So Tetris has its negatives, granted. But I still think this re-release is spectacular, deserves your attention and demands four of your dollars – because it's the Tetris!
Really, this one wins on its nostalgia. That's a factor in all Virtual Console re-releases, of course, but this one is magnified in that regard – because everyone had this game before. Everyone – every Game Boy owner across a whole generation of the industry. Its audience was huge. Its impact on pop culture more pervasive, more engrained than even the Mario and Zelda releases of the same era. And if you think that a thin argument, I dare you to do a quick Internet search to bring up this game's iconic background music and see if you can resist the pull of reaching for your wallet.
Beyond just pure wistfulness for the old days, though, this Tetris really does succeed in several other areas. It's the core Tetris game, the design that's been so endlessly replayable that it's gone on to inspire over two decades' worth of spin-offs and sequels (let's see if anyone remembers Angry Birds in the year 2033). It includes both endless mode (A-Type) and a 25-line score attack with adjustable levels of garbage blocks (B-Type.)