Earlier this year during a Tetris Forever 'Partner Direct' trailer, it was revealed the NES version of Tetris would be joining the Switch Online service "this winter".
Now, in a new update, it's been confirmed this classic will be returning next week on 12th December 2024. This game will be available to all Switch Online subscribers. Here's the official Nintendo announcement (via social media):
It's also been confirmed Japan will be receiving the same NES game update for the Switch Online service next week. Apart from the screenshots here, you can see this classic in motion in the game trailer above.
In addition to this, a new Tetris-themed Tetris 99 event has been announced. It will take place between this week and next week. You'll be able to unlock a free Tetris theme if you earn 100 points during this period.
Will you be revisiting the NES version of Tetris next week? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 63
Yes, the Switch rises from the tomb. 😁
Nintendo's Tetris for NES was such a huge disappointment after both the Game Boy and Tengen NES versions.
I've been playing lots of old Tetrises in Tetris Forever which has been interesting. I'll definitely play this too.
I am also very excited by the Tetris-themed Tetris 99 event. 😆
I'm stoked to break my joy-cons by trying to do rolling on them 😅
I might be misremembering and am too lazy to look it up but this will be the 1st time Japan will get this version because their Tetris on NES was different.
Nintendo Music would be jealous of these quick NSO game releases 😆
Yawn. Do better, Nintendo.
@Fiddler Considering how popular the game has become with the eSports crowd, I don't think it was that disappointing. Tetris was meant to be a single player experience anyways.
@Fiddler I'm struggling to understand how a specific version of Tetris would be disappointing. It's Tetris.
@PikminMarioKirby Especially because it's/was Monday and no soundtrack has been released so far....
Gosh this service can be so boring
Now that's yawn inducing. 😴
@batmanbud2 I think it's mostly due to Nintendo's version being somewhat barebones in the feature set compared to Tengen's version, which had a variety of modes including 2-player gameplay. Even Game Boy had 2-player head-to-head via game link. Personally, I don't have an issue with this version; it's fine, but others have their preference.
I won't complain about having one more system to play Tetris on.
I am definitely nostalgic for this version, but the lack of Tetris Type A music is hard to ignore
Is no one else nostalgic for Music Type 3, or just me?
I don't think I've played this version. Though I'm no Tetris super fan, I'm still willing to give it a play.
I actually have this version of Tetris on my NES. Haven't played it in a while, but I do still have it downstairs in my basement playroom.
Can’t say I’ve ever played the NES version of Tetris. Maybe I’ll mess with it just to see how it is.
I've played quite a bit of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2's marathon mode lately, so maybe I'll give it a shot when it comes out.
Dang Nintendo is getting faster at adding new games to NSO.
After 30 some odd years, I have never been able to beat NES Tetris on Stage 9/Level 5. I still don't even know who the 5th Nintendo character is at the end, and I'm finally going to find out!
The original Game Boy version was my first introduction to Tetris, but I grew to like the NES version too- I really like the shifting color palettes in this one. The type 3 music alone is worth checking this version out.
@KY502ShinyHunter I did not discover Tetris NES until later in life, but NES Type 3 has not only become my favorite of the classic Tetris NES+GB tunes, it's one of my favorites on the NES in general.
Oh my, is the tap still dripping? 🙄
They should really find a better way for us to play old games on the next console. Virtual console was perfect and everyone thought so.
Hang on..
“Hey, Nintendo, I wish Virtual Console never came back! I want my retro gaming channel to have unremarkable games released at steady intervals, while the great classics are held back.”
Maybe that helps? 😏
Is this the first time they've given advanced marketing for an NSO drop date? Sure, there's the direct teases, but those are never given specific dates. Just plopped on the service, then trailer. I get that it's partially for the Grand Master cup, or whatever the Tetris 99 battle pass weekends are called; it's just random to me. Especially for me, the designated Atari sycophant (yeah, I might as well admit it. THQNordic ain't gonna be doing it for me for till they get their finances straightened out next year at least) who admits that this one ROM dump will get more marketing exposure than Digital Eclipse's Criterion Documentary of ROM Dumps.
@Dee123 Yep, this will be the first time Nintendo's NES Tetris will be available in Japan. The Famicom had the BPS version, which is available in Tetris Forever.
Tetris NES is the best version! Finally on Switch!
It sucks how Famicom owners missed out on this version back in the day. I played the Japan-only BPS version on Tetris Forever and it has horrid controls, with down to rotate and A to drop.
A Tetris themed event in Tetris 99.
Isn’t that just…Tetris? XD
Drip, drip, drip
Grandmaster 2 and Effect: Connected is all the Tetris I need
@batmanbud2 As a big fan of Tetris, there are major differences between different versions of Tetris. Things like controls, movement speed, scoring system, what kind of randomizer they use, how quickly the tetromino locks in place, and how the rotation works in the edge cases (which is tied to whether T-spins are possible or not). Not to mention game modes etc.
@PinderSchloss sure but all the other companies found out they can rerelease their old games for 30 bucks and people will buy them.
Unless they change needing to be online to access the NSO library, it feels kinda redundant between what we have already both via NSO already and paid options. It's neat but would make more sense if dropped with multiple Tetris games.
Well this will be the first time the "Nintendo" NES version of Tetris releases in Japan (unless you want to count the functionally similar Tetris 1P mode of Tetris 2+BomBliss.
Even with the SNES port Tetris and Dr. Mario, Nintendo had to block out the Tetris part in Japan and sell it as only Dr. Mario.
@DoorToMundane They just couldn't get the 2-player mode finished before the release deadline. There is still unused programming left in the game for the unfinished mode.
@jake1421 The Grand Master 2 is a lot of fun. Although it takes a while to get used to the sonic drop after playing a ton of Tetris with a hard drop.
This is amazing!
Really would have loved it to be Tetris vs. Dr Mario though.That "mix and match" mode was AMAZING! My whole family used to have tournaments with that mode, just so much fun!
Nice but I'd rather have The New Tetris on the N64 app
Amazing that a title like this has been missing from the NSO apps for more than 6 years.
It's about time we got this on Switch, I've been pining for it for years. I'm stoked about the Tetris 99 theme too.
@PinderSchloss It's been 7 years, Virtual Console isn't coming back and personally I'd much rather pay less than £3 a month to get access to the whole library than the prices they charged on Virtual Console for this amount of games. I don't care if I don't own them forever, I don't intend to play most of these games for the rest of my life.
A Tetris Tetris 99 theme. So you can Tetris when you play Tetris.
(not that I'm complaining)
Kind of weird that this particular addition was announced so long ago (and they're telling us the release date over a week in advance as well) when most NSO releases are just shadow dropped. I know licensing is probably fairly complicated for Tetris and there are definitely people excited to play this (I'll certainly give it a (T-)spin myself), but to a lot of people this isn't going to be the most interesting release given that there are already two versions of Tetris playable through NSO.
NES Tetris was my first taste of the game, although I only just realised that Game Boy Tetris technically came out slightly earlier. Maybe it's just my nostalgia, but NES Tetris has always been more fun for me than Tengen Tetris. That all said, the modern versions are much more fun in general. I forgot how hard the randomness, and lack of 'hold' makes the strategy, as well as not being able to spin them forever.
The best thing about this version is the colours and the music, but that's reason enough to play it from time to time (although let's see what the Tetris 99 theme is like...!)
@Dogorilla 'T-spin'. Nice. You can also basically play
NES Tetris in Tetris Effect, but there is something very comforting about the NES release for me. I think it was the first game that I really 'got' (and probably our first purchase, not including Super Mario/Duck Hunt. It was also a bit of a family bonding experience.
@PikminMarioKirby But Nintendo Music is updated every week, whereas NSO gets something once or twice a month. Their pacing is probably going to be about the same over a year.
@TryToBeHopeful I haven't played the NES version myself; I'm not expecting to enjoy it as much as the modern ones, as you say, but it should be fun to try it out at least. I've also just seen the comments saying this will be the first time this particular version releases in Japan, so that makes a bit more sense as to why Nintendo is making a big deal of it.
Tetris NES, still oddly one of the most relevant releases you can have for the NES app, given the competitive scene and all the headlines made regarding “breaking” or “beating” the game this year. Can’t wait to try this out for the first tine and see where I’d stack it amongst other versions.
Love to hear that this has a release date now, NES Tetris is quite nostalgic for me as it's one of the few NES games I actually had as a kid thanks to my older siblings so I'm really looking forward to replaying it at some point now that it's coming to NSO - this time I'll try to get all the Nintendo characters!
@shoeses You don't need to always be online to access the NSO retro apps, you just need to connect once per week for Nintendo to check if you still have a current subscription and after that you can play them offline - as I said before, that's one of the reasons why they're much better than most Games as a Service because when the service gets discontinued (not anytime soon since it's continuing on Switch's successor, but it's still worth mentioning) you'll still be able to access them at least through modding!
A nice addition to NSO! Looking forward to playing it.
I had the Game Boy version back in the day. But the added colour of the NES version will be more like the arcade version I played at our campus pub.
A Tetris-themed Tetris 99 event.
TETRIS-THEMED TETRIS.
@Clyde_Radcliffe I'd much rather pay less than £3 a month to get access to the whole library than the prices they charged on Virtual Console for this amount of games. I don't care if I don't own them forever, I don't intend to play most of these games for the rest of my life.”
I agree. And shopto.net sells the expansion pass for about £26, about £10 less than Nintendo does, which is where I buy my pass from.
This is so cool. Looking forward to unlocking the theme this Friday and playing the original NES version next week! Until we get a physical edition of Tetris Forever ... somewhere next year ..?
Ah well, I don't have enough time to play all my games, let alone all my Tetris games XD
I love NES Tetris!
I hope we get the SNES Tetris & Dr. Mario game. Basically it is the NES versions of both games on one cartridge, but supports two player split-screen and has a mode where you compete with both games.
@KY502ShinyHunter SO much nostalgia for that.
@JohnnyMind Is it per app per week? Because I've definitely tried to access them during internet/power outages weeks if not the same day I've played things online and been denied. Maybe it just seems weird comparatively to Game Pass which I've never had an issue accessing online, which TBF entirely fits Nintendo being more protective of a bunch of ancient ROMs than Microsoft of hundreds of games they mostly don't own.
@shoeses Should be per app per week, but I could be wrong about how long it last - what I know for sure is that once you've done the check you can then reopen the app even offline as I've done that several times in the past and even tested it once again before telling you just to be completely sure (and yeah, that's Nintendo for you for better and for worse)!
@KoopaTheGamer opposite for me, haven't dealt with hard drops unless it was 30 years ago on the game boy
@N8tiveT3ch 'The OTHER companies'? Bruh, Nintendo is like the originator of re-releasing games and charging for it! The only reason they don't charge $30 for the original Super Mario Bros. is because no one would buy it for that price. And when they found out people would still buy it for a couple bucks, they stopped doing that and now charge you infinitely to rent them via NSO.
@calbeau Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the very first Tetris 99 Event was for the GB version. If not, Tetris-Themed Tetris was still one of their first ideas, lol.
Oh, you bet I will!
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