Tetris (Windows)
Tetris for Windows 3 is a port of Tetris developed by Dave Edson and published by Microsoft in their Microsoft Entertainment Pack For Windows in 1990. This port features 1 player mode, 2 player competitive mode, and supports starting anywhere from level 1-9, initial height levels, and next piece display.
My first experience with this version of Tetris was on my family's Packard Bell 386SX computer my parents bought back in 1991. The PC was a showroom floor model and came with some demo software including the first Entertainment Pack. Although this wasn't the first version of Tetris I ever played, it was the first one I owned and how I initially practiced playing the game. I remember gradually getting better at the game and eventually bumping all the existing high scores off the list so it was just my name all the way down.
Contents
Status
I do not own this game, it is unbeatable.
Review
3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Best Version: Windows 3
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- This is a passable port of the original Tetris, having the options you would expect for a port of the time.
- This version includes a competitive 2-player mode, which is always nice.
- The game draws the Tetrominoes as vectors, so they scale to any screen size.
Bad
- The game lacks any of the more interesting Tetris options. For example, if you drop a piece, you can't nudge it afterward, you can't store a piece in reserve, there isn't an AI to play against, no cut scenes, etc.
- Keyboard input cannot be customized, and the second player's layout is both uncomfortable and too close the player 1.
Ugly
- Probably the worst part of the design, and what makes this port nonviable to skilled players, you can't choose which direction to rotate a piece. Up rotates a piece clockwise, and that's it.
- The game is media-challenged. There is no music or custom sound effects. With sound on, it uses the default Windows sounds. Graphically, it only supports 4-bit color, and the backgrounds are poorly made.
Media
Screenshots
Backgrounds
These are the tiled background graphics used by the game.