Tetrisphere is a variant of Tetris in which various shapes are shifted across a wrapped three-dimensional grid resembling a sphere and subsequently destroyed.

The game's objective varies depending on the mode but generally involves removing layers of shapes to reach the core of the playing field.

Despite limited domestic advertising, Tetrisphere achieved moderately good sales[citation needed] and received mostly favorable critical reviews.

[4] In most Tetris titles, a player's score is incremented by completing "lines", where a row of brick pieces without gaps is removed from the 2D playing field.

While the player is scrutinizing the playfield in search of potential combos, a blue timer known as the "speed meter" slowly counts down.

When the speed meter reaches zero, a new yellow timer begins, and the player starts moving toward the sphere at an increasingly fast pace (returning to the default position for each piece dropped).

"Hide and Seek" shares the same objective and consists of a mix of different challenges, such as exposing a picture imprinted on the sphere's core.

The "Puzzle" mode removes the drop timer, combo weapons, and the infinite and random nature of the pieces supplied to the player.

Instead, players must remove all blocks from the surface of the globe, given a finite number of sliding moves and drops of selected pieces.

[11][12][13][14] H2O, which had completed a reverse takeover with Canadian Entech Resources Inc., began working exclusively for Nintendo during the game's development.

Senior developers enhanced the engine so that only a portion of the sphere is visible at any given time, thereby reducing the rendering load on the N64 hardware.

He began the project as a freelancer while it was still in development for the Atari Jaguar and later signed on as an audio director when the game transitioned to the Nintendo 64.

[18] Voss served as the sole producer, composer, and sound engineer, although he received assistance from in-house programmer David Pridie and staff from Silicon Graphics.

Initially inspired by a cyberpunk style, the team shifted to the techno genre to reflect the "uniqueness" of Tetrisphere as a puzzle game.

[20] Critics widely praised its innovative design,[26][31][35] numerous and engaging modes of play,[23][26][28][31][35] and its funky soundtrack, which allows players to select their preferred tracks.

[23][26][28][31] Jer Horwitz wrote in GameSpot that Tetrisphere "is precisely the sort of game that the Nintendo 64 really needs, offering revolutionary gameplay, impressive long-term value, and a set of visual effects that go above and beyond what Sony's PlayStation can handle".

[23][26][28][35] Horwitz, who experienced the game's demo as Phear at the Consumer Electronics Show, was particularly impressed with the significant improvements made over the original Jaguar version, noting the smooth spheres and dynamic 3D backgrounds.

[26] Next Generation disagreed with the majority, stating that "Graphically, Tetrisphere doesn't live up to most other Nintendo 64 games—the most obvious flaw is an annoying pop-up as the player rotates the globe".

Next Generation and GamePro both stated that the gameplay's complexity and unprecedented mechanics make it challenging to learn, but ultimately more rewarding.

[23][26] Smith and Boyer's co-reviewer Dan Hsu, however, asserted that mastering the game is impossible, as its 3D nature makes it impractical to get a complete view of the field within the time constraints, and tackling the puzzles blindly can be boring.

[23] IGN's Doug Perry simply commented that "Puzzler fanatics, however, may want to steer clear of this game for fear of permanent addiction".