{"id":1054332,"date":"2026-01-18T22:26:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=489871"},"modified":"2026-01-18T22:26:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:26:52","slug":"a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris<\/em> will be added to Nintendo Switch Online\u2019s NES collection on Dec. 12<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NES Tetris<\/em> was released a few months after its slightly more famous sibling, also developed by Nintendo: the iconic Game Boy version of Tetris<\/em>. But while that game had a color remaster in the form of Tetris DX<\/em>, and a Virtual Console release on the Nintendo 3DS, NES Tetris<\/em> has never been officially reissued until now.<\/p>\n

Despite that, NES Tetris<\/em> has an outsized legacy \u2014 and a surprising place in the esports scene. Over the decades, it has emerged as the default choice for competitive Tetris <\/em>play, and in recent years a generation of young players<\/a> has been demolishing records and rewriting the meta for the 35-year-old game.<\/p>\n

Nintendo\u2019s complex, high-wire battle with Soviet Russian bureaucracy and shady British media interests to secure the rights to Tetris<\/em> in the late 1980s is the stuff of legend<\/a>. The main prize was the handheld publishing rights, so Tetris <\/em>could be a launch title for Game Boy. But Nintendo made sure to lock down console publishing rights for the game too (outside Japan, where its business partner Henk Rogers had already released the game for the Famicom).<\/p>\n

Nintendo has guarded those rights with typical covetousness. NES and Game Boy Tetris<\/em> were both notably absent from the recent compilation title Tetris Forever<\/a><\/em>. But, if Game Boy Tetris<\/em> is the single most important version of the indelible puzzle game, then NES Tetris<\/em> can stake a strong claim to being the second. <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be added to Nintendo Switch Online\u2019s NES collection on Dec. 12. NES Tetris was released a few months after its slightly more famous sibling, also developed by Nintendo: the iconic Game Boy version of Tetris. But while that game had a color remaster in the form of Tetris DX, and a Virtual Console release on the Nintendo 3DS, NES Tetris has never been officially reissued until now. Despite that, NES Tetris has an outsized legacy \u2014 and a surprising place in the esports scene. Over the decades, it has emerged as the default choice for competitive Tetris play, and in recent…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1054333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nA missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":283,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/\",\"name\":\"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":320,\"caption\":\"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News","description":"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News","og_description":"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch","datePublished":"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/"},"wordCount":283,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/","name":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-18T22:26:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Perhaps the most significant Nintendo game that\u2019s never previously been rereleased is finally coming to the Switch. The 1989 NES version of Tetris will be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch.jpg","width":480,"height":320,"caption":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-missing-piece-of-nes-history-is-finally-coming-to-switch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A missing piece of NES history is finally coming to Switch"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1466924,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054332\/revisions\/1466924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1054333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}