Looking up the Japanese Wikipedia page for "ochige" (lit. "falling (block) game") showed the 1989 game "nlith" as the only notable release between Tetris and Columns. The only evidence of it I've got so far is this one Nicovideo upload (https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm28114540)
What most interests me about this game is the "holy point" and "evil point" system… it immediately got me thinking: could this maybe be the origin of the Puyo forms "Holy Counter" and "Evil Counter" ???