Not only Tetris: games that were developed by Alexey Pajitnov (13 photos)

In 1984, Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov created one of the most successful computer games - Tetris. At that time, he worked at the computer center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in his free time he developed on his work computer “Electronics-60” the very game that would gain worldwide fame and popularity.





But today I would like to talk about what other games the famous Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov had a hand in.

Welltris



In 1989, a new game from Alexey Pajitnov called “Welltris” was released, which was created by order of the Doka company. The name is a play on the words "Well" and "Tetris".

In good terms, this game is very similar to Tetris, but its action takes place in a well with a top-down view. The figures slide down all 4 walls, and the player must line up the lines at the bottom of the well.

This game was developed for computers running DOS, but was later ported to other popular platforms of the time - Amiga, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, etc.

Faces





Alexey Pajitnov worked together with Vladimir Pokhilko to create the next game "Faces" (1990). This puzzle was also similar to "Tetris", but instead of figures, parts of faces fell from above (hence the name). The point of the game was to put faces together. Only then did this face disappear, freeing up the territory for new parts of faces.

Hatris



In the same 1990, another puzzle game was released, to which Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Pokhilko had a hand. We are talking about the game "Hatris", the essence of which was to collect 5 identical hats on each person's head, after which they would disappear.





The game was developed for several platforms, but on each of them a cameo from Pajitnov himself awaited us. In the arcade version, he appeared in the intro, greeting players, on the Famicom console, a drawn Pajitnov appeared on the title screen, and in the NES version, his character is present during the game in the upper left corner, while a drawn Vladimir Pokhilko can be seen in the lower right corner.

Magnetic Crane



In the same 1989, another game from Alexey Pajitnov was released, created specifically for the joint Soviet-American company Dialog for the DOS platform. This game is called "Magnetic Crane", which fully reflects the essence of the game.

With the help of a special magnet suspended at the top, the player must lift the cars to put the collapsed trains back together.

Knight Move



In 1990, another puzzle was released, which Pajitnov called “Knight's Move.” This game was licensed from the Dialog company by Nintendo, releasing it under the name "Knight move". True, it was not released on the NES and SNES consoles we are used to. Nintendo released it exclusively on floppy disks for its Famicom disk system platform.



In 1995, a more modern version for computers (Knight Moves) was released, only instead of a chess knight, a knight in armor was jumping along the trajectory of the letter “G”. But the game did not gain success due to great slowness. Pajitnov himself said that the developers were too carried away with 3D graphics, which greatly spoiled it. It just didn't sell.

El Fish



In 1989, Alexey Pajitnov created his company "Animatek", and after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, he moved to the USA, where he had more favorable conditions for creating games.

Thus, in 1993, the Animatek company developed an aquarium simulator called "El Fish", the essence of which was to arrange your own aquarium.

And the most interesting thing is that the virtual aquarium created by yourself could be used as a screensaver.

Ice and Fire



In 1995, Alexey Pajitnov, together with Vladimir Pokhilko, came up with a rather unconventional game for themselves, “Ice and Fire,” which is not a puzzle, but a first-person shooter.

But the game was not a success, so their experiment with a 3D shooter failed. As a result, the Animatek company began to experience great financial difficulties, and in 1998, Pajitnov’s colleague (Vladimir Pokhilko) committed suicide.

Yoshi's Cookie



Alexey Pajitnov had a hand in many games. Some of them were published without his participation, but with his approval and a photograph on the cover. Alexey himself says that he doesn’t even remember all the games in which he participated in the creation. He even took part in the SNES game Yoshi's Cookie, a spin-off of Super Mario.

Marbly



Of course, we won’t list all the games, but I would still like to mention the latest game to date, which is listed as Pajitnov’s. This game differed from others in that it was developed only for mobile platforms running iOS.

The game is another puzzle game, which in style is somewhat reminiscent of the game "Color Lines", which was released in the early 90s by other Soviet developers.

Have you heard anything about these games, or maybe you even played some of them? Please write in the comments, because I personally have not encountered any of these games, except for "Yoshi's Cookie", and even then on the "Dendy" console.