A Bullet Proof legal argument: Tetris [Tengen] | NES Works Gaiden 061
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- čas přidán 23. 01. 2024
- Well, it's finally happened: Nintendo and Tengen have filed for divorce, in the form of a $100 million lawsuit. But, as it turns out, Nintendo gets to keep the kids. And by "kids" I mean "Tetris." A shame, too, because honestly Tetris turned out a lot better growing up with Tengen-an uglier child, but smarter. Nintendo's had the looks and the charisma, though, and ultimately that's the one people remember. Life isn't fair, but that's how it goes.
In addition to exploring the illegal Tengen version of Tetris, this episode also spends some time with the OTHER version of Tetris for Nintendo's console: The Bullet Proof Software release that only shipped in Japan. When we look back on the NES era, it always feels like American kids got the short end of the stick while their peers in Japan got all the good stuff. Well, this is the exception. Tengen Tetris may offer a good argument for being a superior work to Nintendo's take on the game, but both stomp BPS Tetris into a muddy puddle.
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NES footage captured from Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister. "Before the Storm" courtesy of Jacob Le. - Hry
Embarrassing story - Alexey Pajitnov was at a barcade near me doing signings, and I thought I was very clever by bringing my copy of Tengen Tetris for him to sign, instead of all the standard NES or Game Boy ones everyone else did. He refused to sign it, saying it was "pirate." I got a photo with him, and slunk off wishing for the sweet release of death.
Next time come with a Go Retro handheld Unit and see how he reacts 😂
That's too bad. I'm sure he and Henk know that that version of the game is well beloved since Radica made a recreation of it as a plug-and-play, with the official Tetris license
Oof. Well, at least you got a photo. A shame, Tengen’s Tetris is superior to the Nintendo version
@@RyanParreno Radica also made a super crap LCD game with the official Tetris license, but your point stands.
I found a copy of the Tengen version for sale at a retro game shop, where it had been mistaken for the official Nintendo version and was sold to me for 50 cents. Good times.
As a Mexican who grew up with multicarts, this was my first exposure to Tetris. This songs live rent free in my mind forever.
The best place on CZcams.
There was a minor oopsie here at 4:43
"You press... Which doesnt feel natural" - Jeremy Parish 2024
Truely a quote for the ages
It's the elusive 'blank' button @@alex_-yz9to 😄
Yeah I had to rewind 3 times to make sure I hadn't misheard but nope, that sentence really didn't make sense.
What do you press????
@@enmunateit’s ↓ on the d-pad to rotate pieces on the Famicom version.
Easily one of the versions of Tetris of all time
Truly whelming experience
@@diamondsmasher You do realize that MANY people prefer this version, right?
@@thenightstar8312: @diamondsmasher didn't say it was underwhelming. Nor overwhelming. Simply "whelming". Positively in existence.
@@HPRshredderyoooooo nice seeing you here dude love your videos
It's definitely nice to see you evenhandedly covering this, and listing Henk Rogers's crimes on the Famicom version of Tetris. Rogers would eventually develop better versions of Tetris. Nice to hear that we'll be seeing more unofficial Tengen games soon.
The Famicom Tetris was actually extremely popular in Japan. It was the tenth best selling Famicom game with 1.8 million copies, numbers that only Dragon Quest and Super Mario were pulling by 1988. You'll find fewer defenders of it now, of course.
Also, thanks to the licensing chaos, many of those BPS Tetris carts are licensed from Tengen...
A thing like that.
Interesting that NTSC-U and PAL regions received completely different game than Japan. A better one, since BPS Tetris is... dare I say, quite wonky.
When you say Famicom Tetris do you mean the BPS Tetris or the later one made by Nintendo themselves?
@@AlexRNThe BPS Tetris. The one developed in-house by Nintendo was strangely released only overseas... I think.
@@PrekiFromPoland bummer because the Nintendo one was incredible. The o it thing lacking was a 2 player mode. The BPS one looked ugly and played worse.
I remember almost 25 years ago when Tengen Tetris was "the holy grail" among my circle of NES collecting friends. Times have certainly changed!!
$250 for a loose cart😂
"Tengen, being a division of Atari Corp., had no legal connection to Atari Games"
Uhhh, Jeremy, that's the complete opposite of the truth, sadly. Tengen was Atari Games' home division (which you even show on screen at 14:18) & had no legal connection to Atari Corp., which was busy working on the Atari 7800 & Lynx at this time. Tengen would eventually get transformed into Time Warner Interactive and is now owned by WB Games, same as what happened to Atari Games. Yeah, "Atari" is a confusing mess, at times.
Yes, I know, I’m an idiot and always screw this up.
The funny thing is that Nintendo's release has the code for 2-player mode inside of itself but they just didn't work on it long enough to reach the full screen UI stage because it'd cut into the marketing and sales of the Game Boy release
Yep, I’ll be getting into that soon enough
i can't believed I identified Earth Girls Are Easy from a 6-second clip when I haven't even seen the movie in over 24 years
Co-op mode looks wild. That's one mode that would be interesting to see fleshed out.
I believe there are more Tetris games that include such a mode, one of the Grandmaster games for example.
@@massivepileup Exactly - it's a mode in Tetris The Grandmaster 2 Plus (2000) as "Doubles" (ported to Switch and PS4 last year)
I think Tetris and Dr. Mario has it, but I could be wrong.
One forgotten part of the Tengen Tetris story is VS Tetris, a fully Nintendo licensed game running on NES-like arcade hardware. Tengen Tetris is literally a continuation of VS Tetris, you can even find the prototype builds. Earlier builds start out strongly resembling VS Tetris, then later builds resemble its final release.
man we loved the music, and we loved it when the dancers would seemingly show up at random when you advanced to the next level (at least in my young mind it was random, obviously advancing to the next level was not random)
The weirdest thing about Tengen Tetris is that the famous “Konami Code” works, for some odd reason… can only be used one time per game, it converts any tetromino into an “I” piece. I can’t believe you didn’t mention this Jeremy 😅
This really was one of the first "holy grails" of NES collecting. It's interesting, looking at old fan sites from the early 2000s, reading what they wrote about what would be rare and valuable, there was a lot of focus on unlicensed stuff. There was a period of time where Bubble Bath Babes was a bigger name among collectors than Little Samson.
But what did Nintendo Power say? Oh wait...
I think including a two-player mode without interaction is (accidentally?) brilliant. I'm imagining me and my sister both wanting to play regular Tetris at the same time. If a parent bought an NES to keep their kids busy/quiet, maybe the ideal game is one that doesn't require taking turns, isn't competitive, and isn't co-op! Nothing to start an argument!
I regret missing out on the Tengen version of Tetris. If nothing else to add to my Tengen cartridges.
I hope to see more Tengen cartridges reviewed.
I remember buying my complete copy of Tengen Tetris back in 1997 for $10 with from a video store that was phasing out it's NES games. In 2015 I ended up selling it along with some rare NES games I bought back in the late 90s from Funcoland before it became Gamestop because my son needed some clothes for school and I splurged on my 1st trip to Las Vegas with my girlfriend. I still have the box ( though it's a bit rough)and manual(somewhere) because I didn't have enough time to look for it back then. It was worth it.
For me this is the Definitive version of Tetris.
The coop game was so much fun.
Amazing Hitchhikers Guide reference! Gold star for you, sir
Jeremy sure is one Hoopy Frood.
Ah yes, the game that couldn't exist due to licensing, shouldn't exist due to the 10NES chip, and won't exist due to recalling the end product. Yet here it is, in all it's weird, impossible, glory. Thank you for covering my absolute favorite gaming history story so succinctly.
Great video as always! One nitpick-the 'controlled hard drop' you mentioned in the video is usually called a soft drop.
Yeah, that bugged me.
You can only love the passion put in the tengen teris, every latin NES clone came with a copy of it, and the little guys dancing was just perfect
I grew up with this version of Tetris! I love watching the Classic Tetris renaissance videos, I wish this version was the one that became popular :)
Loved this version of Tetris. It was available for rent at my local Blockbuster Video back in the day. The cooperative play was such a cool innovation.
Oh heck yeah, there's an "Earth Girls Are Easy" clip in the intro!
I didn't realize there were THREE NES/Famicom versions of Tetris. There's also another completely different NES ROM version made by The Tetris Company that is used on handheld devices that play multiple NES games.
7:54 "This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a 'bad move'."
Alright, Douglas Adams. 😆
I personally really like the Tengen version of Tetris. The vs mode in particular was a lot of fun. It'd be hard to pick a favorite version though since the "official" NES version is much easier on the eyes and ears.
Man that BPS version's controls are terrible being used to the other versions !
At least there's the technotris music, the best part of it I guess ?
I can confirm that Tengen Tetris went for over $100 back in the 90s. That and the first print run of Maniac Mansion where you could microwave the hamster...also Base Wars for some reason? That last one might have been a local thing, but Base Wars was weirdly desirable in the mid-west.
TENGEN Tetris was awesome. I had a friend with a copy and we'd stay up all night playing it head to head.
Tengen was not a division of Atari Corp., they were a division of Atari Games. Also, Tengen Tetris was not developed by Tengen; It was developed by Ed Logg, Kris Moser, and Brad Fuller, who were all employees of Atari Games and all worked on the arcade version. I'm pretty sure it is the only NES game developed by members of the coin-op division.
Yes, I know, I’m a moron. I get it.
Still a huge fan of your work! @@JeremyParish
From what I understand of the rights dispute, it was a more subtle than miscommunications. As I see it, the case hinged on the question "Is a console a computer?" If a console *is* a computer, then Tengen legitimately licensed part of the Tetris computer rights. If not, they didn't. It feels like that aspect of the case could have gone either way, since it's an arbitrary definitional distinction.
But all the bullshit Tengen pulled to get at Nintendo's 10NES information? That was so beyond stupid I still can't believe the Atari execs approved the scheme. Did they not have lawyers??
They had lawyers, and cocaine!
They may have pulled those Tengen Tetris cartridges quickly from store shelves, but I sure remember seeing lots of ads for Tengen Tetris (and the other Tengen titles) in gaming magazines and comics as a little boy.
I remember my uncle had this and gauntlet. It was probably my first exposure to non licensed nes games.
My family owned this as a kid along with a few other Tengen games. A childhood friend had a lot of rich relatives who utterly failed coordinating gift buying so he ended up with a lot of duplicates including multiple copies of Tengen Tetris. His mom knew my mom liked Tetris on Gameboy, and dad liked the arcade game but didn't like playing Gameboy so she bought one of her son's extra copies and gave it to us.
One of the great question of gaming IMO is how in the name of all that was ever sane did Nintendo not realize the lack of multiplayer in the NES version was a bad idea?
In 1989 I remember finding a copy of Tengen Tetris at a discount store in Chicago called Zayre. They seemed to have been slow to adhere to the recall and the game was still available on their shelves. Being an unlicensed game, I treated it with less respect than my "Official Nintendo" cartridges. While the rest of my collection was CIB pristine, I allowed Tengen Tetris to be loaned out (box, instructions, and cartridge) to my friend Debbie. When it was returned to me, the Tetris box was beaten up (although the game and instructions were "ok"). Today that copy of Tengen Tetris still resides in my collection, but it reminds me of how dumb I was to treat it as some kind of "bootleg" game with no value.
Tengen Tetris was the first version I played. I guess that explains why in my head the pieces have specific colors. It's sad NES tetris didn't have a head to head mode but interesting that the modern tournaments use a romhack to make sure competitors get the same piece sequence.
Yay! Another episode of GoodNintengens!
Wow, this was pretty elucidating. Famicom Tetris sounds like it should have the requisite goatee for an evil, mirror-world double.
I grew up on the Old Internet reading stories of people nabbing "Tengen Tetris" (whatever THAT was) at Funcoland. Come here to the comments...to see people regaling the same kind of stories decades later! The legend of Tengen Tetris lives on.
I was the only kid I knew who owned the Tengen Tetris when it was released. I felt pretty rad when it was banned and everyone else wanted it. Simpler times!
Douglas would have been proud.of the reference. Also it appears that the nes controller buttons were turned into.blocks in the thumbnail. Lovely touches. Thanks JP
Oh, the square buttons in the new thumbnail logo are a reference to the original Famicom model, which had square rubber buttons. They were terrible and Nintendo quickly changed them to round plastic. But I guess it is a cool coincidence that the new logo debuted here.
7:53 Don't panic, everything ended up working out for Atari in the long run ... right?
Which Atari? ;)
@@XanthinZarda And how long a run are we talkin', exactly?
Curiously, there are some print adverts that show Tetris alongside the initial Tengen releases with the Nintendo seal of quality. I'm guessing it was almost a licensed release.
Come to think of it, what is the timeframe between Tengen releasing the grey carts and their own black carts of Pac-Man, RBI, and Gauntlet?
I was reminiscing about legendary wings which was one of the first games I ever played. So I typed in the name and found your video on jt.
I cannot believe I've been watching CZcams video game commentary for so long and I've never found your channel. You have maybe the best presentation and fact-based history knowledge I have ever seen. I absolutely love your channel and I will be a regular watcher.
Love the Tetris story, I recommend the movie that came out last year on Apple.
I feel like there's an entire book's worth of material in the realm of companies getting licenses to properties from people who didn't properly have the rights to said properties.
In the "Disney Afternoon" era, Disney started production on a new version of Rocky & Bullwinkle. Then they learned they only had the home video rights to the show and not the rights to make their own version.
@@KasumiKenshirouI didn't know they even had the video rights! That explains the extremely-hyped VHS releases.
Oh boy oh boy is this great......first a kid a week or so ago got the kill screen, then AI, now you covering it. Nicely done
Jeremy is one of those players who waits for long block with increasing desperation.
Is there some other way to play? Weird
I have a soft spot for Gauntlet , it was my first Nintendo game (aside from the included mario/duckhunt)
It sure has that Atari sound, that's how I would describe the music and sound of this. The Tengen bootlegs I had were Pac-Man and Roadrunner.
Addendum: And people wonder why I want nothing to do with the retro games market. Just seeing that price list for _Super Mario Bros_ is why.
It's wild to me that you took the time to explain, in detail, the mechanics of Tetris. I'm sure there are still people out there that don't know how Tetris works, but still, the fact that that you felt it was necessary to do so is both hilarious, and a testament to your scholarly acumen.
These versions of Tetris differ in significant ways from the versions most people know, so it felt worth giving a proper breakdown. And I do know people who have never played Tetris. Weirdos
what we accept as obvious today can easily become lost to history if someone doesn't fully capture it.
every day, new people are born who won't ever play tetris. that percentage will likely increase over time.
I remember renting Tengen Tetris back then and honestly not thinking anything of the fact that it was in a different cartridge shell. Later on I started to think that they were mimicking the design of later Atari 2600 cartridge shells that started coming with the slanted edge label side which seems like an extra layer of insult to Nintendo. The funny thing is, their Rabbit chip being a clone of the 10NES chip is what helped folks later on sort out NES emulation since they left all the debug function in it.
I obtained my copy at the flea market for 40 bucks many years ago. The black Tengen carts were the first complete set of NES games by one publisher that I collected.
I never played Tengen Tetris but I did own the unlicensed black cart Tengen Pac-Man. I definitely played like, 95% of all the Pac-Man I played in my lifetime on that bad boy.
Earth Girls are Easy! Love that movie
That Earth Girls Are Easy clip... I always recalled imagery from that movie when I was little, but didn't know if it was legit, or a fever dream, or what until was a bit older lol.
I remember growing up with the NES official Tetris release and one day finding this cartridge at my cousin's house where I tried it out for a bit and was underwhelmed. I was always more of a Dr. Mario kid than a Tetris kid anyway. However, that same cousin also indirectly introduced me to Final Fantasy, Kirby, and Armored Core, as well as getting to see the SNES release of Ultraman, so it was a net positive for my personal gaming history.
The stoled code thing sounds pretty underhanded, I’m surprised they couldn’t see how that’d come back to bite them.
Earth Girls are Easy is a great lil comedy
incredibly glad you didn't mention the apple tv movie whatsoever
I got 10 minutes in and found it so wildly corny I had to shut it off immediately.
15:10 Jeremy, is that your whip?
Such a gem. And I remember the hundred dollar ask too in 1995. I’ve had a copy for a long time with the manual, sleeve and poster. It’ll die with my collection. It’s better than the new version across the board music aside. Gameboy and this are my go to.
I remember playing The Arcade version of Tetris when I was a kid it's excellent and the tengen version is very rare. 😀👍🎮
2:27 I can't believe you made us watch all that only to cut away right before the sweet sweet payoff of a tetris!!
It's called "edging"
i don't agree with down being an force drop, i rather down be an accelerated drop and up being an instant drop
as russian, we preferred chinese "magic jewerly" 1 and 2 games. Superior to tetris, plays almost like segas columns. Everyone in my family including elderly, loved the magic jewelry game. Kind of ironic really, since we all had various tetris to choose from but that was the best one
You know we've been waiting for this JP.
Let me tell you, the Atari arcade Tetris had one thing going for it. My little Russian folk dancer, who would dance to celebrate my wins, would tap his foot impatiently when I'm taking too long, and if I'm feeling upset I can even interrupt his little dance and summon a hook to yank him from his open window where he'd been writhing like an overdressed cage-dancer.
excellent work
I honestly like the monochrome and weird outlines of the tengen tetris aesthetic. It’s the smooth peanut butter to the NES tetris chunky
you mentioned that all other early versions let you drop the blocks slowly, but I recall the Spectrum Holobyte Mac port also having the same behavior as this unfortunate-looking BPS version. I found a playthrough and manual online and both seem to confirm my recollection, but they're not quite decisive proof either. as i recall though the Game Boy version seemed like a great upgrade in that regard (there was no reason for us to get the NES version)
I always loved the arcade version and was bummed nobody brought it to home console.
I actually have a copy of the BPS Tetris version from 1988 btw… it's not as easy as the NES/Gameboy versions… you also have life hearts 😉😉
The Tengen version of Tetris was without a doubt one of my most valuable possessions as a child, not only because of its rarity but because it was far superior to the Nintendo version. (And I am extremely frustrated that I have no idea where the cartridge is now.)
My relatives had both Nintendo and Tengen Tetris. I thought it was way radical to have two player and so preferred Tengen. In retrospect, it isn't much of a competitive mode, but I thought it was cool
Man, you could not be more wrong about the reception of this game. MANY people swear by this game being the superior version to the NES release.
Sure, lots of people prefer it, but that's the NES insider viewpoint. Millions and millions of people only bought or rented the Nintendo version and never knew about the Tengen release. Taking a sample from people who watch dry NES retrospectives is going to give a very different result than taking a sample from people who mostly remember Tetris from playing it on summer vacation at Grandma's or whatever.
Despite the lack of colors once the pieces have been placed down, I'm of the opinion that the Tengen version looks far, far better than the Nintendo release. There's no boring grey bricks in the background and just look at that detailed title screen!
Could you please cover all the other Tetris games by BPS including Tetris 2 + Bombliss?
Why is the "Next" space blank starting at 4:16? Is that a hard mode option?
Just Tetris being pessimistic about the future... highly relatable IMO
Hard drops are instant. Fast drops are sped up.
The two Ataris were so distinct that this game never appeared on Atari 7800, which would have really helped this console fare better against the NES and the Master System
8:39 - five I-blocks in a row???
Norm got a mention.
Oh damn Jeremy P
The "I" should be referred to as the hero hence forth lol
I'm a bit mixed on the Tengen version myself, particularly with the way it controls compared to the Nintendo version. Feature wise this is the better game but when it comes to playability Nintendo not only wins but they have been winning for years thanks to that version being the go-to competitive version for classic Tetris. Those news stories about the 13 year old player who "beat Tetris" played Nintendo's NES version and his accomplishment wouldn't even have been possible if it weren't for the huge discovery of players figuring out a new grip to hold an NES controller to roll the D-Pad extremely quickly.
I played both versions in the past and I got to admit I never found one version significantly better than the other. I though they were both quite decent and easy to control in their own way. It's just that one version was much more popular (and available) for obvious reasons and became the standard, but I can totally see in alternative reality the Tengen version becoming that standard, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with it.
@@kosmosyche Oh there's absolutely value in Tengen's game and I totally respect folks who prefer it over Nintendo's its just from my personal experience I don't like how stiff the movement is in Tengen.
Absolutely wild how thanks to soviet "tenemos" mentality the unlicensed version ended up as the superior version.
This was the version I owned and played!
I love the irony. Atari sued Activision years before, for trying to make unauthorized games for the 2600,
Then they turn around and try and do the same thing to Nintendo.
SMH
But what did Nintendo Power say???
LET'S ATTACK AGGRESSIVELY
20:10 I still have my copy. Hell no I was not sending it back!
Err, wasn't Tengen a branch of Atari GAMES, and *not* Atari CORP?
Yes, you are like the fifth person to remind me that I always get those mixed up. Sorry for my stupidity
@@JeremyParish Heh sorry. I did skim the comments to see if anyone else asked, but alas one cannot Ctrl-F in the CZcams mobile app. 🙃
Love the EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY clip. It's the perfect film for anyone with any sexuality at all, having Peak Geena Davis AND Peak Jeff Goldblum in it. If at least one of them doesn't do it for you, you're ace and that's fine and now you know now.
Has anyone beat this version? To me, it’s the REAL console version! Not the Nintendo one!