A few months ago, while announcing the existence of Tetris Forever, Nintendo revealed that their Nintendo Entertainment System version of Tetris would be coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service later in the year. Many assumed that this would coincide with last month's release of the Tetris compilation, but that didn't happen. We instead got Donkey Kong Land. And then Donkey Kong Land 2. The good news is that the wait is almost over, because Nintendo will finally get around to re-releasing their version of the game on December 12. That's cool news, but is this game worth playing? To answer that question, I flipped through the pages of Game Zone, Nintendo Magazine System, Aktueller Software Markt and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back when Tetris was first released. I sure hope you're ready to match horizontal lines, because it's time for another puzzling episode of Nintendo Switch Online Review Crew.


Although Tetris had been around for a number of years, 1989 was the year it truly broke into the mainstream. Not only had Tengen released their version in May, but the influential puzzler became a massive hit three months later when it was bundled with the Game Boy. So, when Nintendo went to release the game on the Nintendo Entertainment System in November of that year, there was already ample evidence that everybody loved Tetris. This console port was a no-brainer. Tetris on the NES was, more or less, the same version that Game Boy owners had been playing, only now in color and with a few additions to the display. Other changes included the ending and the lack of a competitive two-player mode that was in the two previous versions released that year. In a year where Nintendo mostly focused on the Game Boy, Tetris ended up being their big holiday release for the four-year-old console. And now, 35 years later, it is finally on the Nintendo Switch Online.

When it comes to the reviews, there really aren't that many. Most magazines that were reviewing games in 1989 chose to review the Game Boy version, completely ignoring this NES port. Perhaps it was a choice not to be redundant, since the two versions are largely the same, or maybe they were too busy playing with the brand-new 16-bit machines – the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16. Either way, prepare to be a little disappointed that there aren't more (and better) reviews for this iconic NES game.

To give you a taste of what I'm talking about, let's kick things off with Game Zone, who gave Tetris the lowest score of any English-language magazine – a 3 out of 6. It's worth noting that while the reviews worked on a traditional five-star system, there was a score higher than 5 out of 5 called the “Mega Zone,” which was reserved for the games that are better than perfect. It's dumb, just like this review: “If you don't know what this one's like, then you should be reading Practical Fishkeeping. The Game Boy classic makes an appearance on the Nintendo Entertainment System.”

I mention English-language magazines, because there were actually a number of publications throughout Europe that weighed in on this version of Tetris. For example, German magazine Aktueller Software Markt (or ASM if you're into the whole brevity thing) gave the puzzle game an 8.2 out of 12 and complained about the price and graphics. French magazine Player One gave it a slightly higher 72%, though shared ASM's criticism of the color scheme. Back in Germany, Video Games magazine went all the way up to an 88%, while Power Play went one tick higher with an 89%.

And that brings us to Nintendo Magazine System, which gave the NES version of Tetris the highest score of any English-language publication. Giving it a 91%, they concluded that “This block-based mind-teaser is the greatest puzzle game ever written. It looks naff, sounds naff ... but play it and you'll be instantly hooked.”

Tetris may indeed by the greatest puzzle game ever written, but this version averaged a less-than-stellar 78%. That's down quite a bit from the Game Boy version that most magazines chose to review, which earned a strong 91%. To be fair, had magazines like Nintendo Power, Computer & Video Games and even Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewed this version, they likely would have raised the average. But alas, we go in with the reviews we have, not the reviews we wish were written. No matter what, this is a great addition to the Nintendo Switch Online, and a game that should have been included in the Tetris Forever compilation. You can't go wrong with Tetris.