Few video games can lay claim to having such enormous influence on both gamers and the industry at large as Tetris. All who played Alexey Pajitnov’s block-falling puzzler fell for its elegant design and Nintendo in particular harnessed its addictiveness to great effect as a pack-in title that made ‘Game Boy’ an essential purchase and a household name.
But what’s the best Tetris game? Is the Game Boy iteration still the most popular decades later? We’ve compiled this definitive ranking of Tetris games to answer just that question, so you can dump the garbage and focus on clearing lines in the best possible way.
Let’s see how they stack up, shall we? We’ll start at the bottom…
A North American exclusive, 3D Tetris shook up the standard formula by having you look down into the well as the blocks fall away from you. Having to fill in layers rather than make lines feels different to standard Tetris, and the game features 30 different block types, but the spirit of the game you know and love survives very well.
Let’s face it, the proliferation of more easily accessible Tetris titles would make buying a Virtual Boy to play regular old Tetris a bit silly, no? 3D Tetris, though, is definitely worth investigating. Maybe not worth buying a VB for, but still very good.
If you were feeling competitive and had a Nintendo WiFi Connection, Tetris Party Live — essentially a short-lived, scaled-down version of the other Tetris Party titles — let you take on up to four players online.
In addition to the regulation Marathon mode and vs CPU modes, the game offered online play for up to four players in either the Battle Mode or a Duel Space challenge, where you tried to drop blocks to take up the most area on the playing field. This might have seemed tacked-on, but it served up an interesting twist on the original formula and one that could get quite intense.
You could choose to tackle online challengers or stick with your friends via Friend Codes, and you could also practise while waiting for an online match to start up. Not bad for an early, Nintendo-handheld foray into the online world. The strange lack of a local multiplayer option was a minus point, but otherwise this was a compelling multiplayer Tetris take on the DSi.
The first of THQ’s Tetrises, this 2002 entry introduced a world of modes and a controversial ‘infinite’ spin feature that essentially let you rotate a piece at the bottom of the well as long as you wanted. Talk about Tetris forever.
Tetris Worlds also introduced little cuboid aliens (Minos) sending out Tetronauts in search of other worlds to escape from an impending supernova by, naturally, playing Tetris.
Ignoring the creaking narrative intended to differentiate what was essentially the same game everyone had been playing for well over a decade, one redeeming feature — well, memorable perhaps, at least to impressionable teenage ears, at the time, two decades ago (is that enough caveats?) — was the sultry voice of the announcer. Pop on some earphones, listen to this voice whispering “Go for a Hot Line”, and tell us you don’t get a little…tingle.
Tetris Worlds, then. The most sensual Tetris. Until Tetris Effect.
Developed by 3d6 Games, the GBA version of Tetris Worlds was released the year before the home console versions and didn’t feature the husky voice of the announcer that bewitched us on GameCube.
So, then. 2/10 – not enough husk. Let’s crack on with something better.
Add Tetris to the magical pairing of Capcom and Disney and you can’t go too far wrong. With Capcom, you’re going to get a base level of quality, at least, and Magical Tetris Challenge delivers on the artistic side, with great pixel art and animation worthy of the characters.
Similar to how Rare jammed some top-down, RPG-lite gameplay into Mickey’s Speedway on GBC, Capcom added a Quest mode to the portable version that saw you wandering around and chatting with other Disney characters while collecting coins and — you guessed it — playing Tetris.
We especially enjoy the animation box with the characters operating levers and knobs (probably) to ‘play’ the game, and you get plenty of modes and a decent Disney flavour. But if you’re just after Tetris-ass Tetris, you’re better off steering clear of the Disney fluff.
Tetris Axis falls well short of ‘spectacular’ but wasn’t a bad addition to the classic’s illustrious handheld legacy, with its expanded online component and oddly addictive Fever mode.
Hudson chose to not reinvent the Tetromino following the Tetris Party series, instead providing a polished and accessible version of Russia’s ultimate gaming export, even if the end product was on the bland and disjointed side.
Many of the modes may have been flash and fluff, but the core game here was as addictive and fun as ever, and the overall package was compelling enough. But that ain’t gonna cut it in the ‘Best Tetris’ ranks.
The incredible success of the original game meant a sequel was inevitable, but when you’ve created a puzzler as singularly refined as Tetris, how exactly do you create a new take which does anything but dilute the first game’s purity of expression? Sequels are meant to polish and introduce new and better mechanics — how do you do that with Tetris?
Tetris 2 essentially has you playing Dr. Mario with tetrominoes. It’s not bad, by any means, but it’s certainly not better than Tetris, so it’s difficult to play it and not think you could be having a better time.
Tetris with all the Disney trimmings, the home console version of Magical Tetris Challenge has all the charming animation you’d expect and — Capcom rarely drops the T-piece when it comes to art — although the combination of classic-style pixel-art characters ‘working the Tetris machines, the morphing pre-rendered ‘heads of the machines up top, the static backgrounds, and the Tetrominmoes themselves don’t quite gel, aesthetically speaking.
The extra screen real estate means you can see your opponent’s well in this one, though, and the story mode, simple as it is, is fairly cute. Overall, then, another inessential Tetris tie-in with a bunch of goofy (ha!) modes that does the job well enough.
This time it’s personal. A sequel to the system-selling puzzler was an absolute given, of course, and looking back on Tetris 2 all these years later, it’s admirable just how much of a departure it was from the original classic.
Named Tetris Flash in Japan, it takes the basic falling-blocks gameplay but adds in a match-three element with irregularly-shaped tetrominoes. It’s jarring at first if disappearing horizontal lines are burnt into your brain, but give it time and you’ll find a surprisingly addictive little puzzle game in its own right.
Tetris Ultimate largely lives up to its name; it’s a comprehensive collection of Tetris gameplay modes with various optional tweaks and tremendous online and local multiplayer.
It must be said, though, that except for the new Challenge modes, there’s nothing new here that any Tetris veteran hasn’t already played, and it’s all a bit bland. The Challenge modes are clearly targeted towards such experienced Tetris-heads, but the longevity isn’t as extensive as the original Marathon mode, which is still probably the most fun you can have with Tetris by yourself.
Putting it simply, at the end of the day it’s just Tetris. If that’s what you’re looking for and you’re still rocking a 3DS for whatever reason, that’s just fine. Still, if you’re able to plug Tetris DS into the very same cart slot, there’s not much reason bothering with this.
Developed by H2O Entertainment (The New Tetris, Aidyn Chronicles), with input from Alexey Pajitnov and championing from NOA’s Ken Lobb, Tetrisphere’s greatest strength was its genuinely unique take on position-falling-blocks-to-clear-blocks formula.
The general idea is to drop pieces onto the outer layer of a sphere to form clumps of same-type pieces which clear until you get to the centre. Various power-ups including missiles could be used to blast away great chunks of the sphere, too, clearing a path to release the robot trapped in the sphere.
Add in a decent multiplayer mode and some great techno tunes and you’ve got a game we sincerely hope will come to Nintendo Switch Online for another chance to shine. And a VR reimagining would surely have potential.
The complexity of the added dimension isn’t for everyone, of course. “I enjoyed playing Tetrisphere […] but the game should be simple,” Pajitnov told us in 2019. “That game was too complicated.”
The DS version of Tetris Party Deluxe isn’t bad — far from it — but issue it’s got is that when you’ve got one of the all-time great Tetrises on the platform (one that’s got the platform’s name in the title, no less), you’re always going to look like the also-ran.
There are plenty of great modes here, including Bombliss and a neat Shadow mode, but if you’re a block-faller fanatic after dual-screen kicks, your Tetris is in another castle.
Having secured the rights to Tetris, Nintendo wasn’t shy about expanding/exploiting the concept — or just the name — in various other puzzle games.
Known as Super Bombliss in Japan and essentially the BomBliss portion of the Japan-only Tetris 2 + BomBliss broken out on its own, Tetris Blast has each of the falling blocks (this time mixing two and three-block shapes in with the standard tetrominoes) contain at least one bomb. Completing a line causes any bombs contained in that line to explode within a set radius. If you manage to obliterate the entire board, you move on to the next stage.
It’s a unique and enjoyable take on the original game, with a password system and a Fight mode where you battle against comical bosses who move around the well. Now also available as part of Tetris Forever, so it’s easy to check out.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 could never have hoped to have the same impact as the first game, but it remains a brilliant puzzle title nevertheless. While some may feel it’s not quite different enough from its predecessor, the new single-player story is just as entertaining as the last one, and the Skill Battle mode adds interesting mechanics to the mix.
It’s still absolutely packed with content; it’s just that the first game was too, so the impact is lessened slightly.
Known as Panel de Pon in Japan, Tetris Attack was released on Game Boy and Super Nintendo, although it’s Tetris in name only – the actual game bears almost no resemblance to Alexey Pajitnov’s game. The Western versions also saw characters from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island co-opted in an effort to attract an audience to this Intelligent Systems joint.
Despite this blatant marketing ploy, Tetris Attack is a cracking block-swapping puzzler in its own right and well worth checking out alongside its more famous Russian namesake.
What happens when you throw arguably the two most popular falling block puzzle games in a blender? It’s a miracle that the result wasn’t a horrible, horrible mess, but Puyo Puyo Tetris mixes the two so confidently that it doesn’t occur to you how catastrophic this cocktail could have been.
Sonic Team respects the fundamentals of each series and offers a rock-solid game of both, but isn’t afraid to have fun stirring them together. There’s a bevvy of multiplayer options for up to four people, and everything is presented with a vigour and verve which belies the decades-long history behind both puzzle genre titans.
The Story mode is… well, it’s a bit nuts, but it’s there if you want it (we were glad for the skip button). More importantly, the wealth of modes available means aficionados of either series have more than enough to occupy themselves with. In fact, it’s possible to pretty much ignore your least favourite, but that would be a great shame; this is a glorious firework of a crossover, uniting puzzle fans of all creeds and it shines very brightly on Switch.
This ‘Plus’ version of the first sequel to Arika’s Grand Master series was bought to Switch by Hamster in 2023, but the original came out in arcades in 2000.
Incorporating a ranking system that tops out with the titular ‘Grand Master’ if you’re good enough, these versions are the choice of connoisseurs and absolute purists, putting your skills to the test with devastating speed and dastardly requirements that absolutely flummox mere mortals for whom seeing the shuttle blast off in the Game Boy version is a serious accomplishment.
The Grand Master series is Tetris for the hardest of core series fans. Arika’s 1998 arcade take on the puzzler most people learned to play on a handheld made competition a central tenant, with ranks awarded depending on the speed and skill displayed, and a nail-biting difficulty which meant only the best of the best were honoured with the eponymous title.
Hamster’s Arcade Archives Switch port makes it accessible to the masses, as in you can access it easily, but mastering this game requires untold dedication. If you’re a Tetris fan looking for a challenge, step right up.
The New Tetris is somewhat like The Old Tetris, although the addition of a new square block-based mechanic, an EDM soundtrack, and a four-player mode gives it a very particular (and addictive) flavour.
It came from H20 Entertainment, the same team behind the similarly interesting Tetrisphere and is worth investigating if you can’t get enough variations on the king of block-fallers.
Essentially the retail version of the non-Deluxe WiiWare release with extras, Tetris Party Deluxe had a whole ton of multiplayer modes, including 2v2 co-op and Wii Balance Board support carried over from the original version, compatible with a handful of modes. Yes, the Wii Balance Board: the ideal way to play Tetris. Or are DK Bongos preferred?
As party games go, a block-falling puzzler might not be your first pick. However, Hudson made a decent case for a few rounds of Tetris to get the party started.
Tetris Forever might not be the final word on the complete history of Tetris — it’s missing too many of the best versions — but it’s certainly a great breakdown of the franchise’s creation and evolution so far. Digital Eclipse has truly mastered the art of the interactive documentary, and this one is absolutely filled to the brim with interesting videos, interviews, and archival material – not to mention Tetrises.
The playable games don’t necessarily represent the most varied selection across the Tetris franchise, but it’s a comprehensive bunch of titles, including a recreation of the original Electronika 60 version, a whole bunch of Famicom and Super Famicom variants and spin-offs (many getting their first official release outside Japan), and a couple of MS-DOS entries, including Welltris.
On top of that, newcomer Tetris Time Warp is a fantastic addition to a back catalogue that seemingly won’t stop growing. All in all, a fascinating and near-essential round-up of one of gaming’s most important series.
If you’re Tetris-starved — though we’re not quite sure how anyone could be — you can’t go wrong with Tetris Party, although you’ll have a job finding the WiiWare version these days. As the name implies, the game was specifically meant for local multiplayer and added Miis and Wii Balance Board support to the mix for that added Nintendo feel.
Playing against friends is incredible fun, but if you’re not able to round up anyone, there’s not much point. Yes, the basic single-player is as rock solid as it’s ever been, but as far as the other modes go, there is only so much fun to get from AI opponents.
The online part was great in its day, but that day has long since passed and you won’t be buying this on WiiWare – you’ll need to track down a copy of the expanded Deluxe retail version. Unfortunately, this particular Party’s over.
There’s not a huge amount to say about this one. Combining 16-bit remasters of NES Tetris and Dr. Mario, SNES owners in the West got a double helping of puzzling that included a Mixed Match mode which jumped from game to game between rounds. Beyond that, this is pretty much regulation Tetris and Dr. Mario.
Interestingly, thanks to Nintendo not owning the console rights in Japan, the Tetris part was stripped out and 16-bit Dr. Mario was broadcast for Satellaview and later made available to download on SFC flash carts at kiosks.
While Henk Rogers and Nintendo’s Tetris success is often celebrated thanks to the overwhelming success of the Game Boy and NES entries, this NES entry was a victim of a labyrinthine network of licensing, sub-licensing, and confusion around exactly which companies held which rights as agreed with Russian-state-owned ELORG, the sole handler of Tetris rights until the mid-1990s.
Atari Games’ 1989 version (published under the Tengen label) boasted a two-player mode that Nintendidn’t, yet legal issues led to it being pulled from store shelves after only a month. Thanks to its short shelf life, copies are worth a decent amount these days.
The story of Tetris’ convoluted journey to the West (deemed exciting enough to adapt into movie form, although we much prefer the BBC documentary Tetris: From Russia With Love) is a thrilling combination of guile, subterfuge, and blind luck that went on to shape Nintendo and the video game industry at large. Tengen Tetris was one of the casualties along the way.
This Jaleco-developed spin on the formula came to various platforms (PlayStation, Saturn, and arcade) and bundles your common-or-garden Tetris mode with the ‘plus’ bit, the latter in the form of a separate puzzle mode which introduces a world-hopping professor and his assistant hunting treasure in exotic locales.
The plundering prof frequently finds himself in the bottom wells with spikes descending slowly but steadily from above. It’s up to you to clear lines in the usual way to open the path to his goal and getaway at the bottom.
Tetris Plus isn’t a life-changer, but it’s a cute variation on the theme and is fondly remembered.
The Tetris branding was a misnomer here, a pure marketing strategy to give this wonderful puzzler a leg up in the West. Panel de Pon is a cracking puzzle game that doesn’t resemble Tetris in the slightest — the blocks rise rather than fall, for a start — and if you’ve never played it before, you’re in for a real treat.
If you’ve somehow misplaced your original cart (how very careless), you can check it out most easily on Switch, although you won’t find Tetris Attack anywhere on the menu screen of your Nintendo Switch Online Super NES app; it’s listed under its Japanese title, almost certainly due to Nintendo not wanting to pay The Tetris Company in order to use the name again.
It’s so incredibly addictive that Capcom’s Shinji Mikami had to ban the game while his team was developing the original Resident Evil. As recommendations go, that’s not a bad one! Tetris it ain’t, but it’s bloody good nonetheless.
It’s Tetris, in colour — what’s not to like? The colour helped differentiate the pieces and a couple of new modes were added, plus a save feature, but this was really just the original Game Boy entry with added hues.
In any other case that might feel like a disappointment, but a quick bash on Tetris DX is enough to make you forget you’ve played it for hundreds of hours before in black and white green.
The Game Boy version of this video gaming titan might be the most iconic — and certainly more convenient to play when you’re out and about — but the ability to relax with Tetris on your TV wasn’t to be sniffed at, either. Some prefer the Tengen version, which disappeared from stores soon after release due to a licensing snafu, but this non-controversial port is also a winner.
It’s Tetris, just on the NES. ‘Nuff said, really. There’s no shortage of ways to play, but this very first Nintendo-developed home console version was never re-released – until its NSO appearance in December 2024.
The endearing oddball of the family, Tetris 99 offers a truly unique way to play the tried-and-tested classic, even if the overall package feels a little lightweight. Playing live against 98 others is chaotic, and the action feels fast, precise, and wonderfully addictive.
It’s seriously difficult, too – we’d fancy our chances in Fortnite over this any day – and we’re impressed with the fact that it’s forced us to play the game with a completely different approach to our usual slow-and-steady ways.
Signing up for Nintendo Switch Online just to play this game might be a bit of a stretch, but if you’re already a member, what are you waiting for? It’s ‘free’ and it might just become your next favourite time sink.
Tetris Effect: Connected is perhaps the best iteration of the classic puzzler yet.
While this Switch port doesn’t offer a great deal over existing versions in terms of features, it delivers the one key ingredient that its rivals cannot: portability. Sure, some will argue that Tetris Effect: Connected’s unique brand of synesthesia only really comes alive when played on PSVR or an Oculus Quest headset, but we’d argue passionately that this game benefits far more from the ability to pick it up and play whenever, wherever.
Just as the Game Boy and Tetris combined to create an irresistible, world-conquering fusion back in 1989, Tetris Effect: Connected found the hardware that allowed it to truly shine, making this an utterly essential purchase for all Nintendo Switch owners. Don’t forget those headphones.
You can see the 9am meeting at Nintendo HQ now: “Mornin’. So, we’re putting Tetris on the new portable and we need a name. Thoughts?”
Fortunately, Nintendo SPD didn’t head straight to the pub after striking upon the groundbreaking Tetris DS title, but instead knuckled down to produce one of the finest iterations of the block-falling classic ever made. With touch controls, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a truckload of Nintendo nods and winks, it is still one of the best ways to play the game and well worth tracking down if you’ve never had the pleasure.
In fact, ‘Tetris DS’ is a misnomer; with visuals and audio that cleverly work Nintendo’s 8-bit catalogue and characters into the experience, plus myriad modes that expand beyond the standard gameplay in intriguing, brilliant ways, ‘Tetris: Nintendo Edition’ would be a far better fit.
With few of the bells and whistles that would arrive later on, Game Boy Tetris is arguably the purest expression of the original block-falling idea.
There have been countless ports of this addictive puzzler made available for just about every electronic device in existence (and we’ve seen a lot of them above), but the Game Boy version is arguably the most beloved and its clear visuals, responsive controls, and that theme tune make it easy to appreciate why.
The very deadliest of killer apps, no self-respecting Game Boy enthusiast should be without a copy.
And that’s how the pieces fell – all the Tetris games, ranked (or all the ones on Nintendo platforms). Phew!
Before we take off in our space shuttle, let’s answer some common questions readers often ask about the Tetris series.
Arika and The Tetris Company have announced that Tetris The Grandmaster 4 – Absolute Eye –, a new instalment in The Grand Master series, is due to release in March 2024.
The first two GM games are available on Switch, although Steam is the only announced platform for this offline-only game at the moment.
Speak of the devil, The Grand Master series is generally considered to be the toughest Tetris going.
But it really depends on the mode and the difficulty setting. Any Tetris game can be immensely challenging, but Arika’s series is designed to test the best with arcade-style ranking and an incredibly high skill ceiling.
Tetris Effect: Connected is the best Tetris on Switch, according to our list above!
Tetris for the Game Boy is the best-selling Tetris game of all time, with over 35 million copies sold.
That enormous figure also puts it in the top 20 best-selling video games ever, and a vast number of those were packed in with the Game Boy hardware, highlighting what a canny move it was for Nintendo to bundle it in.
We’ve only included Tetris games released in the West (so no V-Tetris or Tetris 64, with its heartbeat monitor and Bio Tetris mode that altered the difficulty depending on your pulse) and only games that actually have the word ‘Tetris’ in the title. This means some misleadingly monikered spin-offs can be found on the list above, but stuff like Hatris is off the menu.
