Tetris, Genesis 'TV Game' Devices Detailed

Thanks to Spong.com for its report on the announcement of Radica's new Tetris 'TV game' device, to be launched in the UK alongside previously mentioned Sega Genesis and Taito all-in-one devices. Apparently, "The [oddly designed] Tetris unit comes with two specially designed controllers containing several variants of the classic Russian puzzler: Tetris, Battle Tetris, Garbage, Timed and Hotline", and in addition to this, the previously-confirmed Genesis 'TV game' is "...fueled by the 16-bit pleasures of Sonic, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Flicky and Kid Chameleon."

oddly designed

[antizeus]

I wonder how much testing they did with that square joystick. Looks painful.

Re:oddly designed

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it almost makes sence... you have your four directions... and twirl the square thing to make your block rotate. Fairly simple... no buttons needed.

Re:oddly designed

[gmhowell]

Probably not much more painful than the original NES and 2600 joysticks.

A friend had either a 5200 or a 7800. One of them had absolutely awful controllers as well. The first tolerable controller I remember was the Sega Genesis controller.

Re:oddly designed

[TheAlchemist]

Neither the 5200 or 7800 controllers are that great. The 5200 controllers [atariage.com] were highly prone to failure, the analog joysticks were not self-centering, and the fire buttons were awkward to use. Atari moved back to digital sticks [atariage.com] with the Atari 7800, but these seem to have been designed more for aesthetics than ergonomics, as many people find them uncomfortable to use for any length of time. Between the 2600, 5200, and 7800, only the original CX-40 Joystick [atariage.com] has really stood the test of time.

Re:oddly designed

[gmhowell]

It must have been the 5200, as I do remember thinking the non self-centering meant it was broken, until he corrected me. I also remember those awful stacked fire buttons.

The CX-40 may be useful today, but clearly, the 2600 joystick is iconic.

Re:oddly designed

[drinkypoo]

The first "tolerable" (some might say excellent) controller is that of the NES. While it was decidedly non-ergonomic in shape, all controls can be reached comfortably by people with hands of any size, plus it has four buttons and one of the best D-pads ever created by mankind.

Re:oddly designed

[coaxial]

Probably not much more painful than the original NES and 2600 joysticks

The NES didn't come with a joystick, it had a joypad. Later Nintendo simultaneously came out with the Max (similar to a joypad, but used a sliding tab instead of the standard cross rockers), and the Advantage (a joystick and large buttons making a reasonable standup controller facsimile).

The 2600 had a true joystick. It wasn't painful at all. In retrospect, a stiff, but not painful.

Now in the interest of full disclosure I did hurt

Re:oddly designed

[cmpalmer]

The best 2600 (and, subsequently, C-64) joystick was the Wico Command Control [vintagetechnology.com]. I've still got one that I don't want to get rid of even though I don't have anything to use it with.

Maybe I'll use it for a Mame controller...

Re:oddly designed

[gamgee5273]

How much movement do you need for Tetris, though? The abiltiy to move the piece to either side and to make it turn... I think the controllers look just fine.

heh

[no-arg constructor]

it really shows just how one simple game, still after all these years, sill has replay value. tetris is a rare game that to this day has me twitching in fits that i can't place the t block where i want it to go. 7 simple geometric shapes still rule the puzzle game landscape. its just amazing what a following this game has after all these years. i STILL love tetris!

Re:heh

[brunson]

Like the Soma Cube [ids.net], the best puzzles are the simplest.

That's one freaky-ass controller

[stuph]

I wonder how you go about turning the pieces? Moving them left and right, along w/ dropping them down makes sense, but I don't see a "flip" button anywhere...

Rotate the red bit? n/t

[misfit13b]

n/t

Re:That's one freaky-ass controller

[brunson]

I think twisting the knob would be the most intuitive interface.

Re:That's one freaky-ass controller

[stuph]

ouch

Re:That's one freaky-ass controller

[Black Hitler]

Yep, that's it. From IGN [ign.com]:

The controllers are unique "Tetromino" designs, complete with twisting action to rotate the pieces in the direction that the user indicates.

Re:That's one freaky-ass controller

[MasterDirk]

I think pressing the up direction is the normal way.

But I do see how a z-axis turn on the stick ("twisting the knob" is just too much of an invitation...) would be best, since the controller sort of looks like a tetris-board.

Dude!

[brunson]

I love Golden Axe!

Mandatory Penny Arcade strip

[(trb001)]

Fitting Penny Arcade strip [penny-arcade.com]. Yet Another Tetris Product.

--trb

As with any retro product...

[lightspawn]

It may look cool, but we'll have to reserve judgement on whether it's actually worth owning (or giving) until we can tell how accurately the games are reproduced.

P.S. Also available: Spongebog squarepants [jakkstvgames.com]. Guess which part of his body is the joystick!

The Genesis Device?

[S. Baldrick]

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!!

Re:The Genesis Device?

[paulcammish]

Yea, and you wouldnt believe how many planets they went through beta testing it...

Re:The Genesis Device?

[badfrog]

You forgot the link!
http://www.khaaan.com [khaaan.com]

Tetris info

[bigbigbison]

More info on the new game can be found at Firebox.com [firebox.com] (link courtesy of matteo bittanti's blog [blogs.com]).

Colony 7?

[British]

Nice to see Colony 7 is included with the Space Invaders pack. It's tiresome to see the same set of "popular" 80s arcade games over and over and over and over again in emulator packages.

Consider the fact that in my MAME directory ther's over 1800 games, many of them obscure arcade games forgotten over time. Mind you, I think a 3rd of them are just Space Invaders clones from 1979.

Welcome to your DOOM!!!

[elasticwings]

Because of this video [razoric.com]. I can never look at Altered Beast the same.