Thursday, April 03, 2008

All I know is, if it's not Nintendo Entertainment System Tetris, it's not real Tetris. It is gimmickry, a toy, of no great substance. Tetris on a computer or whatever other platform you might through it on is like chess without a queen, checkers without jumping, walking through the cold night rain without soaking to the bone. It lacks significance in the common currency of resonance throughout my childhood. The epic struggle. The strategy, the shared passion, the innate desire to succeed against the unsucceedable. The victorious 192 line game never to be topped in the annals of legend and lore. The controller, the timing, the colors: all conspired. Game Boy Tetris was a fine companion piece, suitable for a fix at the park, while sitting in a tree. Though to compare it would be to make a drastic mistake: everyone knew it was more difficult and therefore different. Incomparable. NES Tetris was king.

Tetris.