Hatris

n/a

Hatris
System(s): PC Engine
Publisher: Microcabin
Developer: ParaGraph, Bullet-Proof Software
Genre: Puzzle
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-05-24 ¥5,8005,800 MC91002
Non-NEC versions Arcade Game Boy Nintendo Entertainment System

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Hatris (ハットリス) is a Tetris spinoff puzzle game created by Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Pokhilko of ParaGraph. While known for its release on Nintendo platforms, a PC Engine version was released exclusively in Japan by Microcabin in 1991.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot.

Set within a hat shop, Hatris is played in a similar fashion to Tetris in that random hats will fall from the top of the playing field and the player must arrange the hats onto the heads at the bottom to score points and keep the playing field open. Hats fall in pairs, and the player can move the falling hats with ← and → and switch them around with Ⅰ. Pressing ↓ will instantly drop the hats, with the hat sticking on the tallest stack beneath it while the other hat can be moved to another stack. The hats come in six different kinds, and stack differently based on their shape.

The player must stack five hats of the same kind in a stack to eliminate them and decrease the hat count by one. When 25 sets have been eliminated, the stage is cleared and the player will move on to the next stage. Inbetween stages, a "sale" screen appears and the player is given the option of removing all hats of a particular kind from the playing field. Choosing "PASS" or not making a choice in five seconds will continue the game without removing any hats, and the player will receive bonus points instead. Additionally, once a kind of hat has been cleared via a sale, that same kind cannot be chosen again after a later stage in the same shop.

Another way to clear hats is to place fireballs that periodically appear - a red fireball will burn only one kind of hat at the top of a stack, while a blue fireball will burn the entire stack, however burning hats will not decrease the quota, and crowns cannot be burned. If a stack is allowed to reach the line at the top of the playing field, the game is over.

The game has a total of six shops, each with ten stages, and the player can select their starting stage and shop when starting a new game. When all stages in a shop have been cleared, the player will be encouraged to play a harder shop. Higher number shops begin with random kinds of hats already stacked on the heads, with the number per stack tied to the shop number (e.g. shop 5 has five hats per head). A faster game speed can also be accessed by pressing HOLD ↓ RUN  at the title screen.

Hats

Hat	Mountain Hat	Hiking Hat	Umbrella Hat	Top Hat	Wizard Hat	Crown
Points	50	80	120	150	200	300
Starting stage	0	0	0	2	4	7

Versions

The PC Engine version of Hatris is largely based off the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy versions previously released by Bullet-Proof Software. Alexey and Vladimir appeared as extra characters in the NES version of the game who would assist the player in various ways after clearing enough hats, whereas they do not appear in this version. Video System produced an arcade version with slightly different gameplay rules and support for two players.

Magazine articles

Main article: Hatris/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

NEC Retro Average
Publication Score Source Computer & Video Games 88 №117, p48-49

	88
Based on 1 review

PC Engine, JP
Cover
Card File:Hatris jp manual.pdf Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 44e7df53 MD5 03d5882776b8dad0ddceff42a173d493 SHA-1 1e2475ae58f1e612591aca44d742cc6558d75e15	128kB		Card (JP)