For several years now,Nintendoand The LEGO Group have collaborated to make numerous new LEGO sets based on their world popular properties, such asSuper MarioandThe Legend of Zelda, as well as upcoming 2026 LEGO sets based onPokemon.Nintendoand The LEGO Group additionally partnered to make LEGO sets based on some of Nintendo’s most iconic video game consoles, such as 2020’s LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System. At San Diego Comic Con, the two companies revealed more details and a release date for their latest collaborative LEGO set, which is the LEGO Game Boy based on Nintendo’s celebrated 1989 handheld console. However, this set features an immersion-breaking flaw by not featuring an important game cartridge for the Game Boy:Tetris.
Tetris’ Critical Relationship With Nintendo’s Game Boy
In the 1980s, Nintendo was dominating the home console market thanks to the monumental success of the NES and profitable acclaim for the Game & Watch series of handhelds. By 1987, the legendary Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo’s Research & Development 1 Department began working on the successor to Game & Watch, which eventually becameNintendo’s Game Boy.
Meanwhile, an unassuming computer puzzle game began making waves in the Russian Soviet Union and nearby nations calledTetris. Originally created by Russian computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1985 for the Elektronika 60 computer,Tetriswas a reinvention of pentomino puzzle blockswith the goal of sorting the blocks into unified rows. DespiteTetris’ Soviet Union popularity, it initially struggled to expand into other markets due to the nation’s harsh restrictions on trading.
Eventually, the Soviet Union authorizedTetristo be published and sold in foreign markets, withTetrisfirst debuting in the United Kingdom and United States markets in 1988 and selling over one million units. Later on, game entrepreneurHenk Rogers of Bullet-Proof Softwareacquired the handheld rights toTetrisfrom the Soviet Union software licensing organization Elektronorgtechnica.
In December 1988, Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa invited Rogers to visit its Redmond, Washington headquarters to view the prototype Game Boy and discuss potential games the handheld could be packaged with. Nintendo intended to launch the Game Boy in American markets withSuper Mario Landdue to the success ofMariotitles on the NES.
Tetris’ Pivotal Launch on Nintendo’s Game Boy
Rogers instead suggested that the Game Boy be packaged withTetris, saying, “If you includeMario, the Game Boy will be for little boys. But if you includeTetris, the Game Boy will be for everybody.” After acquiring the handheld rights toTetris, Rogers licensedTetris’ handheld rights to Nintendo, allowing them to quickly develop their own version ofTetrisfor the Game Boy’s American launchin 1989. This decision to package the Game Boy withTetristurned out to be a pivotal choice, asTetristopped sales charts in Japan and American markets throughout 1989, selling 2.5 million copies by 1990. By 1997,Tetrison the Game Boy sold nearly 30 million copies, ensuring both it and the Game Boy’s worldwide success.
Tetriswas additionally released for the NES roughly five months after its launch on the Game Boy in November 1989 to similar acclaim, selling 1.5 million copies by 1990.
The Absence of Tetris with LEGO’s Game Boy
Tetrishelped sell the Game Boy to not just kids but adults as well, ensuring the Game Boy had a successful launch. WithoutTetris, the Game Boy might have sold fewer units worldwide, potentially curbing Nintendo’s future handheld endeavors. UntilPokemon Red,Blue, andGreendebuted on the Game Boy in 1998 and 1999,Tetriswas the Game Boy’s universal killer appdue to its easy-to-understand gameplay, addictive nature, and being the first Game Boy title to feature multiplayer through the Game Link Cable. Since 1989, Game Boy’sTetriswas remade intoTetrisDX for 1998’s Game Boy Color and was ported to both the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo Switch’s digital stores. EvenTetris’ iconic Game Boy music can be heard in other Nintendo titles such asSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
With a storied and long-celebrated legacy on Nintendo platforms, especially the Game Boy, it’s rather bizarre that Nintendo and The LEGO Group didn’t feature a recreation of theTetriscartridge with the LEGO Game Boy set. Instead, the LEGO Game Boy set features LEGO recreations of theSuper Mario LandandThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakeningcartridgesas well as swappable screens featuring gameplay stills of both aforementioned games. BothSuper Mario LandandLink’s Awakeningare popular games, but it’s odd that the set doesn’t feature aTetriscartridge. LEGO and Nintendo even recreated the Game Boy’s original trailer for the set despite the Game Boy’s original trailer featuring theTetriscartridge and gameplay.
The Potential Cause for Tetris’ Absence in the LEGO Game Boy Set
All ofNintendo’s current or previously released LEGO sets feature characters and elements from only four franchises:Super Mario,Luigi’s Mansion,The Legend of Zelda, andAnimal Crossing. To this precedent, Nintendo and LEGO may have chosen to featureSuper Mario LandandLink’s Awakeningin the LEGO Game Boy set to better match their prior Nintendo-themed sets. However, LEGO has previously made sets for older games similar toTetris,such asthe LEGO Atari 2600and the LEGO PAC-MAN Arcade, so having the Game Boy set featureTetriswouldn’t be out of place. Alternatively,Tetris’ absence in the LEGO Game Boy set could be due to licensing issues, as The Tetris Company, Inc. currently owns all rights toTetrisworldwide.
