There's a pretty good documentary on NES Tetris players out there. It feels like it tries to be King of Kong, but it's not as good. It's still pretty awesome though. Here it is on Hulu for free. After watching that it's hard for me to say the GB version is better (but I'm only fearful of input lag, and I don't know what it is on the GB/GBA)

@Zero Yeah, it's starting to look that way.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, just explaining why I expected what I did. I didn't put much thought into it since I forgot to bet some money on the rounds.

Numbers withheld, I actually think that Resident Evil 4 losing this early is an even bigger upset. Star Fox 64 is a game that nobody really talks about as the best game ever, but I've heard it about Resident Evil 4 several times before. Heck, I've got it scored higher myself and think that its a BETTER game; the difference? I haven't played Resident Evil 4 since I've beaten it. No desire.

canonj said:

Every single game I voted for won. I guess my opinion on games isn't very unique.

It just means you've got your fingers on the pulse of the community, or something. I went 7 for 8, and the only loss was a handheld title. What can ya do.

@Mop it up
@TriforceBun

How is the Gameboy version of Tetris better?? If theres one game that is exactly the freakin' same, its TETRIS. Its not like Pac-Man where you have different shaped arenas on different systems, with Tetris you're still trying to get a line with the same pieces you always do. What gives? Literally the only difference I can think of is a smaller, dimly lit, hard to see screen, especially out in the sun (which is when I played it, personally).

Maybe you're talking about linking up or taking it on the go? I don't know. Does Tetris have a 2p mode on NES? I know Tetris 2 does.

@Zero

Yea, I eschewed Virtual Boy as an executive decision. I combined Wii U/3DS and Gameboy/GBA because I wanted 8 categories and those seemed like the most logical ones to me. The 25 votes threshold was kind of arbitrary but it seemed like a good level to make sure only widely played games were eligible and it worked out well when I looked at everything.

@Mr_Mustache
I give big points to innovators, and Tetris GB was the first Tetris, so it gets all the credit for its gameplay. Otherwise, I'd be forced to rate enhanced ports like OoT 3D higher than the original OoT, and that's just silly. It's also why I'd put SMB1 above SMB3 in a battle like this, even though SMB3 improves on the original in just about every way--Mario 1 invented a genre and basically saved gaming, and Tetris GB did something very similar for handhelds. The NES game was pretty much a color port, so on its own merits, I don't think it was all that impressive--similar to how I wouldn't rate Tetris Worlds or something as highly as the GB original.

@TriforceBun

What makes you think Tetris GB was the first Tetris? I assume you only mean on Nintendo consoles, but even then, are you sure it released before Tetris NES?

@Jargon

Tetris GB predates Tetris NES by a few months. July to November of 1989. (if we're talking USA here, cause in Japan the NES version came first). But there were a ton of other versions going back into 1984 before it hit Nintendo consoles anyway.

@DrFinkelstein

Ah. All I could find from my (admittedly brief) research is that they both released in 1989. Even so, it's hard for me to give originality points just because one port came out a few months before another.

We had this 1988 version when I was a kid (although not on Amiga):



Pretty sweet.

@Jargon

Nice art around the stage. My favorite version for the longest time was Tetris Plus for GB. Loved the extra modes.

@Jargon

Technically it was a very limited PC release before then, but I feel most people would say the first "definitive" version of Tetris was on the Game Boy (which was released a few months before the NES version). Nintendo struck up a deal with Pajitnov to make it the Game Boy's system-seller, and it was actually bundled with the system for a good while. In a way, it sort of became the model for a good handheld game--immediate pick-up-and-playability, and I do think that element was lost in the NES version.

Also, the NES version lacked a 2-player mode. What the heck?

To be fair, this is sort of a weird type of game to award "originality" on since there were technically a few versions around before the GB one. I'm not exactly sure how one would rate something like this fairly if they hadn't played all of them. But I will say that with the NES and GB versions both being the big mainstream entries for the original game, it makes sense to me to compare them directly, especially if players were exposed to one months before the other.

@TriforceBun

Tetris on GB was my first experience with it and I loved it for that.

@TriforceBun

I dispute that it was "very limited" before then. The Gameboy version definitely increased its popularity exponentially, but it was already a big deal on PC before then.

The Game Boy version of Tetris is the one with the famous "Tetris" tune (music A) that we all know and love ("Korobilinki" or whatever the Russian name of the folk tune is), so I'd probably give the nod to that version. And yup, it does have a two-player vs. mode whereas Nintendo's NES version doesn't.

Jargon said:

@TriforceBun

I dispute that it was "very limited" before then. The Gameboy version definitely increased its popularity exponentially, but it was already a big deal on PC before then.

Completely agree with Jargon here. Tetris was already pretty well known in PC circles by then. To be honest, Tetris is just one of those games that has one father and a million stepmothers. But to claim that it's somehow a Game Boy phenomenon is to misunderstand what actually happened with that game. (Read all about it in absolutely the most entertaining chapters of "Game Over" by David Sheff.)

We can debate which version was the most culturally significant in the West (I'd agree it's the Gameboy) and which one was the best iteration (old school: Tengen; all-time: Tetris DS) but I think there's a forest-for-the-trees thing going on there. The NES version of Tetris is a great version of a great game. To basically disqualify it because it came out a few months later than the Gameboy version, which came out 5 years after the original version, is really splitting hairs, imho. It's essentially the same core game.

I hope it goes all the way, personally. As I say, voting against Tetris is like voting against Chess.

Super Mario 64 > Virtual Chess 64

Wow, shocked to see RE4 bounced so early!

kriswright said:

(Read all about it in absolutely the most entertaining chapters of "Game Over" by David Sheff.).

Man I love that book. Nintendo shitkicking everyone in the 80's/early 90's. I want that ruthless Nintendo back. Put Arakawa back in charge.

@kriswright Super Metroid > Chess

@Zero

Said by someone who is bad at chess, I bet.

@Shadowlink
I wouldn't feel right voting for a game I never played.

Jargon, what should we do then if we haven't played certain games then? Just not vote at all?