Jesse Cochran: Now this artifact is a story of legal confusion, backstabbing, and betrayal, particularly against both Nintendo and Alex
Now this artifact is a story of legal confusion, backstabbing, and betrayal, particularly against both Nintendo and Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris' creator), alongside Henk Rogers, the guy who was driven to make Alexey Pajitnov a millionaire...with the betrayal done by Atari. However, the game itself is/was a very good one, so the story turns out bittersweet.
Everyone in the video gaming industry knows that Nintendo was very strict about what games were allowed to be programmed for their systems. Such was the case with the NES, which had a specific type of chip inside that prohibited unauthorized games from being played.
Atari had a subsidiary called Tengen, and they made lots of arcade hits, and Tetris was one of them, thanks to a miscommunication between Pajitnov and some software publisher through a telegram (and I don't mean the app). Tengen wanted to develop hits for Nintendo, but Nintendo was very strict about how often to program games officially, and Tengen did not like that. They knew about the lockchip in the NES, but they wanted to know how it worked to bypass it.
It is said that Tengen went to the U.S. Patent Office to obtain the blueprint to the NES and its lockchip, but in order to obtain it, they had to lie to the Patent Office saying that Nintendo infringed on something Tengen (or Atari) did, and that's exactly what they did. Once they got the blueprint, they were immediately at work on making their unauthorized, unlicensed games. There was Skull & Crossbones, Klax, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and a few other titles, but Tetris was the biggest one.
Then Tengen tried to sue Nintendo using their lie to the Patent Office just to cover up their tracks, but immediately Nintendo called bullshit and decided to counter-sue. The result was in Nintendo's favor, therefore everything that Tengen produced that was already in the store had to be recalled and destroyed, and Nintendo even offered big coupons to official games by trading in their Tengen titles.
As a result, Tetris in particular was the rarest game to survive the recall, and over time it became worth a decent amount of money. Also, Nintendo was able to take some of the games and make their own "official" versions, but this version of Tetris was not one of them, as the official release was meant to match the one made for the Game Boy.
Jesse Cochran: Now this artifact is a story of legal confusion, backstabbing, and betrayal, particularly against both Nintendo and Alex
Now this artifact is a story of legal confusion, backstabbing, and betrayal, particularly against both Nintendo and Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris' creator), alongside Henk Rogers, the guy who was driven to make Alexey Pajitnov a millionaire...with the betrayal done by Atari. However, the game itself is/was a very good one, so the story turns out bittersweet. Everyone in the video gaming industry knows that Nintendo was very strict about what games were allowed to be programmed for their systems. Such was the case with the NES, which had a specific type of chip inside that prohibited unauthorized games from being played. Atari had a subsidiary called Tengen, and they made lots of arcade hits, and Tetris was one of them, thanks to a miscommunication between Pajitnov and some software publisher through a telegram (and I don't mean the app). Tengen wanted to develop hits for Nintendo, but Nintendo was very strict about how often to program games officially, and Tengen did not like that. They knew about the lockchip in the NES, but they wanted to know how it worked to bypass it. It is said that Tengen went to the U.S. Patent Office to obtain the blueprint to the NES and its lockchip, but in order to obtain it, they had to lie to the Patent Office saying that Nintendo infringed on something Tengen (or Atari) did, and that's exactly what they did. Once they got the blueprint, they were immediately at work on making their unauthorized, unlicensed games. There was Skull & Crossbones, Klax, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and a few other titles, but Tetris was the biggest one. Then Tengen tried to sue Nintendo using their lie to the Patent Office just to cover up their tracks, but immediately Nintendo called bullshit and decided to counter-sue. The result was in Nintendo's favor, therefore everything that Tengen produced that was already in the store had to be recalled and destroyed, and Nintendo even offered big coupons to official games by trading in their Tengen titles. As a result, Tetris in particular was the rarest game to survive the recall, and over time it became worth a decent amount of money. Also, Nintendo was able to take some of the games and make their own "official" versions, but this version of Tetris was not one of them, as the official release was meant to match the one made for the Game Boy.
