soviet officials, the Ministry of Software and Hardware Export declared Atari’s console rights invalid, limiting their authorization solely to arcade distribution.
In April 1989, Tengen initiated legal action against Nintendo over NES publishing rights; Nintendo responded with a countersuit alleging trademark violations. By June 1989, a U.S. court issued an injunction prohibiting further sales of Tengen’s cartridges and ordered the destruction of approximately 268,000 units after only four weeks on store shelves.
The cover art for Tengen’s Tetris, created by Marc Ericksen, features St. Basil’s Cathedral with falling blocks symbolizing gameplay elements; this artwork was also utilized in promotional materials.
Ed Logg revealed that Tengen’s version was developed entirely from the ground up without access to original source code or assets. After showcasing the game at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Tengen president Randy Broweleit requested that the originally monochrome blocks be colorized—a feature implemented prior to the following CES event. Logg expressed a preference for Tengen’s version over Nintendo’s NES release, criticizing Nintendo’s omission of logarithmic speed scaling which caused difficulty to escalate too rapidly.
Reception
Before the court mandated Tengen to halt sales and destroy all remaining copies, approximately 100,000 units had already been purchased, rendering the game a sought-after collector's piece. The title has often been considered superior to Nintendo's NES counterpart, with 1UP.com emphasizing its engaging gameplay and two-player functionality as major advantages, while also acknowledging that much of its notoriety stemmed from the related legal dispute. Similarly, GamesRadar commended Tengen's edition and observed that the Game Boy version surpassed Nintendo’s officially licensed NES release in quality. Furthermore, IGN placed Tengen's Tetris at number 48 on its Top 100 NES games ranking, highlighting its edge over Nintendo’s version, which was notably absent from the list.