Lumines Creator Says His Ill-Fated Tetris PSP Game Wouldn’t Have Been ‘the Best’

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi and his team at Q Entertainment originally wanted to make a game with Tetris in the early 2000s, but when they couldn’t get the rights, they created Lumines instead.

Over the years, the two game series have influenced each other. Mizuguchi eventually created his own version of the classic puzzle game Tetris, called Tetris Effect, and it used many of the same ideas as his earlier game, Lumines.

Lumines is making a return with a new version called Lumines Arise, and it’s taking inspiration from the successful design of Tetris Effect: Connected, created by Enhance.

It’s a fascinating situation. We actually discussed it with Mizuguchi during a recent interview about Lumines Arise, and he shared his perspective on how things have unfolded over time.

Mizuguchi explained that when the PSP launched, they couldn’t get the rights to Tetris, which ultimately led them down a different path. He believes every new game has a story behind its creation, and Lumines wouldn’t have been made if they’d been able to secure the Tetris license.

He’s actually glad things happened as they did, believing his team’s inexperience back then might have resulted in a poorer quality Tetris game if things had gone differently.

That experience led directly to the creation of Lumines. It allowed us to develop our unique game design approach, inspired by synesthesia, and ultimately establish ourselves in a specific area of the gaming world.

To be honest, even if we’d secured a deal with Sony to develop a Tetris game for the PSP, I’m not sure we could have delivered the best version at the time.

When Mizuguchi and his team weren’t able to get the Tetris project, they had to look for a different path to pursue.

Mizuguchi explains that their success stems from creating Lumines, a game they proved could be emotionally engaging on a handheld device simply through block-dropping gameplay synchronized with music.

We were able to create Tetris Effect because of what we learned while developing Lumines. Our previous work really informed this new experience.

It’s amusing that Mizuguchi once doubted his abilities, considering he didn’t end up creating a Tetris game for the PSP. Instead, he and his team developed Lumines, which is now considered one of the PSP’s greatest games.

It’s interesting to imagine what a Tetris game made by him on the PSP would have been like – maybe a simpler, more retro version of Tetris Effect? It’s possible the idea needed more powerful technology to really come to life, and would have been better suited for a later release.

I’m just so happy that both Tetris and Lumines are still around, and that Enhance is giving them both such beautiful updates. It’s awesome!

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2025-11-04 19:07