It's rather telling that this ur-Tetris operates with the same mechanical elegance as its progeny. I find the consideration of Tetris - and indeed, any game - as a 'perfect game' to be trite, but from the outset Alexey Pajitnov demonstrated with aplomb that Tetris is a perfect idea. The reiteration of gameplay systems necessarily precludes Tetris from an actualised perfection -- who can judge which of its 322+ official releases is 'definitive'?

Yet, with hundreds of versions each expanding on that which came before, one would expect the very first title to be lacking most of what allowed Tetris to be a success. The Electronika 60 release is a monochrome textscape without even the barest flourishes of the Game Boy version. The shrill piezoelectric beeper's pathetic tones are an auditory agony; the ubiquitous whine of the cathode ray tube a tinnital torment. There is no bag randomiser. There is no hold. Rotation is clockwise-only. No T-spins, no back-to-backs, no combos, no garbage, no ghost. One next piece is shown. Surprisingly the hard drop is present, despite its omission from subsequent versions until 2001's Tetris Worlds.

It all matters not. In a cacophony of noise befitting a Ryoji Ikeda installation, I am dealt five Z-pieces in a row. The inconsistent speed increments befuddle me, catching me off-guard. How characters are rendered makes it difficult to consider my board's layout. I am in love. This scant realisation feels pure. I am entranced by it. It is all I have ever needed and wanted.

just finished watching the new tetris biopic on [streaming site] and there's probably a lot to be said about this movie's angle on various things... which i only want to touch on briefly. specifically, i don't think this is too simple a tale of capitalism triumphing over communism: it does a fair enough job of illustrating failure and greed on both sides of this specific conflict, thugs and liars, howard lincoln calling atari "those motherfuckers," etc. it is perhaps telling that henk rogers, the international entrepreneur (and developer of the first turn-based rpg released in japan) who had a hand in the worldwide emergence of tetris — specifically its relationship to the game boy — is presented here as the central protagonist, and even alexey's personal american jesus. a man who risked everything for the absolute jackpot that this game could be. i mean, uh, for pajitnov and his brilliant game. yes.

still, the story of tetris itself is a compelling one. a friend said in irc, wondering if someone else would have eventually made the game if pajitnov hadn't, "it seems like a sort of inevitable game." i agree: there is a sort of visually mathematical quintessence to it — like pythagoras's triangles. like, i'm a total idiot who hates math and even i can see that. everyone can; it's just that good. a perfect game most of us play quite imperfectly and it always feels good from the first tetromino. it's like a key that unlocks something as you play it. something like love or truth, maybe.

PERSONAL BEST: 26,430pts

(Based on the port by Github developer Ytiurin, which amazingly recreates the Electronika 60 release)
https://ytiurin.github.io/tetris/

One of the only perfect games in existence since it's just a simple puzzle environment with a closed system. Tetris is beautiful philosophically and ideologically. The only foe you have here is your own lack of imagination and its almost zen-like quality makes it a standard for hardcore and wide audiences alike. Who would've thought Soviet's best export of the feared 1984 would be a video game to resonate with so many generations? I remember my parents not liking video games, but even they liked Tetris, and they were born in the mid-50s. A big reason for its popularity here in Serbia are the small LCD Chinese handheld platforms whose only purpose was to play Tetris and similar block-based arcade games.

My favourite versions to play are this Electronika emulation, the DOS one, and the NES one which has a magical chiptune rendition of The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It would keep me up for nights where I couldn't sleep. I didn't spend my time with the Game Boy version, sadly.

(Glitchwave project #011)

Tratando-se de jogos de luta em 3D da era 32-bits é um tanto quanto compreensível o distanciamento do público mais jovem, afinal, nem todos carregam conteúdo, visuais, música, gameplay e principalmente a diversão que Tekken 3 proporciona. Como já de costume, a série tinha em sua casa o PlayStation, e não à toa - as versões caseiras eram melhores que as dos arcades.

Seu antecessor havia trazido algo que o primeiro título não tinha - identidade própria - e isso nem tanto em termos estéticos, mas principalmente na jogabilidade. Tekken 1 chega a ser tosco, possuía tanto espaço pra melhoria que era quase que obrigação do segundo título ser superior. E Tekken 2 foi. Não só foi um sucesso, (dos primeiros anos do PlayStation) como conquistou a tão desejada personalidade própria.

Logo, já era de se esperar que Tekken 3 seria, ao mínimo, neotérico. Foi o primeiro jogo a utilizar a placa Namco System 12, (sistema superior baseado na Namco System 11, esta que tinha um hardware relativamente similar ao PlayStation) cujo trouxe a dificuldade de ser portado, processo que demorou cerca de oito meses. Diferentemente de Tekken 2 e Tekken 1, este precisou ter cortes gráficos mais significantes para que a versão caseira fosse lançada. Com um time talentoso e já experiente, a fórmula do "Punho de Ferro" estava pronta.

Para um jogo de 1997, (em tese, 1998, pois cresci jogando a versão de PlayStation) Tekken 3 continua sendo familiar a todos que jogaram lançamentos mais recentes da franquia e, para aqueles que se aventuraram em títulos anteriores, a sensação é de um refino gigantesco. As CGIs estão melhores, os visuais são melhores (e de certa maneira envergonham seus títulos anteriores por estarem no mesmo console) e o combate finalmente se definiu como próprio. Não só isso, a obra ostenta conteúdo, com vários modos divertidos e um elenco de personagens competente (infelizmente bem pequeno se comparado aos padrões atuais da franquia).

Por fim, saliento que Tekken 3 é um grande jogo que não sofreu com suas décadas acumuladas, pelo contrário - parte disso é seu charme. Recomendado tanto para novos aspirantes ao Torneio do Punho de Ferro, quanto para os veteranos que já estão cansados de derrotar o Ogre (e claro, fazer pontuações no Volleyball!).

++ visuais INCRÍVEIS
+ música boa
+ historia esquisita o suficiente pra combinar
- gameplay sem graça, é um shmup sem gimmick e isso é MUITO estranho
- bosses sem sal e sem muita lógica além de atirar
- não curti tanto a replayabilidade, diferente de outros shmups