Original: PC (Soviet Union) · 1984
Tetris's journey from a Soviet research institute to the world's most-played game was complicated by one of the most contested software licensing disputes in history, ultimately handing Nintendo exclusive handheld rights and making the Game Boy version one of the best-selling games of all time.
Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in 1984 at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and because he was a Soviet state employee, the rights initially belonged to the state rather than to him. By 1988, multiple Western companies — including Spectrum HoloByte, Mirrorsoft, Atari, and Nintendo — were all claiming or negotiating for various platform rights, often simultaneously and in conflict with one another, in a dispute that required the Soviet government's ELORG licensing body to adjudicate. Nintendo secured handheld rights through a direct negotiation with ELORG, while Atari Games (the arcade division, separate from Atari Corp.) believed it had secured console rights. Nintendo sued Atari to enforce its exclusive rights and won in 1989, forcing Atari to withdraw its NES version — which had already been manufactured — and cementing Nintendo's Tetris exclusivity as a Game Boy pack-in. Bundled with the Game Boy at launch, Tetris sold over thirty-five million copies on the platform and is credited by analysts as the single most important factor in the Game Boy's dominance over the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx.
The Game Boy version developed by Nintendo R&D1 was bundled with the hardware in North America and Japan and became one of the best-selling games in history at over thirty-five million copies. The small screen and monochrome display were ideal for Tetris's simple visual design, and the two-player link cable mode was an early showcase for the Game Boy's connectivity.
Nintendo's NES version, developed by Bullet-Proof Software, was a faithful and well-received home version that benefited from the NES's colour output. It is remembered primarily in the context of competitive Tetris, as the NES version's mechanics became the basis for the Classic Tetris World Championship.
Atari Games manufactured NES Tetris cartridges believing it held console rights, but Nintendo's successful lawsuit forced Atari to withdraw the product before mass retail distribution. A small number of copies reached the market and became collector's items; the cartridge is broadly similar in quality to the Nintendo-published NES version.
Nintendo packaged Tetris with Dr. Mario on the SNES as a compilation, preserving the NES Tetris mechanics rather than creating a new version. It was well-received as a value compilation but did not advance the game beyond its NES incarnation.
Spectrum HoloByte's PC version was the first widely distributed Western release of Tetris and introduced the game to North American and European audiences. It included Soviet-themed artwork and music and was instrumental in creating the Western market demand that made the subsequent licensing disputes so commercially significant.