According to a 1993 Dengeki SFC magazine interview, the game's designer Norifumi Hara commented on the start of the game's development:

"We were tasked with creating a sequel to Tetris, and I love versus fighting games, so I wanted to make head-to-head competitive matches the main focus. Originally the title was "Batorisu" 1 [Note: This is a combination of the words "Batoru" (battle) and "Tetorisu" (Tetris) that does not quite translate well into English], and we were developing it for the Famicom, but of course the Super Famicom was a better choice, we realized."