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Hello, Tetris Forever fans! Since the launch of Tetris Forever back in November, the team hasn't stopped improving all aspects of the experience. We've added Alexey Pajitnov's Welltris to the game library, we've added more display options for MS-DOS games, and addressed a variety of in-game features based on your feedback. (We've also announced physical editions of Tetris Forever – preorders are open now at Limited Run Games and atari.com!)
All the while, we've been promising a bigger update focused on Tetris Time Warp, our original Tetris game that's exclusively playable within Tetris Forever. Well, that day is finally here! Read on to find out what's new in Tetris Time Warp (it's a lot), and about the two new MS-DOS games that have been added to the library, bringing the number of playable games up to 21!
Tetris Time Warp Updates:
Blast Off To Level 30
The single-player modes in Tetris Time Warp, which previously topped out at Level 15, now go all the way to Level 30! Can you handle even higher speeds of play? Starting at Level 20, the Time Warp Tetrimino piece will no longer feature the golden-colored Tetrimino, so you won't be able to create Matrix-clearing cascades. And starting on Level 28, the lockdown speed of Tetriminos will greatly increase.
Time Warp Shield
In Tetris Time Warp's multiplayer mode, the Time Warp Tetriminos now have a new power – Shield! Lock down the Time Warp Tetrimino while the Shield design is showing, and you'll earn a Shield that will stop other players from sending you into a Time Warp. It disappears after being used once.
1989 Mode Upgrades
We know fans enjoy playing Tetris with black-and-white graphics and chiptune sounds, so Tetris Time Warp's single-player 1989 Mode now offers a variety of fixes and new options. You can choose to turn off "Modern Gameplay" for more historical accuracy, plus you can choose to play the game with 18 rows in the Matrix, as opposed to the modern-day setting of 20 rows.
Take the 40-Line Challenge
Ready for a new mode? Celebrate Tetris's 40th anniversary by trying to clear 40 lines as quickly as you can. You can test yours skills in both Modern and 1989 modes.
Options, Options, Options
We listened and delivered! A vastly expanded Options menu lets you customize the visuals, sounds, and gameplay in Tetris Time Warp to your liking. Turn individual graphic effects on or off, tweak your gameplay with new options like the Initial Hold and Initial Rotation systems, Diagonals, and more.
…and of course, we've squashed some minor bugs as well, because there are always a few of those lurking about!
Additionally, two more MS-DOS games can now be found in the Tetris Forever library, and both offer unique gameplay elements of historical importance.
Super Tetris
Released by Spectrum Holobyte in 1991, this was an early attempt at creating a "sequel" to Tetris. The gameplay is quite different — the Matrix is half-full of garbage when a game begins, and players can earn and use Bombs to clear out the spaces and find power-ups buried in the garbage. It includes Cooperative and Competitive multiplayer modes, in which two players play in the same Matrix!
Tetris (AcademySoft) v. 3.12
This is the final version of Tetris created within the Soviet Union in the Academy of Sciences, ported from Alexey Pajitnov's original Pascal code by Vadim Gerasimov. Dating to 1988, it is notable for its inclusion of Phantom mode, in which all O-Tetriminos (square-shaped pieces) are invisible!
Just like the other MS-DOS games in Tetris Forever, you should definitely poke around in the Game Settings for each of these games to see how you can customize your experience to reflect what the games looked and sounded like on various configurations of classic IBM compatible computers.
And there are more improvements to be found all over Tetris Forever. A couple big examples: The gameplay behaviors in the recreation of the Electronika 60 version of Tetris have been updated to be even more historically accurate to the original version. And we're now including language support for Korean and Traditional Chinese.
This latest update is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Nintendo Switch – look for it next time you log on!
