Tetris (NES video game)
1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game
Tetris is a 1989 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Based on Tetris (1985) by Alexey Pajitnov, it was released after a legal battle between Nintendo and Atari Games, who had previously released a console port outside of the terms of their Tetris license. Bullet-Proof Software had previously released Tetris for the Family Computer in December 1988, while Nintendo had released Tetris for the Game Boy earlier in 1989.
Nintendo licensed exclusive home console rights for the Tetris intellectual property from Soviet authorities, leaving Atari Games unaware that they did not possess these rights from their own license. Being forced to quickly recall their version of Tetris for the NES was a major setback to Atari Games and their involved subsidiary Tengen. American reviewers held Nintendo's version to be an inferior product to the recalled Atari Games version.
This Tetris port is unusual because it was designed to end by becoming too fast to play after a certain amount of progress is made. Score must be accumulated through efficient play, rather than pure endurance, before the game ends after a short, predictable timeframe. These characteristics have led to its use as an esports game. Although the highest game speed was intended to be unplayably difficult, it was shown to be manageable with novel button-mashing techniques developed in the 2020s, dramatically extending play sessions.
The public source identifies “Tetris (NES video game)” as 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tetris, video and game.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tetris (NES video game)”, the useful work is to connect “1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q67387683. None of the 4 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1985 and 1988.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tetris (NES video game)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tetris (NES video game) primary sources, Tetris (NES video game) archive and Tetris research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tetris (NES video game)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tetris (NES video game)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.