Should have I bought this? Probably not. But it’s a just a weird piece of memorabilia.
An outline of its best features:
13×9 square playfield (instead of the standard 20×10)
the most tinny intro music of Korobeiniki ever produced1
it’s a chicken McNugget that plays Tetris
Next up on my most desired Tetris versions, Tetris 642 for the Nintendo 64 only produced in Japan. It used a bio sensor to measure the players heart rate.
I’m pretty sure a McDonalds drive thru has better audio fidelity. ↩
I may or may not post about the games I played this year, however, here are several selected screenshots that I took on my Nintendo Switch this year. I never know what really prompts me to take a screenshot, but they do an encompass a piece of my weird humor. Also, I had to be incredibly careful that not every screenshot was from The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
I have been playing a TON of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. 3D World was a game that I loved when it came out **checks notes** nearly EIGHT YEARS ago. I wrote about it in my obituary of the Wii U, and said that it was in my top echelon of Mario games. After playing through it again, I can cement it there a while longer.
Bowser has been fast, but now he’s furious. (Image from Nintendo)
The addition of Bowser’s Fury is a great bonus. While many are predicting this bonus game to be the future of Mario, I won’t hold my breath. It’s a fun and fantastic experiment.
If you got burned out on the more traditional Mario games from the New Super Mario Bros. series, or wasn’t one of the seven people who owned a Wii U, I’d recommend this over the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection in a heartbeat.
Mario is old enough now that I don’t know if we need to celebrate every five years, but this has been fun. The 3D All-Stars Collection was fun to play through Sunshine again, but with the 1-2 Combo of 3D World and Odyssey on Switch, I think that’s enough new* Mario to last for a bit.
*Obviously over half the Mario games on Nintendo Switch are from older systems. Maybe we’ll get super Mario Odyssey 2?
These were originally released in 2014 as paid downloads for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. I of course bought them on both platforms. This was after Pikmin 3 launched on the Wii U. I love these shorts. They were storyboarded by Miyamoto and made me really wonder why Nintendo hasn’t pursued using their characters in any form of independent animation. These are what I’d call Pixar quality both in animation quality and charm. I’m glad they published these SIX YEARS later on Youtube.
We live in an utter utopia of board and video games available to everyone today. There are plenty of niches that are filled and plenty of robust multiplayer experiences. But back in the day, we didn’t have much. The world has had Chess for centuries. Someone somewhere once thought Monopoly was a fun game12. But for the quick pick up and play social game, there was always UNO.
Some people take UNO pretty seriously. I am one of those people. I hold the official rule of ensuring that someone has to say UNO as they are playing their second to last card in the highest regard. However the basic game of UNO can be a little wanting in terms of ACTION! Society has adapted and produced a series of house rules to make the action better, yet they are inconsistent and not very well documented or endorsed. Some even misinterpret the official core ruleset and then are outraged when the official UNO Twitter account posts about it. I admire that everyone had collective Mandela Effect regarding the rules and that they were trying to add a little chocolate to the vanilla. But adding a Draw Two card to a Draw Four Wild card? It’s preposterous and doesn’t make any sense to me. But what if I told you that the makers of UNO had their own MANUFACTURER RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL RULES? Well… they do.
I have been preaching these for years and no one has taken my word for it. And surprisingly after purchasing a fresh deck of UNO while on vacation I had discovered they were removed from the printed manual. A friend of mine did some Google-fu and found them for me. So I humbly present to you directly from Mattel’s website a PDF with the rules enclosed. There are two specific sections of note3:
Progressive UNO
Jump-In UNO
These will change your world when it comes to UNO. If you “take UNO seriously” then you need to familiarize yourself with these. They are manufacturer recommended4, easy to interpret and reference, and make the game a blast. Also you might want to start by reading the base rules first anyway. But let’s be honest: UNO is all luck anyways and Disney Princess UNO is the real best version5.
I’ll keep a backup hosted here just in case that link ever dies.
Jared’s Official UNO Rule Modifier: Speed UNO
Not that you asked for it, but here’s my own personal twist on UNO that makes the game aggressively competitive:
Goal: Play as fast as possible.
Penalty: Anyone who loses track of whose turn it is loses their turn and draws two cards. This can be either by asking whose turn it is, or if it gets to them and they don’t realize it’s their turn.
Play with the other rules above for disastrous fun.
2019 is shaping up to be loaded with games. Here’s what I’m looking forward to this year. Presented in no particular order.
Katana Zero
Killer Queen Black
Samurai Gunn 2
Super Mario Maker 2
Link’s Awakening
Cadence of Hyrule
Shovel Knight: King of Cards
Super Meat Boy Forever
Mortal Kombat XI
Astral Chain
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Doom Eternal
Spelunky 2
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Untitled Goose Game
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I’m sure there are more games. I’ve already had a couple of games surprise me this year. Most of these have release dates or are confirmed for this year. There are plenty of AAA games that are on the horizon but I’m not certain what we’re getting this year.
There’s a tipping point where hobbies can become obsessions. But I’m not there quite yet. I don’t think. I’m seeking help, okay?1 Here’s more Tetris I’ve procured recently.
Tetris Microcard
Made by the creators of Arduboy
Size Comparison
I love the back!
Have you ever wanted Tetris on the go?2 Well I have. I’ve played Tetris on a touchscreen phone but it’s not the same without physical buttons.This thing is tiny, but the screen is top notch and it has sound. There is no hold slot, but it does have a hard drop and ghost piece functionality. This is so easy to carry around everywhere you may not want to carry a Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo Switch3. It’s so cute!
Super Famicom and Virtual Boy Tetris
So much Tetris, so little time.
After years playing Tetris on North American consoles and handhelds, I’ve wanted to dig into more obscure Tetris offerings. I used wikipedia and this video4 as a reference on what I wanted to focus on, and after I got a Super NT for Christmas, I’ve definitely wanted to play more Super Famicom games. Most of these Tetris games on the Super Famicom are in English so it makes playing them pretty easy to pick up and try.
Super Tetris 2 & 3
These games feature very smooth scrolling blocks which is unique to these games. They each feature different modes in addition to traditional Tetris. Super Tetris 3 has a mode called Familiss which is four player Tetris on the Super Nintendo5. Both offer a form of Bombliss which was known as Tetris Blast in North America. These are standard Tetris fare otherwise.
Super Bombliss
This is just the Bombliss flavor of Tetris with more of a focus on solving each stage.
Game Software. I’ve been seeing alot of these as I’m importing more games. I’m glad I’m able to do this easily via Amazon.
Tetris Battle Gaiden
Tetris Battle Gaiden is definitely the most interesting version on this list. It’s a versus game but unlike traditional multiplayer it features a set of characters and character specific power ups that can be activated during matches. Unfortunately this game is almost entirely in Japanese, however I was able to find some resources online that explain the controls, powers, and strategies. While there is a Vs. COM mode6, I really want to play this with a human. This is one of the more unique entries in Tetris history.
3D Tetris
Nintendo’s early foray into virtual reality didn’t go too well with the Virtual Boy. But that didn’t stop the inevitable juggernaut of Tetris from appearing in some form on the platform. There were only 22 Virtual Boy games, and Tetris made it onto the platform not once but twice. V-Tetris is a Japanese only version that plays like traditional Tetris. 3D Tetris on the other hand is a little bit different. Instead of a 2D play, it’s more of organizing blocks in 3D space7. It’s more like packing boxes rather than Tetris.
More To Come
I’m not done on my Tetris Crusade8, and I’ll have more in depth commentary about these games and more in the future.
Ever tried cramming all of your consoles into a duffle bag only to be deemed suspicious at the airport? Have you ever wished Tetris could be in your brain? Well I have the solution for you! ↩
Or Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PSP, or Playstation Vita. ↩
