Tetrisphere for N64 feels like a sheet of atomic bubblewrap

destructoid.com:

Growing up, I played a lot of puzzle games, but I didn’t have much love for them. This is because my mother loves puzzle games, and I probably didn’t like them much because it was one of the genres she could beat me at.

However, the experiences I had playing Yoshi’s Cookie and Kirby’s Avalanche with her have left me with some nostalgia for the titles. I don’t actually play them much, but they feel good to my soul, at least.

One game I used to play with her is different, however. It’s a puzzle game that I’m actually enthusiastic about and dust off every so often. It’s one that I can enjoy without the sentimental attachment, even if some sentiment is still there. That is 1997’s Tetrisphere for the N64.

Despite the name, Tetrisphere has very little to do with Tetris outside of falling blocks that remove other blocks. The blocks themselves aren’t even necessarily tetrominoes, though a few are.

It actually began development for the Atari Jaguar as Phear, which is a better name despite its lack of marketable brand recognition. According to the ancient tomb, Electronic Gaming Monthly, at the time, Nintendo was on the hunt for developers willing to stuff their games into a cartridge, so they scooped it up for their own.

It was created by H2O Entertainment, who would later create The New Tetris and Aidyn Chronicles (which I can’t believe I haven’t played) for the N64.

The concept is that you have a sphere that is covered in various shapes of blocks, and with the power of block fission, you need to burrow to its core, at least in most of the modes. Beyond just throwing blocks at the orb, you can also grab hold of them to shift them next to other blocks. While some of the block shapes just have to be touching, others, like the line block and square, have to be directly aligned, so you need to be careful and set up the best combos you can.

It works so damned well. 3D block-breaker puzzle games rarely figure out how to put the added dimension to good use, but Tetrisphere nails