Tetris 2 on NES is a weird one. It tries to shake things up with matching colors instead of just shapes, introducing bombs and power-ups, but it totally backfires. The new mechanics feel awkward and frustrating, and it loses the simple, addictive purity of the original Tetris. There's a normal Tetris mode included, which is fun... but that kind of defeats the purpose. If you're looking for a classic Tetris experience, stick to the first game, but if you're curious about a strange experiment, give this one a try.

Saying that the original Tetris is one of the best puzzle games ever made wouldn’t exactly be groundbreaking news at this point. Ever since its original release all the way back in 1985, it has been loved and praised by many all the way to this day, being one of the best-selling games of all time, and having plenty of different variations made based on it to continue its legacy further. I myself may not like the game quite as much as others, and it isn’t gonna be my go-to puzzler, but I cannot deny how good the game is on its own, and it has definitely earned its reputation and notoriety at this point. However, going back to those variations I mentioned earlier, there have been plenty of times when developers have attempted to take the basic formula of Tetris, and tried to make a profit off of it, whether by revising the classic formula, or by taking it in a completely different direction. Unlike with the original Tetris though, these alterations and revisions haven’t necessarily gotten the best reputation, such as the case with the “direct sequel” to the original game, Tetris 2.

On its surface level, this game doesn’t really seem like it would be all that bad, right? I mean, it was developed by Nintendo, who also made the NES and Game Boy versions of Tetris, both of which are some of the best versions of the game one could own, so it seems like they would naturally be the best choice to make any kind of follow-up to that game. However, upon playing it for yourself, you then realize one basic fact that plays a huge factor into how you enjoy the game… it's not even Tetris anymore. This has caused the game to get a bit of an understandably mixed reputation over the years, and in terms of what I think about it… I mean, come on, it’s not that bad. Yes, it isn’t Tetris anymore, and I probably wouldn’t choose to play it over other similar games, but for what it is, it is a fine and fun enough puzzle game, one that you could have a decent amount of fun with, and one that I did enjoy my time with when I decided to try it out.

The graphics are pretty basic, which is to be expected from a game like this, but to its credit, it does look better than the original game on both the NES and SNES versions, which is to be expected, the music is… definitely music, with a good amount of tracks to listen to while stacking these blocks, and they are good, but they don’t even come CLOSE to the iconic tracks from the original game, and I’m not even going to pretend that they are, the control is exactly what you would expect from a puzzle game, so there is nothing more to say about that, and the gameplay is mostly familiar for those who have played the original game, but it is taken in a brand new direction that shakes things up, both in a good and a bad way.

The game is your typical puzzle game, where you can take on up to 80 different rounds of Tetris at once, take plenty of different blocks of varying sizes, shapes, and varieties, throw them down into a column and try to line them up with other blocks with the same color, trying to match three of them to clear them out, and doing this until you have cleared out every single block on the screen so that you could go onto the next stage. It is a simple enough set-up that any puzzle enthusiast could jump into straight away, and it works well enough while managing to be fun, but once again, as you could probably tell, this isn’t Tetris. Instead, it plays much more closely to Dr. Mario, which could turn a lot of people away from the game as a result… but I am not one of those people.

I have stated it several times at this point, but I do prefer Dr. Mario over Tetris as a whole, not because I think Dr. Mario is better than the other, but more so just because I grew up with Dr. Mario more than Tetris, and I played the hell out of it in many different variations. So, needless to say, when I figured out that this game is essentially just Dr. Mario in all but name, I was able to jump into it and enjoy it immediately. There is just something about this gameplay that keeps me entertained more, needing to eliminate all of these blocks to make progress rather then just to simply see how long you can last, which, again, completely misses the point of Tetris, but manages to keep me entertained enough to where I don’t care too much about that. And to its credit, it does manage to still be fun, with plenty of different stages, speeds, and music tracks that are available to mess around with right from the start, and with inclusions such as the bomb blocks, which eliminate all other similar blocks of the same color, it does add to that addicting feeling, and it makes you want to see how long you can keep going.

However, ignoring the fact that it isn’t Tetris for a second, this game is no Dr. Mario either. That game had an infectious (no pun intended) energy to it, with it’s upbeat tracks, simple yet effective graphics of both Mario and the Viruses, and how chaotic things would get by the final set of levels, to the point where you can’t help but get invested in it, and determined to clear out every single one of those suckers. This game, however, feels like if Tetris and Dr. Mario both had the life sucked out of them at the same time. It lacks the lasting quality that Tetris has, or the addictive quality that Dr. Mario has, and it just comes off as a lackluster attempt that tries to connect the two of them together, while forgetting what made each of them special to begin with. It does manage to have enough going for it to where it can be fun to mess around with for a little bit, maybe even with a friend, but if you end up not liking what you find here, then there isn’t any reason to play this over the other two, vastly superior options.

Overall, despite how it pales to its predecessors, or how some aspects of it like the music don’t live up to expectations, Tetris 2 is still a good game, one that any puzzle enthusiasts would have a great time in, and one that will give Dr. Mario fans plenty to enjoy as well, but for those who love the original game, there isn’t much here for you to get excited over. I would recommend it for those who love Dr. Mario, as well as those who are big puzzle game fans in general, but for everyone else, you already have plenty of better options to choose from if you wanna get that puzzle fix. But hey, whether or not you hate or love this version of the game, I think there is one thing that we can all agree on… at least it isn’t as bad as 3D Tetris. Yes, that is a thing, and no, don’t even bother trying to play it, cause your eyes will regret it.

Game #478