{} Introduction {}
Hatris is a little known variant of Tetris that appeared on a handful of video
game systems in 1989. It was met with little fanfare upon its release and soon
faded into obscurity. While many gamers often lament a "lost classic" that
befell a similiar fate, sadly Hatris is a game best forgotten. Hatris may be
the worst puzzle game I have ever played purely from a gameplay standpoint.
Add into this equation that the visuals and audio are subpar and you have a
recipe for mediocrity.
This guide covers the TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) version of the game, so with
regards to certain menu options and audio issues there may be some variation
if you are playing on a different system. Gameplay, however, is the same
across all platforms I have tested. Personally I recommend staying away from
this one, but if you insist on trying it out this guide will give you an
overview of what gameplay there is and how scoring is handled. Hatris is very
simplistic and offers little-to-no variety. As such, this guide is not very
long but it covers most everything to be seen in the game.
{} Gameplay Basics {}
Upon starting a new game you are given three choices. The first is what stage
you would like to start on. Higher stage numbers cause more varieties of hats
to appear and for them to fall faster. The second option is what shop you would
like to start on. While unintuitive, this sets how many layers of hats will be
already present on the game screen when you start. Lastly you can choose to
play the game with music on or off. There is only one theme for the game, so
after you have your fill of it you can turn it off.
The game screen itself is your standard Tetris-style field. This one has six
columns. Hats come from the top of the screen in pairs. The pairs are situated
side-by-side. Your goal is to stack a set of hats, a set being a stack of five
of the same variety of hat, to make them disappear. You can flip the two hats
from left to right by pressing the 1-button (or an equivalent on another
platform). You can also "fast drop" the hats by pressing down. This will
automatically drop the hat that will land highest on top of the stack below
it, but will still allow you to move the second hat around if the stack below
it is lower.
To clear a "shop," you need to make a certain number of hat sets. This number
is listed to the left of the screen. A stack of smaller hats counts as one for
this number, a stack of medium hats counts as two, and a stack of large hats
counts as three. After clearing a couple of shops, you will move on to the
next stage which will change the characters at the bottom of the screen and
may add a new variety of hat to the possible hats that can fall. The only
change between stages and shops is the character depicted at the bottom of the
screen, the speed at which hats drop, and the variety of hats that can appear.
If a stack of hats ever reaches the top of the screen where the red line is,
you lose the game.
You score 200 points for making a stack of large hats (top hats or clown hats).
You score 80 points for making a stack of medium hats (beret or yellow crown).
You score 50 points for making a stack of small hats (skull cap or bowler hat).
This is multiplied by 1.5 if you score a clear with the second hat of the
current set if you scored a clear with the first hat of the set. You also score
an additional 2 to 8 points by pressing down and causing a hat to fast drop to
the next available spot for it to land.
Six times per shop of each stage, a ball of fire will fall in a set along with
one hat. If the ball of fire is red it will burn through the top hat on a stack
and through the hats directly below it that are of the same variety. If it is
blue fire it will burn through three varieties of hats of the stack. If you drop
fire on top of one of the heads at the bottom of the stack (that is, if the
stack is completely clear), you will burn the character's head and cause their
expression to change. Burning all six rows will not, however, do anything
special and you do not gain any extra points for burning heads vice hats.
One interesting variation Hatris throws into the mix of these style of puzzle
games is that when you lower a pair of hats if one side lands on a higher stack
than the other, you may continue to move the remaining hat about to try and
land it on a different stack than the one right next to where you placed the
first. While doing this, however, you cannot cross through a stack that is at
a higher point than the current location of the hat you are controlling.
{} Hat Varieties {}
Black Top Hat is the first hat added to what can appear after the initial
three hats. It is much taller than all the hats except the Red Clown Hat,
however if it is stacked on top of another Black Top Hat it will slide all the
way down to the round brim of the top hat below it. The title screen depicts a
dandy-looking man in a suit wearing this hat.
Blue Skull Cap is one of the initial hats and is very small. This makes it one
of the easier hats to manipulate and stack around the screen. The title screen
depicts a man in traditional Chinese dress wearing this hat.
Green Bowler Hat is one of the initial hats and is functionally identical to
the Blue Skull Cap. It still must be stacked in its own set of five to
disappear, but any manipulations you can perform with the skull cap can be
performed with the bowler hat. The title screen depicts a woman in a yellow
Summer dress wearing this hat.
Grey Military Beret is one of the initial hats and is slightly larger than the
Green Bowler Hat or Blue Skull Cap, but not as big as the Red Clown Hat or the
Black Top Hat. Unlike the two larger hats, however, it does not slide down to
the bottom of the hat below it, even if it is also a military beret. The title
screen interestingly enough shows this hat in a brown color on a rather rustic
looking fellow with a beard.
Red Clown Hat is one of the hats added into the mix in later stages. It
functions in the same manner as the Black Top Hat. You may mistake it for a
wizard's hat as I did. The title screen depicts the hat being worn by a clown.
Yellow Royal Crown is functionally very similar to the Grey Military Beret. It
is in the second tier in size as the beret is and does not slide down the
length of a crown below it. The title screen depicts it being worn by a king
in red robes.
Fireballs come in two varieties. Red fireballs will burn through the top hat
on a stack and through the hats directly below it that are of the same variety.
Blue fireballs will burn through three varieties of hats making up the stack. A
total of six fireballs will appear per shop, the color seemingly being random.
{} Copyrights {}
Hatris is (c) Paragraph, Bullet-Proof Software, and Micro Cabin.
