Everything you need to know about Apple TV+’s Tetris is in a single scene, roughly 20 minutes in. Bullet-Proof Software boss and Tetris licence holder Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton) is welcomed into the “inner sanctum” of Nintendo Of America’s Seattle headquarters by then- NOA president Minoru Arakawa (Ken Yamamura) and VP and company lawyer Howard Lincoln (Ben Miles). Rogers is presented with an NDA, and told: “Only ten other people in the world have seen what you’re about to see, and to be honest we don’t trust you.” As a veil lifts, the garrulous salesman is for once struck dumb. Then we see what he’s reacting to, the camera slowly zooming in on Super Mario Land’s title screen. “It’s called,” Lincoln says, pausing for effect, “the Game Boy.”
World 1-1 of the game that’s set to bepromptly appears onscreen. Arakawa starts playing and is immediately impressed. Shifting into salesman mode, Rogers outlines the most important pitch of his life: “Gentlemen, if you want to sell a couple of hundred thousand Game Boys to little kids, package them with But if you want to sell of Game Boys, to
