Tetris Zero

Hack description

This is a 2 player hack for the NES version of Tetris. In order to accomplish this, the ROM was converted from MMC1 to MMC3. The PRG was expanded to have 2 additional PRG banks.

Also, a custom bankswap routine was added since no bankswap was present in the original ROM. The following features were added:

Enabled 2 player mode.

Created custom controls for 2nd player on non & in-game screens.

Created custom designs for A/B-Type 2 player mode.

Created asm to allow 2nd player to have stats shown on in-game screen.

Player 2 has the ability to write their name into the scoreboard.

Added a new gameplay feature to the B-Type Mode. In B-Type mode, in order to win 25 lines must be cleared. There is now the ability to choose how many lines to clear. There is a choice from 01-80 lines to clear.

Player 2 now has the ability to obtain their own game piece, no longer sharing/stealing from player 1.

Player 2 now has a proper NEXT piece box, along with working select button to enable/disable display.

Player 2 now has the ability to select an additional +10 levels from what they choose from A/B-Type (player 1 can hold the A button down when they have level 0-9 highlighted, and when they press start with A button held, the player will start +10 levels from what was selected. Player 2 can also do the same thing. However, this can only be done while player 2 holds down the B button. When player 1 presses start, player 2 needs to have the B button held down in order to get the +10 level).

The archive also includes a .sav file for those who own a powerpak for the NES.

Contributor	Type of contribution	Description
infidelity	Hacking	asm modification

Reviews

Good concept, but one big flaw..	Doomkid	2022-08-06	Version Final V2
If only the music speeding up when you get near the top was removed.. In 2 player, if one user is near the bottom but the other is near the top (causing the music to speed up), the music will keep restarting over and over and over each time a player lowers their piece.. Really becomes a headache. Great if you mute it!

Such a nice polished game	tecvoid	2021-12-06	Version Final V2
Great game, the only thing confusing right off is the original scores setting. It's referring to the fact the game doesn't reset scores. I'm not sure if that's true in an emulator situation, but the menu setting is there to wipe the high scores that are battery written SDRAM memory Anyhow that's what I understood. The 2 player game is great it just doesn't have the garbage block attacks, but who cares. Another user pointed out that the junk version accessible by Game Genie had that, but for some reason it's not in this version - but it's got so much other great stuff it's the best version anywhere.

Awesome, but...	AgentCPU0	2019-02-08	Version Final V2
This is a great hack, I love being able to do multiplayer. There's just a slight problem, which I don't know if it's possible to fix. It seems to be incompatible with the GBMusicA patch. It overrides it, regardless of what order the game is patched. The hack itself isn't bad, it just would be better if we could also listen to the most iconic Tetris music as well.

Huge improvement over retail version, but still missing garbage block attacks	I am Christina Aguilera	2016-10-02	Version Final V2
First thing's first: it's a internet-known thing at this point that Nintendo R&D1 had a two-player mode for Nintendo's NES Tetris in development, but that they never completed their work on it. The final, retail-released game is one-player-only, although the very rough, unfinished 2P mode is accessible via a Game Genie code. There are no settings, no different graphics for this mode (sprites just appear on top of the 1P mode in very messy fashion), player 2 has no separate score or separate "next" block. This hack basically "completes" that 2-player mode in a mostly polished, official-looking manner. 2-player mode has its own functional menu and settings, its own set of background graphics, a separate set of high scores for two-player mode. High scores are permanently saved to an SRAM battery now! Aside from the tacked-on "ZERO" on the title screen, the game resetting after a 2P game instead of announcing who won, and the somewhat confusing "ORIGINAL SCORES - A BUTTON" score erase prompt on the settings screen, the whole thing looks for all the world like a complete Nintendo-made product with a new major feature that wasn't really there before in the official release. Now, the bad news. This hack does achieve parity with the "2 Player Competitive" mode from the Tengen NES Tetris release, in that two players can play Tetris simultaneously with separate, functional scores, but like the 2 Player Competitive mode in the Tengen Tetris, what it DOESN'T do, is allow players to send garbage block attacks to mess with their competitor as you can in Nintendo's Game Boy Tetris and most 2+ player versions of Tetris since. Curiously enough, garbage blocks were a part of the unfinished 2-player mode buried in the official release, so I presume that in Infidelity polishing the 2-player mode, something about the garbage blocks must just not have worked glitch-free enough to merit inclusion. So if you're looking for the end-all, be-all 2-player Tetris on the NES platform with garbage block attacks, then the Japan-only Tetris 2 + Bombliss (not related to the Tetris 2 that the rest of the world received) or maaaybe the LJ65 homebrew may still be your only choices. But! If you like the music, the graphics, and the physics of the Nintendo NES Tetris and want it to have a two-player mode like it always should have had? Do you want the best version of the Nintendo NES Tetris that you'll ever see? This is that hack.

Nice Hack	MathUser2929	2012-11-29	-
This is a nice Tetris hack. It does what it sets out to do, make Tetris NES (Nintendo) multiplayer compatible. It seems that all that is needed for a proper 2 player experience is there such as separate Next piece boxes. It makes the Nintendo NES port more the game it should have been. Why Nintendo left out a 2 player mode in the NES port I'll never know. Reccomended.

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