作者：Marc Johnson

Game Boy平台上的《俄罗斯方块》是电子游戏行业最具传奇色彩的游戏，也是广为流传的成功故事。游戏源于俄罗斯，它可以算是在完美时代的完美主机上发布的完美游戏。

正如娱乐行业中其他公司的做法一样，开发商手中握有响亮的市场巨作和品牌，那么就不可避免想去开发续作。通常情况下，电子游戏继作总会比电影继作表现更好。然而，在电子游戏行业中这种回报递减规则似乎有些颠倒，看看Capcom的《街头霸王》续作和动视做出愈发乏味的FPS战争游戏便可见一斑。但是，《俄罗斯方块》面对的是与众不同的问题：我们要如何在完美的基础上进行提升？

对于这个问题，最简单的逻辑性推论是，再度提升游戏根本是不可能的，但是开发者并没有因此而放弃，他们依然在不断尝试。让我们来看看原Game Boy版本，解析游戏续作不断遭遇失败背后的原因。顺便提一下，本文不涉及那些在名称中添加“俄罗斯方块”字眼来吸引更多注意力的游戏（游戏邦注：比如《立体空间俄罗斯》）。

俄罗斯方块(from gameandwrite)

外观

这款游戏看起来简洁且漂亮。认为Game Boy屏幕欠佳首先是目光短浅的看法，《俄罗斯方块》在这样的屏幕上看起来确实不错。任何试图在界面中添加各种颜色的做法都会让《俄罗斯方块》显得过于花 哨。方块的区分不需要通过颜色，所以我认为微妙的阴影差异也是游戏的成功之处。它们还让我回想起ST和Amiga上的Degas Elite等老式绘图包，所以这可以算是双赢。

控制

移动方块，旋转方向，然后将其放下。两个按键和一个方向键即可。你只需要这些就足够了。此外，游戏或许需要一个暂停键，以便你可以暂时停下游戏来处理某些更为重要的事情。但是，这样的控制设计仍然显得简单易上手。

便携特点和游戏模式

没有足够的时间来一直打到第9关？GB Tetrishas能帮上忙。只需要调到模式B，给你自己增加消除10行障碍的挑战，或者测试下能否在全速模式下打通游戏。

那么，我们的答案是什么呢？是发布游戏续作吗？这只是可选项而已。Notch肯定不会在短期内发布《Minecraft》续作。你知道他现在在干什么吗？如果你喜欢《Elite》或16位处理器建筑学，那我想你需要去了解下他的方向。

一味追求金钱和盈利的商人永远不会改变他们的追求，不是吗？所以，或许最应该做的是，忽略所有那些所谓的《俄罗斯方块》“升级”游戏，抛弃那些不佳的作品，玩最完美的作品。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2012年4月10日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The Problem with Perfection, or Why Tetris Sequels Suck

Marc Johnson

Tetris for the original Game Boy is one of the video game industry’s most romantic and well told success stories with good reason. It has a touch of the exotic thanks to its Russian setting, it has that James Bond flavour courtesy of the KGB’s involvement, and above all else it has a perfect game released for the perfect console at the perfect time in order to become a sensation.

As is the norm within any organisation in the entertainment industry with a huge hit on it’s hands, sequels were inevitable. Normally, this is not a problem as sequels in video games fare better than their cinematic counterparts; the rule of diminishing returns seems inverted here, just ask Capcom about their sequel to Street Fighter or Activision about making iteratively tedious FPS war games. But Tetris presents an unusual problem: how do you improve on perfection?

The easy (and logical) answer is that you simply can’t – but that didn’t stop developers from trying over and over again. And again. Let’s have a look at the original Game Boy version and dissect the reasons behind the repeated failure of the sequels to capture the green and black magic. By the way, here is not the place to be considering all those titles that just added ‘tris’ to their names in order to attract some more attention (I’m looking at you, Welltris, you hussy).

Looks

This game looks simply beautiful. To say that the Game Boy’s screen was limited is a gross understatement, but Tetris actually looks better in four shades of green. Any attempt to add colour has just made Tetris more gaudy. The blocks don’t need to be different colours to help you differentiate them, so subtle shading differences win as far as I’m concerned. They also remind me of the old paint packages like Degas Elite on the ST and Amiga, so that’s a double win.

Controls

Move a piece, rotate it one of two ways and plonk it down. Two buttons and a d-pad. You need nothing more. Except maybe a pause button if feeding your kids or not getting run over are important to you, but you can certainly keep your touch controls and ‘store a block’ shoulder button.

Portability and Game Modes

Haven’t got time for a full marathon mode slog to level 9? GB Tetrishas got your back. Just switch to mode B and set yourself a challenge of clearing 10 lines of garbage before your train arrives, or see if you can complete a round at full speed using only four line Tetrises (only ninjas need apply). I don’t need battle, Push or One Touch modes and you can stick your Twitter integration where the trends don’t shine #thankyouverymuch.

So what’s the answer, then? Not release a sequel in the first place? That’s a viable option. @Notch certainly won’t be releasing a Minecraft sequel any time soon. Have you seen what he’s working on now? It’s exciting, and if you like Elite and/or 16-bit processor architecture (and who doesn’t?) you need to check that out. Stop reading this piffle and click here. See? That’s hardly Minecraft 2, is it?

Money-grabbing toss-merchants are never going to stop being money-grabbing toss-merchants though, are they? So maybe the best thing to do is ignore all the shiny, ‘upgraded’ Tetris games and dig out the old dirty brick and play the perfect one. I might go and do just that right now. (Source: Game and Write)