3 minutes • November 04, 2016
Shortly before the release of the GameBoy, American developer Henk Rogers approached Nintendo of America head Minoru Arakawa to suggest that Tetris, a port of a little-known Soviet puzzle game, would be an ideal title to package with the new console. When Arakawa noted that they already planned to launch the GameBoy with Super Mario Land, Rogers countered that while Super Mario Land would certainly sell the system to young boys, Tetris would hook everyone on handheld gaming—and it did.
Tetris became a worldwide sensation, selling over 170 million copies, 35 million on the GameBoy alone.
Korobeiniki, now the series' de facto theme, was a beloved Russian folk song but was not well known outside of the Soviet bloc until it was arranged for the GameBoy version by Hirokazu Tanaka. This arrangement sets the story of Tetris' development—from its development by Alexey Pajitnov to the worldwide sensation it spawned—to its most famous musical theme.
Appears on Song Cycle: The History of Video Games
Nineteen eighty-four, the Soviet
Academy of Sciences:
A Researcher makes puzzle game to test
New hardware’s effectiveness.
Soon the game spreads virus
On mainframes ‘cross the CCCP;
Then it crosses the Iron Curtain:
On Commodore, the plague is set free!
Nineteen eighty-eight in Las Vegas
Man sees Tetris on display—
Soon he’s hooked! Yes he’s caught the bug! And he
Pitches a port Nintendo’s way.
The GameBoy port smashes all expectations:
Bundles flying off the shelves!
Thus Nintendo’s handheld empire was built
On tetronimo blocks themselves!
Now I just stack falling blocks eternally;
I must have caught the fever too!
Well, I guess what they say is true: that in
Soviet Russia game plays you!
Now I just stack falling blocks eternally;
I must have caught the fever too!
Well, I guess what they say is true: that in
Soviet Russia game plays you!
Now I just stack falling blocks eternally;
I must have caught the fever too!
Ah—
Well, I guess what they say is true: that in
Soviet Russia…
…GAME PLAYS YOU!
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