In the news that we all look forward to welcoming us as we cross the threshold of 2024, the classic NES version of Tetris has finally been “beaten” for the first time by a highly skilled 13-year-old.
No, we’re not kidding, this is a game that came out in 1989 and hasn’t seemed to be beaten in a verifiable way by anyone since that point was finally forced to its knees in the final days of 2023. It’s also quite literal submission, given that victory is achieved by having it collapse in climactic fashion.
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The grizzled gaming veteran managed to reach a “real kill screen” that “was considered unreachable for decades,” according to one ResetEra user, streaming and Tetris expert Blue Scuti. They somehow managed to become the first player in recorded history to reach level 157 in the game, which is when this mythical crash occurred, seemingly because the game was trying to calculate how much someone put into Tetris Ideas for more time and effort.
You can watch the entire 40 or so minutes of gameplay as Blue Scuti (his real name is Willis) accomplishes this feat in this video, which has been uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the Classic Tetris World Championship, but I didn’t. Didn’t know this was a thing until today. The whole thing is well worth sitting through, as the changing colors and 8-bit atmosphere are so enjoyable.
In the interview at the end of the video, Blue Scuti explains that the desire to achieve Crash came from the previous world record for Tetris runs, as well as the desire to defeat 2023 NES Tetris champion fractal161 to achieve that goal. “I was only 18 lines away (from the collision line),” the anchor said, “and, you know, I just thought, if I’m that close, I might as well race him.”
He revealed that the most difficult part of the run was “when the nerves start to kick in about 30 minutes into the race”, explaining that “if you miss five clicks, the run is over”. In terms of levels, Blue Scuti added that level 146 was the most difficult level he’s ever experienced, as its color palette made the blocks difficult to see on the monitor he was using.
If you want to understand what makes the game’s “True Killscreen” such a landmark achievement, it’s worth checking out this video from YouTuber aGameScout.
The big question now is what is the next big milestone that Tetris Ace can aim for, and aGameScout suggests using an external tool to simulate what would happen if players could avoid the level 157 crash and reach the true final stage of the game (level 255, The Path Shown) . So, now we wait for someone to reach this point and beat it without causing death.
We’ll probably be here for a while, so check out our other Nintendo coverage while you wait.
