A few weeks back, we completed our tour through the American Virtual Boy catalog with a look at the final official release for the system anywhere on the planet: 3-D Tetris. Despite its name, however, 3-D Tetris wasn't really a Tetris game. Instead, it owed more to Blockout or, if you want to keep it in the family, Welltris. It was OK, but not great—certainly not a patch on this week's highlighted release, which sees us traveling back in time a few months to look at the first Virtual Boy game to be released only in Japan.
That game, V-Tetris, actually does belong to the Tetris family. And on top of that, it's also quite entertaining!
Most of the modes present in V-Tetris amount to Tetris but with red graphics and clowns. There is, however, a third play mode unique to V-Tetris that turns the action into something unique within the franchise. It's basically double-width Tetris, with the excess columns shuffled into the background to serve as both a sort of "penalty box" and a holding pen for advanced strategies. It's hard to describe in words, so why not watch the video above and see what we missed out on?