Developer - Sega   Catalogue No. - None

Type - Action Puzzle

Click the image to see a high resolution scan.  Click here to see the game in action.

In August 2010 there was a prototype of the original Mega Drive Tetris for Auction on Yahoo Auctions Japan.  The auction went for very little money, in fact only 10,615 yen which to put in prospective is only a few thousand yen more than a normal retail game for the PS3 or Xbox 360.  The winner is indeed a very fortunate chap.

Now while it can't be said for sure that this proto is 100% legit although I have no reason to doubt that it is.  It can be said that this prototype does indeed carry the code for the official Japanese Tetris cartridge, NOT the hacked Chinese pirate that can be found all over the net and on every Mega Drive Tetris cartridge out there.  Just take a look at the below screen shots that I personally took from a Chinese pirate Tetris cartridge and this Prototype.

This is the real title screen as seen on the prototype and official cartridge.

And here is the title screen found on the Chinese fake version

Both of those screen shots were taken from real Mega drive hardware.  Notice how the Chinese fake covers the Sega logo with the copyright information.  Not only that but they've also completely re-written it as well.  Another point about the Chinese fake is that the Sega logo before the title screen appears as a load of blocks thanks to the pirates scrabbling the graphics code.

So why is the official Mega Drive Tetris so rare?  The game was in development along side the system 16 arcade version and completed and produced in full.  Just before the game was due to be shipped out to retailers a problem arose with the Tetris license giving Nintendo exclusive rights to the game.  Sega had no choice but to destroy all copies of the Mega Drive Tetris.  However 1 box of games did managed to survive.  It's said that there are only 10 official Mega Drive cartridges in existence making it one of the most sort after and most expensive games for the system.

Below you can see images of the real official Mega Drive Tetris.  This game doesn't belong to me so please don't ask about it.

and here is the crappy Chinese fake that can be found pretty much anywhere.