# Game Boy Tetris Label and PCB variants(USA).



## Todderbert (Aug 24, 2017)

Going through my collection of Game Boy games and noticed that I had alot of Tetris ones.  No surprise, almost every time I purchased a used DMG or Pocket I would get this game with it.  So I sat down and noticed there were label variants.  I have four types of them.  Took some pictures of the label art and opened them up to see the internals.  They made a ton of these carts, so I could see how they would have changed labels over time. 
If you have a US variant not pictured here, go ahead and add it.  For science!


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## koffieleut (Aug 24, 2017)

The one on the top left allmost looks fake, it looks like there is a PLCC soldered on it.


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## migles (Aug 24, 2017)

koffieleut said:


> The one on the top left allmost looks fake, it looks like there is a PLCC soldered on it.


top left (in the second picture) is the only real one.
the others are fakes lol


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also noticed something weird, that icon game link gamepak..
i have european cartridges and they just say "original game boy videogame"
it's kinda weird, what is the purpose of the symbol?


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## Touko White (Aug 24, 2017)

migles said:


> top left (in the second picture) is the only real one.
> the others are fakes lol
> 
> 
> ...


the point of the "original game boy video game" probably was to show that it was licensed/approved by Nintendo or whatever, then used in the GBC era to tell idiots that it wouldn't work in their oGB.


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## migles (Aug 24, 2017)

Touko White said:


> the point of the "original game boy video game" probably was to show that it was licensed/approved by Nintendo


don't really think so...
for that purpose you have the "nintendo official seal" thing...

i noticed i got a cartridge with "super game boy gamepak" replacing it. which does makes sense. it's to inform that it has enhancements for the super game boy...
in that tetris logos you can see the icon means "game link compatible" and there is 2 boys with their gb...
however with "vanilla" carts, that icon just says "official game boy game pack"

heres an example: 
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/16/165930/2307658-amazingspiderman_gb_cart_usa.jpg


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## Touko White (Aug 24, 2017)

migles said:


> don't really think so...
> for that purpose you have the "nintendo official seal" thing...
> 
> i noticed i got a cartridge with "super game boy gamepak" replacing it. which does makes sense. it's to inform that it has enhancements for the super game boy...
> ...


yeah that's what I thought after I posted that >_<


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## CMDreamer (Aug 24, 2017)

migles said:


> top left (in the second picture) is the only real one.
> the others are fakes lol
> [...]



I second this. The black blobs are a cheap replacement for an IC, that can be seen on that picture.

Sadly don't have any Tetris GB game cartridge, even though I have an original DMG-001 GB system I've got for really cheap. And actually I'm searching for one, an original one that is. As I see it now, I should open the cartridge just to make sure it is.

Thanks for the pics and info!


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## XxShalevElimelechxX (Aug 24, 2017)

The tetris with the white outline is the non-bundled version of the game. (the one you purchased separately).
I know what I'm going to say now is off-topic, but I think it's worth to mention: The board says DMG-*TRA *but not DMG-*TR* like on the label is because all the PCBs were manufactured in Japan (obviously) but AFAIK, the top-left one (the one that has the DMG-TRA-1 chip) is the board of the Japanese version put into a US casing (it doesn;t really matter because the ROM is identical to all regions).
BUT do you know all the tetris carts are a hardware revision?
There is an obscure variant of tetris that was released in Japan only that had the chip DMG-TRA-*0* and the ROM has a few changes:
1. The A-TYPE song is different, it's not korobeniki but another one called "minuet".
2. If you started the game at level 9 you can reach level 10 by clearing only 20 lines instead of 100.
3. In A-TYPE, the player needs 50,000 less points for the rocket starts (50,000 points for small missile, 100,000 for medium, 150,000 for big).
4. The level up sound is less conspicuous and there is another unused level-up sound accessed by a game genie code.
5. Inputs during line clears are not ignored.
This allows to charge a Delayed Auto Shift for the next Tetromino.
Using the rotation buttons will have no effect besides creating a sound, such a sound will silence the remaining part of the line clear sound.
6. Other minor differences.
I'm a lucky owner of this version (CIB!), so I cloud upload a picture of the PCB (link).
Just wanted to share with ya, because most of the collectors I know don't know this.
It's indeed interesting because it is the internal version of the game that changed the gaming industry (yeah ik tetris existed before but wasnt that popular until the gameboy era)
The cart was in a special big box bundle that has a link cable inside, and has the code DMG-TRAT, and around 10,000-25,000 copies of it were sold.
But back to topic, AFAIK the glob PCBs are later versions of the game.


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## Todderbert (Oct 7, 2017)

I agree with the poster above, these are legit, just different revisions.  Notice they tend to be square blobs instead of round, which Nintendo did use on some of the NES games.  Also someone find me a fake Tetris Gameboy cart, I don't think they exist.


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## CollectionMaster (Jan 9, 2018)

migles said:


> i noticed i got a cartridge with "super game boy gamepak" replacing it. which does makes sense. it's to inform that it has enhancements for the super game boy...
> in that tetris logos you can see the icon means "game link compatible" and there is 2 boys with their gb...
> however with "vanilla" carts, that icon just says "official game boy game pack"


May I just point out that the difference between the icons mean different things. "Official Gameboy Game Pack" means that the cartridge is certified by Nintendo, sort of like the Nintendo seal shown on the bottom right cart. "Game Link Compatible" means that a game link cable can be used to access 2 player mode. Finally, "Super Gameboy Game Pack" means that it unlocks cool stuff that average carts do not contain when used with the Super Gameboy.


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## migles (Jan 9, 2018)

CollectionMaster said:


> "Official Gameboy Game Pack" means that the cartridge is certified by Nintendo


i got confused about it because there is tbe nintendo official seal below, doesn't make sense having 2 different symbols to say the same thing


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