Mega Drive Tetris - Was it released?

I want to say that recently some repros has been sold on Ebay that in photo are an almost exact copy of the original. The seller is spanish

 

There was this auction couple of years ago.
Just saved the pictures, though. Can't remember who won the auction btw.
We all know how japanese collectors work. Rare stuff bought usually vanishes forever.





Regarding alexei telling the game didn't make it. Well, 1989, he didn't have the rights on the game, was still in USSR so I wouldn't consider this as facts.
Moreover, over the years, I've read a lot of people from the gaming industry telling "facts" when they were obviously wrong so...

 

Are you sure the complete set was sold? I believe if it was sold, it wasn't publicly on YAJ. I saved the images as well and if I recall correctly the set was put up for sale several times but nobody ever bid on it. The starting bid was 1.3 million yen, I named the pictures after it.

 

Correct Ave, the auction was not sold. I'm aware of this copy and I know where it is, is one of the 3 I know it's legit.

Any more MD Tetris anyone?

 

I would love to get my hands on that game...

What about this prototype?

http://www.segagagadomain.com/megadrive4/tetris.htm

 

I remember seeing, what appeared to be, a genuine copy in Mandarake Galaxy a few years back. For a few moments I had the silly idea of purchasing it as I had the funds available (though it would have meant I wouldn't have had anymore money for the whole holiday) It was actually up for sale as opposed to it just being an attractive ornament as so many of their rare games tend to be.

In the end I knocked the idea on the head and bought some cheap Saturn games instead.

 

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/retronauts-video/

The game appears in the 2nd video at 5:00.

 

Just to let you guys know, if you're curious to see it, the Sega Ages Tetris game for PS2 includes the full cover art, cartridge and manual scans for MD Tetris.

 

It does? Way to go Sega! The will make life so much easier for some arse to make a fake. Well, that's if it includes the insides of the manual as well.

Yakumo

 

Well, ACE reviewed it in their August 1990 edition, so some must have been imported to the UK before it got recalled.

 

Just because a mag ran a preview doesn't necessarily mean that they actually had a physical copy to test. Back then there was just as much hype and supposition as there is today so I'd take the above comments with a pinch of salt. As for any pics, they'll just have come from some generic flyer or press release that SEGA would have sent either to the magazine publishers directly or via reps, not from actual hardware & software video capture.

 

This is a review from a primarily computer focused UK magazine which also ran the occasional console import review. Note that the Mega Drive hadn't even been released in the UK at that point, there's no way Sega Japan would have sent anything to this UK computer publication. Magazines then obtained their games from grey importers which the OP also states were advertising this game at the time.

And here's one of those advertisements from CVG July 1990, this one even claimed to have it in stock when placing the advertisment.

 

Fantastic, nice to see my MD Tetris thread has 'Wisen fwom it's gwave' nearly a year after I started it!

I am still convinced that I know what I saw all those years ago in Weybridge! I forgot that Ace had reviewed it, so I guess there will continue to be plenty of speculation over how many copies got out, and the likely chance of any getting to the UK.

What I do know is the grey import scene was RAMPANT at this time, so if MD Tetris did make it out of the factory and through to distributors, then some of the shops over here would have gotten it.

And Mundocombo, I realise as you own one of 'teh r@re' copies that you have taken the time to look into the history of MD Tetris more than most of us, but why does that make you think it is so hard to find, and never saw even a very limited release, similar to Giana Sisters - I will give you an example...

I collect Atari 8-Bit disc games, UK releases in the plastic wallets (a la US Gold), and one I have been after for a good three years is Strip Poker (yeah, yeah, I know - trust me I don't want it for w@nk material!)

I scour eBay for Atari 400/800/XL/XE and Atari Disk every day (I have these as a saved search on iPhone eBay for the last six months!) and it never shows up. Before I could do this on the phone I checked eBay on the PC every few days, nothing.

But... This was advertised in Atari User around 1991/2 for £6.99 month after month, so there must have been loads of them around... So where did they all go? Same goes for a US Gold version of Alternate Reality: The Dungeon... Never seen one in the wild! What is that all about? While it is certainly rarer than Strip Poker, I still don't understand why they never put in an appearance, what the hell happened to all that old software?

The only way this will ever be settled, is if Sega, or one of the Japanese distributors of the time, or even a UK grey importer with a good memory can elaborate on what happened back then.

Sightings, reviews in Ace magazine, grey importer adverts... Seems like there is more to this story that what we presume we know!

 

Do remember that adverts for the magazines may have been prepared a few months before it was published, so that some games would be listed on a release sheet by distributors months before the games were released. So if a game does get cancelled then the advert will state the game was released but obviously it wasn't.

Tetris was advertised and announced but was cancelled before general release, so said importer would have got a listing saying Tetris, would have advertised it, ordered it from Japan and as the magazine would have been published when he should have had items in, he says "In stock...".

Some of the bigger magazines at the time, like CV&G (Emap), ACE and New Computer Express (Future) would have people in Japan, so there is also a possibility that the game was played and reviewed in Sega's office in Japan rather them having a full release cartridge.

Also remember that Tetris was released as a pirate game not long after this... so importers could also advertise this rubbish too.

C&VG reviewed Pengo on the Megadrive and at the time I wanted the game, but could I find any importer (that advertised in the magazine or otherwise) that had or could order the game? Not on my life...

The Tetris cover and manual are on the PS2 Tetris collection and they are easy enough to rip and copy, although a decent designer and offset printing which would cost you a fair bit, but would allow you to produce a repro that would be hard to tell from the real thing...

 

That's certainly possible, and taken on it's own I would assume this to probably be the case, however, I don't think the review is so easy to dismiss.

Later some did have someone in Japan, but this was still pretty early, and their console coverage was still pretty small. For example CVG which had the best console coverage at the time reviewed just one import game (MD Thunderforce III), and two official SMS releases in their August 1990 issue. ACE was mainly an Amiga and ST mag, which didn't even have a regular console section, or even any console coverage at all some months. They had very little reason to have anyone in Japan, and even if they did I doubt Sega would invite someone from an obscure foreign magazine with no proper console coverage from a country where they didn't even sell the console to come and play Tetris. I mean it's not exactly the best title to show off the capabilities of the console for when it does eventually release in that country, and would have been unlikely to be a launch title anyway.

In Hong Kong maybe, but the legitimate importers generally didn't sell pirate stuff. I had to reply to a cryptic reader's small ad to get a brochure for a Magicom.

It can be explained away by fabricated reviews, an unlikely invite by Sega, or maybe some other reasons, but applying Occam's razor the most likely explanation to me is that the reviewer ordered it from one of the importers advertising it, received it, and reviewed it, just like how every other import review happened at the time.

 

Did Mundocumbo pick up his copy before or after the release of the ps2 collection?

To take this one even further - Has anyone ever seen a copy BEFORE the Ps2 Collection disc was released... And I mean 'seen with their own eyes' or even a 'photo' of the case/cart and manual.

If not, I'd say there's every chance all of the carts are fakes (unless someone directly involved in the production from Sega can confirm otherwise)

Just a thought but it would make sense if all known copies appeared AFTER the ps2 collection appeared and not before. (bear in mind they would have had a good 8 or 9 years to show up beforehand and it would be VERY strange if none had turned up before, then suddenly four or five appear later)

 

I think this is getting silly. Many people saw Sega Tetris long before the PlayStation 2 version. Sega Tetris is real, I just think nobody really knows if/or how many were shipped to be sold or sold, but Sega did make it.

Another collector here owns it and I think he has done for what feels like forever, at least for all the years I have known him, and I believe he bought his a long long time ago (long before PlayStation 2 version).

It is known that Tetris was produced by Sega and that it existed many years ago, and I think that shoudn't be in question.

I think it is possible that Sega Tetris might of been sold for 1 day or something before being stopped. Many collectors say that it was shipped to shops at least, so I think it is not entirely impossible that some made it to importers or something.

 

The review might have been from a proto version as well. I have a proto board of Tetris, same code as the official final version....

I'm with Juste though, official Tetris MD exists, no need to question that. It just isn't as rare as some bellends make out.

 

The trouble is, said 'bellend's' have a vested interest in trying to maintain the air of myth and mystique that these anomalous cars produce. If they don't crawl from under their rocks every now and again - like the people who supposedly own copies of Res Evil 1.5 - and jump and wave saying ''Cooee, look what I've got'' then their prized item is nothing more than another cart sitting on a shelf gathering dust.

It's nothing but a giant ego-wank and all this cock displaying does is show up these people for the bores that they are.

 

As for the advertising, I have many shop advertising with spot goes to hollywood for the 32x available for sale (first example coming to my mind), which shows that seeing tetris on a shop ad means nothing.