The 10 Best ‘Tetris’ Games You Can Play Right Now

Not everybody has a Game Boy lying around, but Nintendo has made it easy to access one of its most important games. In February 2023, 1989’s Tetris was added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. It lacks the flair and additions of Tetris DX — an enhanced release for the Game Boy Color with three new gameplay modes, a save feature, and, well, color — but it remains a nice trip down memory lane. Plus, the Nintendo Switch Online version includes multiplayer functionality, both local and online, the latter of which was never present until now.

Okay, so it’s not technically Tetris, but the blueprint is there. Developed by Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Pokhilko, the 1990 puzzle game shares some similarities with its oldest sibling, tasking you to arrange items — in this case, hats — and clear groups of them accordingly to avoid going off-screen. The hats have different styles, and you need to stack five of them on top of each other to clear them and gain points.

There are three versions of Hatris in Tetris Forever, spanning across Famicom, Game Boy, and NES. While they’re all worth exploring on their own merits, the NES rendition provides the most refined rendition of it in Forever. Aside from the presentation, it features a mechanic involving Helpers, which are digital depictions of the designers. As you complete stacks, you can use Alexey to clear hats from the bottom of the screen, while Vladimir can swap the hat stacks’ positions. It’s as useful as it is endearing as a tribute to the people behind the concept.

Previously released exclusively in Japan, Tetris Battle Gaiden is one of the most curious games included in Tetris Forever. It’s a two-player game in which you choose a character from a roster of eight, each with their own abilities that can be used to your benefit or against your opponent (either somebody playing locally or against the game’s AI.) Both players draw Tetrimino pieces from a common pool, which adds another strategy layer.

Some Tetrimino pieces have Crystal Blocks, and once you clear a line that contains at least one of the blocks, you’ll add a point to your Power Meter, which is used to attack the other player. The Power Meter has four levels — you can either use an ability as soon as you have it, or wait until you can deliver a more powerful attack. These can range from turning your opponent’s next four Tetriminos into random pieces to removing the bottom three rows of your stack. There’s quite a bit of depth to uncover in Tetris Battle Gaiden, which makes it even more interesting than it already is on paper.

Bombliss is an intriguing twist on the Tetris formula. Clearing lines is still the main objective, but the big difference is that there now are bombs involved. A bomb occupies a block of the usual Tetrimino. If you group up four bombs together, you’ll create a bigger block that can lead to an equally bigger explosion once you clear the line crossing it.

While the concept is novel on its own merit, there’s one mode in particular that stands out. In Battle, your objective is to defeat an AI-controlled enemy that’s constantly roaming around the screen. To decrease its health bar, you must clear a line at the very moment in which the enemy happens to be in its range. To achieve this, you can use Tetrominoes to push your foe downwards or box it using multiple pieces. Both of these methods are only temporary, as the enemy will either be stunned briefly or make room to escape by literally drilling blocks. It’s a thrilling way of experiencing Bombliss — Tetris Forever has a few Bombliss releases, but I recommend Super Bombliss DX for the most up-to-date presentation.

Sonic Team and Sega released the original Puyo Puyo Tetris back in 2014. Alongside the Tetris you’re already familiar with, there are elements of Puyo Puyo, a puzzle game that has you matching colors to clear lines while also allowing you to make chain reactions once more Puyos fall into place. It was followed by a sequel in 2020, which added a plethora of modes and additions, further expanding the puzzle games marriage.

Adventure Mode presents you with an overworld map and dozens of challenges to overcome, as your character levels up RPG-style to take part in Skill Battles, in which you need to create teams while keeping in mind the character skills of your group to compliment each other. There are also co-op boss raids in which you band together with others, and over a hundred interactive lessons to hone your skills in both Puyo Puyo and Tetris. It’s a peculiar rendition of Tetris for sure, especially when Sonic the Hedgehog is an available character. But one that is worth exploring if you’re interested in seeing how it compares and contrasts with another puzzle game in real-time.

Sometimes, Tetris is all about the vibes, enjoying the background music and zoning out as you aim to beat your previous high score. Tetris Forever includes 1994’s Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss Genteiban, originally a special edition that was released in limited quantities in Japan. The most noteworthy element of the release, aside from its rarity, is that the puzzles in Bombliss are different. The biggest appeal, however, is in the presentation of its standard modes.

The background of each of the three game types feature wonderful pixel art pictures with subtle animations, from waves hitting a shore under a sunset to a buzzing city in the night. Both the visuals and the music gel together to incite an immersive feeling. It’s close to an early showcase of what Tetris Effect set out to do with level presentation over a decade later, and it’s worth experiencing if you’re looking to relax and not worry about high scores too much.

Another Tetris Forever game that was originally available exclusively in Japan, Super Tetris 3 is a significant release, as it includes the first-ever four-player mode for Tetris. You also have access to the classic mode, as well as Magicaliss, in which Tetriminos have unique colors that need to be matched to clear blocks. However, the fourth mode, Sparkliss, is by far the most interesting of the bunch.

Standing closer to Bombliss than Tetris, certain Tetriminos contain Lighting Blocks. When you clear a lining including one of the blocks, the lightning sparks extend to all four directions of said block, destroying others in range. Clear multiple lines at once, and the lightning will stretch further — if this also hits another Lightning Block, there’ll be a chain reaction. While clearly different from your standard Tetris, it’s worth giving it a try, especially if you’re a fan of completing challenges in Puzzle mode.

Tetris Forever includes many iterations of the classic foundation, but Tetris Time Warp goes a step further by combining both old and new into a single, different novel idea. As you’re clearing lines, you’ll eventually come across a Tetromino that looks different than the rest. Tackle its corresponding line, and you’ll immediately be transported to another Tetris era at random. There, you’ll have a limited amount of time to clear a puzzle of sorts, following the rules and mechanics of the corresponding Tetris game. If you manage to beat it, you’ll advance to an era in the future. Once you’re back from the Time Warp, the points you gained in the puzzle are added to your overall score.

Time Warp isn’t just nostalgia on a surface level, but a mechanic that feels exciting to play around with each time. While the standard mode provides for a great general glimpse of what Tetris Time Warp has in offer, I found myself spending more time in the 3-Minute Time Attack mode. In it, once you’re warped to a different era, the time stops, which adds an enticing level of pressure to perform well and clear lines as fast as possible.

If you only want to experience another modern version of Tetris, there are two marathon modes without Time Warp Tetriminos. Both task you with clearing 150 lines as fast as possible, and you can pick between a modern rendition or the 1989 version of the game.

In 2019, Nintendo did the unthinkable, releasing a battle-royale version of Tetris that is actually good. In Tetris 99, you compete with, you guessed it, 99 other players in real-time to be the last one standing. During matches, you’re constantly targeted by others, while also targeting at least one other competitor yourself. Clearing lines will add Tetrimino stacks to your targeted adversaries — if they don’t clear lines fast enough as a response to break the stack, the same will be added to their screen. Of course, there’s a chance of multiple players banding together against you, further increasing the stack size.

While the concept of battle royales might sound exhausting in late 2024, Tetris 99 is a great way of improving your Tetris skills by adding a real-time competitive side to it against dozens of people. It shouldn’t work this well, but it does.

Enhance Games shocked the world with Tetris Effect in 2018, pushing the concept to modern audiences while reimagining its presentation. Developed by Monstars and Resonair, it features over 30 stages in which visuals and music come together in an array of enchanting ways. Sometimes you’re swimming with dolphins. Other times you’re making music with each Tetriminoe you placed on the screen, eventually leading to a jazz-y crescendo through a city. Everything is gelled together by Zone mode, a mechanic that allows you to stop time to clear lines. While this doesn’t give you progress to the lines you need to clear to finish a level, it can get you out of a tough situation by providing a breather.

Adding developer Stage Games into the roster, the four companies released Tetris Effect: Connected in August 2021, expanding the game further with multiplayer in mind. The original already featured multiple modes, as well as support for virtual reality headsets. Connected, on the other hand, lives up to its name by allowing you to team up with up to four players against increasingly harder AI-controlled bosses. You can also compete against other players in Score Attack and Classic Score Attack modes, but there’s also Zone Battle, in which you’re able to use the Zone mechanic.

Despite the many modes in offering for both veterans and newcomers, as well as refinements and additions that make it hard to revisit older games, there’s joy in just sitting down to experience the campaign, over and over. Tetris Effect is a sensory experience that everyone should play at least once, regardless of expertise or previous knowledge of Tetris. It’s the ultimate rendition of the feeling of zoning out while clearing Tetrimino lines, with different worlds and landscapes engulfing you in the process.