I’m a massive fan of the Digital Eclipse Gold Master series. Without repeating the same thing I say every eight months when one of these comes out, I love that Digital Eclipse collects interviews, ephemera, and historical documents along with games and game prototypes. I love it so much. I love it more than I love the people in my life, who are less reliable. Digital Eclipse may not be the first company to create a living video game museum, but they certainly seem to be the best at it. So, yes, Digital Eclipse makes great collections that I will buy on more than one platform because, ultimately, I’m nothing if not the problem.
Here’s the thing: Tetris Forever is my favorite entry in the Gold Master series yet. Not because it has the most content or because it has the most surprising history. I learned more new things inthe collections for Karatekaand Llamasoft. Meanwhile, Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection might not technically be an entry in the Gold Master series but it was basically the prototype for it, and that one is packed with a lot more games and extras. But Tetris Forever is perfect for two reasons: It’sTetrisand, more importantly, because of Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov.
Friendship Is At The Heart Of Tetris
You probably already know the story: Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in his free time in Russia as a computer researcher and the game spread like wildfire, leading to multiple people competing over international rights and - later - what those international rights actuallymeant. Henk Rogers, an extremely confident Dutch man who was raised in America and lived in Japan, came from nowhere and basically scooped up the most important rights to the game: portable. As in, Game Boy. He then scooped up the rest of the rights over time and now works with Pajitnov at the Tetris Company run by his daughter, Maya.
That’s watering it down a bit, but you know the basics.There was a movie. But the amazing part here is in thetellingof the story. As usual, Digital Eclipse does great interviews. Rogers and Pajitnov are just so charming. We’ve had charmers in the past - notably Jordan Mechner’s dad - but the friendship between Rogers and Pajitnov is on a different level.
Beyond the development of the games, Tetris Forever becomes the story - as corny as this sounds - about two very different men with two very different lives becoming best friends over the greatest game ever made. You can feel the delight they have with each other, the way they make fun of each other. One of the highlights in the entire collection is Pajitnov joking about Rogers' love of herring. Really.
It’s not just informative, it’snice. Like just nice and pleasant. God, remember nice and pleasant things? I don’t mean “cozy” or “calming.” It’s not a cute deck builder about making sure sentient flowers take antidepressants. It’s just nice. Listening to these two guys - and their friends and family - talk about the game is pure happiness. That’s not to say they sugarcoat everything and make it seem like there were never any issues.
But Tetris Forever is a reminder that loving games and making games is actually supposed to be a happy experience. It doesn’t have to be all layoffs and sad news and bad faith culture wars. A great game can last more than the newscycle in which we debate whether it’s better than another game. Developers should not just be there to give a completely sterile, PR-approved list of talking points to a camera.
Tetris Forever Is An Ecclectic Selection
Tetris Forever is the humanity behind Tetris and, in a way, the humanity behind the love of games. Rogers and Pajitnov didn’t connect in Moscow because Rogers had a deal to make. If anything, Rogers was at the bottom of the ladder deal-wise. He should not have succeeded in his wild ass gambit to just walk into a Soviet government building without permission and wait for someone to talk to him. Rather, Rogers won Pajitnov’s trust by showing him that he genuinely loved puzzles and games. They bonded over designing games, not the money that designing games could bring in. They wanted to make money! Don’t get me wrong! But still! Friendship!
What about the games, though, right? This is a game collection and so far I’m just talking about the linear documentary section. What could the collection have other than different versions of Tetris? Well, what about a ton of versions of Tetris that were never released in the West? That’s a start!
Most of the games in this collection were made by Henk Rogers’ company, then known as Bullet-Proof Software, and then Blue Planet Software, and then much, much later, the Tetris Company. Most of these were Japan-only exclusives due to Nintendo having the rights to publish their own console Tetris games elsewhere for a while. Not to mention a reproduction of Alexey’s original 1984 Soviet computer game and early computer releases for systems such as the Apple II. The name ‘Spectrum HoloByte’ sent me sailing back to the earliest days of childhood.
What we don’t get are the most famous versions. The Game Boy Tetris is mentioned frequently throughout the documentary - and there’s a mode that recreates the vibe of it - but it’s not here. Nor is Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System here, which itself was extremely different from Rogers' Famicom version. And while they do mention Tetris Effect - one of the newer, more popular versions and the reason half of us own VR headsets - it isn’t included either. Instead, there are a lot of Japanese variations and a new ‘Time Warp’ mode that combines a modern look and almost WarioWare-like jumps to older releases of Tetris to finish fast challenges.
Tetris Forever Gives Forgotten Versions A Second Chance
Now, this could get boring. I hear you. But, in exchange, I ask you to hear me. One, this is a great re-introduction to Bombliss and Hatris, which were released in America as Tetris Blast and, actually, yeah, Hatris was always just Hatris. Also, yes, Bombliss has two S’s and Hatris has one. That’s not my fault. The goal of Bombliss is to make rows of blocks while also using bombs within those blocks to attempt to knock out as much of the board at once. Hatris has you stacking hats which, honestly, as a kid I hated. I hated Hatris.
But with the context given by the interviews, I actually enjoyed giving these games another shot. It mattered how they were made, and what they meant to the developers. I didn’t know that Hatris on the Famicom and Hatris on the Nintendo Entertainment System were also extremely different, albeit both being developed by the same team this time. Hatris on the NES is way better, by the way.And playing the two one after the other is a fascinating way to compare the changes. The Game Boy Hatris was the same for all territories but itselfalsohad different gameplay elements. All those are included here with various filters and save states.
There is also a weirdo competitive Tetris game that never made it out of Japan and a ton of other Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy versions that play with the formula. One adds lightning bolts. Another adds changing colors that can also be used to get rid of blocks. The series has gone through so much experimentation over the years and I love having a lot of it in one place. True, the museum doesn’t really go past the ‘90s in terms of games (outside of the new mode), but it does give a fantastic look into the series' history.
And youwillfind a favorite. Despite the Famicom version having an overtly weird control scheme (later abandoned by both the Game Boy and NES and every subsequent version) I somehow find it the most satisfying. Meanwhile, I actually kind of enjoy Hatris now, which was at one point blasphemy in my house.
Tetris Forever just makes me happy, man. It’s filled with a joy about creativity and play and games. Sure, it’s clearly got some rose-colored glasses on, but I love that this is just about two guys who love games coming out on top. Rogers may be a tad arrogant, Pajitnov may be a tad judgemental, but they’re just two brilliant knuckleheads who became friends and changed the world with something that isn’t terrifying or dreadful or deathly serious. Games are supposed to be fun, not a focal point of what we decide what makes us angriest today. That might be a simplistic view of the world, but at least it’s a positive one when everything else feels like a long hallway of darkness.
The reason I’m not a game reviewer and will probably never be one is because I lack any semblance of fairness. I am biased as hell. As I’ve said many times, if I could show up at your homes and force each and every one of you to buy Digital Eclipse Gold Master collections, I would. I wouldn’t get any money out of it but I’d get the satisfaction of knowing we’re going to get more of these documentaries, which is one of maybe two or three pleasures left on this planet.
Tetris Forever is exactly the type of collection you show to other people - even and especially non-gamers who have fond memories of dropping stacks on stacks. I already plan on buying it again onSwitchand I’ll almost definitely be buying it for my parents for Christmas. Don’t worry, they never read anything I write so there ain’t nothing being spoiled for them here. I’m not even sure they know if I have the ability to read.
