"Actually, What Is This?" - Tetris - Sega Genesis Mini
53Something is... WRONG with this version of Tetris...
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Tetris is a 1988 arcade game developed and published by Sega for Sega System 16 arcade hardware. It is a derivative of an earlier Tetris game, created by Alexey Pajitnov for Soviet Elektronika 60 terminal computers in 1984.
Though Tetris is a Russian invention, the Sega Mega Drive version was officially planned to be released only in Japan.
While the first version of Tetris can be dated back to 1984, the first commercial versions of the game released in the West debuted in 1987, when Mirrorsoft began releasing the game for various home computer platforms. Sega's versions debuted in 1988, meaning they were amongst the earliest interpretations of the game.
As a result, the System 16 version of Tetris plays very similarly to 1984 Electronika 60 and 1986 IBM PC versions of the game, albeit with enhanced graphics and audio. While licensed from Atari Games, the Sega versions share little in common with the Atari Games arcade version, with the two games having likely been developed independently with no knowledge of each others' progress.
The Sega versions of Tetris are played against backgrounds seemingly sourced from around the world depicting scenes of world evolution, in contrast to the earlier home computer versions which seeked to capitalise on Russian imagery (to the point where they are technically known as "TETЯIS" rather than "Tetris". As the player's level increases, the background changes, developing from the earliest known history of the Earth to a futuristic city. Also featured is a preview of the next Tetrimino, which is a feature carried from the Western computer versions.
The Sega versions of Tetris are more "rigid" than later games, only allowing for pieces to be rotated if there is room. More leeway is given to the player than the original Russian versions of the game, but the Sega versions are far less forgiving than their Atari Games/Tengen counterparts in the West.
Nevertheless, the ruleset, affectionately called Sega rotation became a fixture in Sega's other Tetris-inspired games during the late 1980s and 1990s, and became a de facto standard for Japanese Tetris games including Arika's Tetris: The Grand Master series.
The System 16 version of Tetris also includes a talking monkey which acts as a guide during the attract sequence. Monkeys would appear in later Sega-published Tetris titles as well. Also, while Tetris became would become synonymous with Russian folk songs, the Sega soundtrack is entirely original and to date has only appeared in Sega versions of Tetris. In addition, as the speed of the game increases, the the tempo of the main theme also gets faster.
The Sega Genesis Mini, known as the Mega Drive Mini in regions outside of North America, is a dedicated console modeled on Sega's Genesis. The Mini emulates the original console's 16-bit hardware, and includes 42 games ported by M2. It was released in most regions on September 19, 2019.