Tetris Attack the mother of all Bejeweled games?

[lakibuk]

I recently tried out Tetris Attack for SNES. I was surprised to see it features the well known switch-two-adjecent-stones gameplay that we all know from Bejeweled and all its 100 play-a-likes. I wonder if Tetris Attack was the game that invented this type of games?

[Wayward]

I wondered the same thing. I mentioned in briefly in this post (http://forums.indiegamer.com/showpost.php?p=17120&postcount=6&highlight=tetris+attack).

Tetris Attack on the SNES was a great game. It appeared on the N64 as Pokemon Puzzle League.

[James C. Smith]

I always thought that Tetris Attack was one of the best puzzle games ever made. I thought bejeweled was a much inferior game. I made a Tetris Attack clone many years ago but never had art created for and never shipped it. When we decided to make Big Kahuna Reef (inspired by Jewel Quest) it was easy to modify my Tetris attack clone to be a Jewel Quest clone.

Another awesome SNES puzzle game is Kerbie’s Avalanche. The head to head action is great. It is more strategy and less luck than other match 3 games. You can set up combos way in advance and set off long chains intentionally rather than accidentally. I have never seen a good clone if it and only one bad one (very bad).

[Bmc]

ahh kirby avalance ... kirby star stacker is good too.

[Savant]

Although, honestly, Tetris Attack and Bejewelled differ in some fundamental ways. Not the least of which is that in TA you can move blocks whenever you want to, whereas in Bejewelled you can't move anything unless it's going to result in a match. This changes the gameplay dynamic completely and breaks down their similarities to "you can slide things sideways".

[James C. Smith]

Although, honestly, Tetris Attack and Bejewelled differ in some fundamental ways. Not the least of which is that in TA you can move blocks whenever you want to, whereas in Bejewelled you can't move anything unless it's going to result in a match.

They are very different. That is why I said I believe Bejeweled was a much inferior game. In TA I love swapping with nothing to drop pieces off the edge. Or making swaps that don’t match to setup moves. Or just the ability to swap while other things are happening. For me personally, TA is may more fun than Bejeweled. If they cloned TA when making Bejeweled they sure missed the point. But they also find something that sells like mad so I guess they did something right. I think the real answer is that they are different games with their own unique advantages.

[bluejay]

ah, Tetris Attack, the game that I still play to this day. ;)

I think one BIG difference between TA and other puzzle game is that TA is more skill based whereas other puzzle games are more luck based. In most puzzle games you really have to rely luck or on the computer to give you the right pieces to form combos and if the computer chooses to be an A-hole you can't do anything about it. but in TA you don't rely on luck or computer as much, you can create your own combos at your own choosing.

I bet if someone took the time out to really make a kick-ass TA clone complete with online multiplayer it would be a huge seller.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

Although I haven't played Tetris Attack to confirm this, I believe that Pokemon Puzzle League for N64 and Game Boy Color are based on Tetris Attack's gameplay.

I loved Pokemon Puzzle League quite a bit, and thought it had amazing polish, and some pretty significant diversity of modes. My roommates and I (guys and girls both) would play it quite a bit, both single-player and competitive.

And even though, yes, it was a piece-swapping match-3 game, I found it to be a completely different playing experience, and in fact, I personally like Pokemon Puzzle League muuuch more than Bejeweled.

-Hiro_Antagonist

[tolik]

Kirby's Avalanche = Puyo Puyo Clone.
Sega Genesis -> Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Casual PC Clone -> Candy Crisis

I adore Tetris Attack (Puzzle De Panepon), but anyway, the mother of TA is... Puzznic :)
Most of PC TA casual clones are quite dull and boring.
Take a look at Honey Switch and Cosmic Switch from Zylon.nl.
John Romero also did nice work with his Congo Cube, but he overhardened it (usability-playability side).

I did enormous research on grannies and grandads of puzzle games last year...

[Hiro_Antagonist]

I bet if someone took the time out to really make a kick-ass TA clone complete with online multiplayer it would be a huge seller.

Well, one problem w/ that is that the controls are more suited to controllers rather than the mouse, whereas, say, bejeweled is generally more suited to the mouse. And casual/small-scale games that rely on keyboard don't sell as well as ones that use the mouse. (When was the last time you saw a GameHouse or PopCap game use the keyboard?)

That being said, I believe Yo Ho Ho Puzzle Pirates used a tetris attack clone/varient for one of its mini-games (bilging), and that YHHPP is entirely multi-player. (massively, in fact. =)

I think all or most of the YHHPP games allow for mouse or keyboard control. Once I discovered I could use the keyboard for that particular minigame, I did with glee. Which, in turn, is a testement to the fact this particular game needs controller-type controls instead of mouse-type controls to be at its best. =)

-Hiro_Antagonist

[Barknee Holden]

(When was the last time you saw a GameHouse or PopCap game use the keyboard?)

-Hiro_Antagonist

Actually, that would be Gamehouse's DDR clone Tap A Jam that was released about a year ago. So, maybe a year? ;)

[gmcbay]

The greatest puzzle game of all time is clearly Super Puzzle Fighter II.

But Tetris Attack is fun too.

[disaffected]

The greatest puzzle game of all time is clearly Super Puzzle Fighter II.

But Tetris Attack is fun too.

I think Super puzzle fighter 2 is pretty good and the animations are a lot better than TA, but like blue jay said, it still relies on luck.
I remember many times playing super puzzle fighter and I had built up a huge combo and all I needed was a break gem to perform the combo and it never came. :mad:

[Pyabo]

I just got back from a 4-day snowboarding weekend where we basically played Tetris Attack if we weren't snowboarding. It was awesome... probably played abut 200 games. The only sad part was that my ex-girlfriend now beats me on a fairly consistent basis. :o