Falling Blocks: Difference between revisions

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[[File:tetris-~~gameboy_959~~.gif|link=Tetris|right]]

[[File:tetris-gameboy 959.gif|link=Tetris|right]]

One of the most common types of [[Puzzle Game~~|Puzzle Games~~]], particularly console video games.

One of the most common types of [[Puzzle Game]]s, particularly console video games.

A series of multicolored blocks falls onto the playing area from the top of the screen. As they fall, the player has to move or flip them, arranging them in a certain way in order to make them disappear. If the pile reaches the top of the screen, the game ends.

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* This type of game was [[Trope Codifier|popularized]] by ''[[Tetris]]'', and every game since has built on the formula in various ways. In ''Tetris'', The blocks fall in configurations of four, and the player has to make a continuous line of blocks to make them disappear.

** In some versions of ''Tetris'' (''Tetris DS'' and ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]]'', for instance), pieces don't even bother falling once you hit higher levels; they ''instantly hit the stack.''

* In [[Sega]]'s classic ''[[Columns]]'', the player arranges sets of gems into [[Match Three Game|lines of three or more. ]]

* In [[Sega]]'s classic ''[[Columns]]'', the player arranges sets of gems into [[Match Three Game|lines of three or more.]]

* The long-running ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' series features blobs, which are arranged into groups of four or ~~more--unlike~~ many, they don't actually have to be lined up, just connected horizontally and vertically. ''Puyo Puyo'' also was one of the first games to add "Junk Blocks", which are dropped onto the opponent's playing field.

* The long-running ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' series features blobs, which are arranged into groups of four or more—unlike many, they don't actually have to be lined up, just connected horizontally and vertically. ''Puyo Puyo'' also was one of the first games to add "Junk Blocks", which are dropped onto the opponent's playing field.

** ''Gorby's Pipeline'', a more obscure title also developed by [[Compile]], can be described as ''[[Tetris]]'' meets ''[[Pipe Mania]]''.

** After Compile lost the ''Puyo Puyo'' franchise to [[Sega]], it created a [[Spiritual Successor]] called ''Pochi and Nyaa'', which plays rather similarly.

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* An inversion of this trope is ''Puzzle League'' (aka ''Tetris Attack'' and ''[[Panel De Pon]]''), in which blocks rise instead of fall. It also features falling junk blocks, like ''[[Puyo Puyo]]''.

* Another inversion is ''Puzzle Bobble'' (aka ''Bust-A-Move''), in which the player shoots bubbles at the top of the screen and loses when they reach the bottom.

* A bizarre twist on the falling-block game occurs in the little-known game Friel. You maneuver pairs of monsters into a smallish grid, trying to make them disappear. How do you get them to vanish? No sort of in-a-row or adjacency ~~requirements -- monsters~~ vanish when there are five of the same one in any given 3x3 square. I'd link that to [[Guide Dang It]]... but this little bastard of a game ''doesn't have any guides.''

* A bizarre twist on the falling-block game occurs in the little-known game Friel. You maneuver pairs of monsters into a smallish grid, trying to make them disappear. How do you get them to vanish? No sort of in-a-row or adjacency requirements—monsters vanish when there are five of the same one in any given 3x3 square. I'd link that to [[Guide Dang It]]... but this little bastard of a game ''doesn't have any guides.''

* ''[[Trash Panic]]'', except the "blocks" are garbage.

* ''[[Irisu Syndrome]]'' combines this with a basic physics engine.

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* ''Gussun Oyoyo'' gives the player control over falling blocks, but arranging them into lines or other formations is not at all the object. Instead, they have to be placed to help Gussun make a ''[[Lemmings]]''-style progress to the [[Level Goal]].

* ''[[Bejeweled]]'' greatly modifies the formula. The field is already full, and matching the blocks causes more to fall into the field. Failure comes only if no more matches can be made (or time runs out).

* ''[[Critical Mass 2011 (video game)|Critical Mass]]'' is a ~~variant--instead~~ of falling automatically, you manually place the blocks on the cube; the cube gradually expands until it bursts.

* ''[[Critical Mass 2011 (video game)|Critical Mass]]'' is a variant—instead of falling automatically, you manually place the blocks on the cube; the cube gradually expands until it bursts.

* ''[[Slydris]]'' has horizontal blocks of various widths that drop from the top of the screen in rows. Interestingly, you can slide the blocks that are about to drop just like you can the ones already on the board.