Tetris DX

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Not to be confused with Tetris Deluxe, a game released for western mobile phones.
Tetris DX
Tetris DX Boxart.jpg
Developer(s)Nintendo
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Platform(s)Game Boy Color
Release
  • JP: October 21, 1998
  • US: October 31, 1998
  • EU: July 1, 1999
Gameplay info
Next pieces1
Playfield size10 × 18
Hold pieceNo
Hard dropNo
Rotation systemBounding box, wall kick, SRS predecessor
Tetris DX title.png
Tetris DX play.png

Tetris DX is a Game Boy Color game that enhances Nintendo's original Game Boy Tetris, with three new gameplay modes, a profile/save feature, and color graphics when played on Game Boy Color and later systems. The game's rotation system has a glitch which lets players move any tetromino, except the O-piece, upward by holding the direction against a wall and rotating in the opposite direction.

Modes

Marathon

Speed curve:

Level Frames per row
0 52
1 48
2 44
3 40
4 36
5 32
6 27
7 21
8 16
9 10
10 9
11 8
12 7
13 6
14 5
15 5
16 4
17 4
18 3
19 3
20 2

Power

Gameplay data is recorded and stored as "POWER". Each profile has its own POWER data. Using a link cable, this data can be transferred to another cart.

In VS. COM, this can be used to play vs a CPU against a local profile, or a transfered profile's game data.

Your power increases as you play better games using your profile.

Rotation system

All rotation states of all seven tetrominoes in TDX. From top to bottom: I, J, L, O, S, T, Z. The circle doesn't appear in the game; it helps to illustrate the axis on which each tetromino rotates.

The rotation system is an early version of what would become SRS. Like in SRS, tetrominoes of width 3 rotate as if in a bounding square; unlike in SRS, L, J, and T start flat side up. TDX first tries rotation about the center of the box (the blue circle). If this fails, it tries rotation about an alternate center displaced by one cell (the gray circle). For I, S, and Z, this center starts out one cell above the ordinary center; for L, J, or T, it starts out one cell below.

Wall climbing

This rotation system is exploitable, especially on low levels:

G.........
G.........
GSSS......
G.S.......
G.........

Charge DAS

G.........
G.S.......
G.CS......
G.S.......
G.........

Rotate left

G.........
GS........
GSS.......
GS........
G.........

Shift left (DAS)

G.........
GSSS......
G.C.......
G.........
G.........

Rotate right about
alternate center

This particular exploit was fixed in SRS.

Infinity

Ordinarily, Tetris DX lock delay follows step reset behavior: only downward motion under gravity resets the lock delay timer. But rotation about the alternate center does reset the timer used for gravity. This can be exploited by placing a piece in a corner and rotating it back and forth about the alternate center:

G.........
G.........
G.C.......
GSSS......
GGGGG.....
G.........
GS........
GSC.......
GS........
GGGGG.....


Other gameplay notes

Scoring uses the Nintendo system, however the score multiplier is capped at 21 (25200 per Tetris).

Timings:

  • DAS: 9 frames startup, 3 frames repeat.
  • Lock delay: 32 frames or (frames per row + 4), whichever is larger.
  • ARE: equal to lock delay, can be cancelled.
  • Line clear delay: 50 frames.

External links