Random thoughts on Tetris

[Jkrs]

Tetris is a surprisingly Zen game. You haven't got time to think about what you're doing, because that will slow you down too much. What you should do with a given block is either instantly clear, or it isn't. Nothing in between. Actually manipulating the block to fit the space (when you see one) is simple enough to be nearly a direct act of will.

Very Se-sounding, too, now that I think about it.

[kimo]

Ah, the soviet mind game. A very fun game, indeed. I enjoy tetris, due to its pick-up-and-play ability, rarely seen in new games. Example: my GBA SP and 256mb flash cart + NES Roms = Road Tetris. I'm not talking about a new 'souped up' Tetris. This is the game in it's simplest form, in its beauty.

Tetris rawks, simply put.

[Utopmk]

I have tetris worlds on my XBOX.
It's really great compared to the obsolete nintendo versions.
It actually has some good trance music, to set your mind in motion.

[int]

It's really great compared to the obsolete nintendo versions.

Band practice is nothing anymore without a game on the original NES. Our singer and I have a little battle going on.

Actually, that's not true...with so much happening lately we haven't had the chance. :(

[flan2dave]

Tetris Attack is my favorite puzzle game. Not much like tetris actually. More complex and frenetic.

As for tetris, take a look at this:

http://www.insertcredit.com/news/062002.html

Scroll down to the tetris Japan finals news item. Incredible playing.

[antireconciler]

Tetris Attack is my favorite puzzle game.

I LOVE Tetris Attack. My sister and I hook up a SNES JUST to play that game. We go for hours!

If anyone can put together a x12 chain or better in that game, you have my deepest respect :lol: (Actually, I'd want your autograph :ph34r:)

[flan2dave]

I love it too, now I'll have to tell my life's tetris attack story. :D I became acquainted with the Pokemon Puzzle League version on the Nintendo 64. I haven't had the fortune of another person to play against, so I play against the computer or solve the tremendous back log of limited moves puzzles. Super Hard mode offers a great challenge, usually computers only succumb to eight or higher chains, or an extremely drawn out 4 to 5 minute match that will put you in a sweat. Ten to twenty attempts is common for me. While the computer is lightning fast, they lack the improvisational and creative flair a player can exploit in putting together chains and combos.

The final opponent only allows you to challenge him once. If you fail, you have to return to the previous opponent, who is equally as hard. You'll need to beat him again in order to rechallenge the final opponent. In a moment that can only be explained by divine intervention, I crushed the last boss with my best chain yet achieved: 13x. B)

[Spartan26]

[quote="Jkrs"]What you should do with a given block is either instantly clear, or it isn't. Nothing in between. Actually manipulating the block to fit the space (when you see one) is simple enough to be nearly a direct act of will. quote]

I'd try to set up the board so that I'd prepare for certain shapes when they did fall, they'd do maximum damage. So cool to see like three rows go at one time.

Such an addiction. I remember playing in when I was still in college and staying in the computer lab until the place was deserted. Amazing game.

[antireconciler]

I love it too, now I'll have to tell my life's tetris attack story. :D I became acquainted with the Pokemon Puzzle League version on the Nintendo 64. I haven't had the fortune of another person to play against, so I play against the computer or solve the tremendous back log of limited moves puzzles. Super Hard mode offers a great challenge, usually computers only succumb to eight or higher chains, or an extremely drawn out 4 to 5 minute match that will put you in a sweat. Ten to twenty attempts is common for me. While the computer is lightning fast, they lack the improvisational and creative flair a player can exploit in putting together chains and combos.

The final opponent only allows you to challenge him once. If you fail, you have to return to the previous opponent, who is equally as hard. You'll need to beat him again in order to rechallenge the final opponent. In a moment that can only be explained by divine intervention, I crushed the last boss with my best chain yet achieved: 13x. B)

Yeah, it takes a second or so at the beginning of the final matches to calm myself enough to just play because they're moving those blocks so fast. In the SNES version, I find the last two battles actually slightly easier than the ones that come before it because the cpu scrolls up so far in order to give it the room it needs to land some of it's incredible chains. Hit it off the bat with something better than x4 and you might have him in under 25 secs with little effort.

4 minute battles, man, those are horrible. I'm shaky afterward and need to get up and get water or something before I go on.

On the SNES, the final battles are so CPU intensive, they can give you a significant advantage for several seconds at a time letting you hook up 2 or 3 time lag chains with no sweat.

x13 is phenomenal. Congratulations! B) I've gotten several x11s but every little step up takes a LOT of practice. They're so beautiful, too, when your garbage blocks take up all of the opponent's screen and you can only just barely see the angry face at the top of the screen on the block that marks the block's half way point. I just drop my controller and watch the CPU's pathetic resistance.

Edit: My sister thinks I'm nuts when I start getting beyond x9 and end up screaming in anguish because I missed the next highest marker however immenent her defeat. :nerd:

Edit: I got my first x12 July 25!

[paladinoflunaria]

I love tetris. I'm going to have to get a flash card for the Gameboy SP and upload the tetris rom on it. Another good game with tetris pieces but with a more puzzleish aspect is Daedalian Opus for the original Gameboy.

[Strephonade]

Tetris is one of the best games, ever! It even came with a cellphone I had--the one I have now has a 16-tile puzzle where you scoot the tiles around to create a picture. Gotta see if it's possible to get Tetris for it!

[Utopmk]

Heres a fun online version of Tetris.
http://games.hostedstuff.com/games/tetris/

[Mirimon]

I've got a great, free, .exe flash version of Tetris. The blocks just move faster with each level.

Email me if you want it, I can't find the URL.

[Anacaona]

I love Tetris... but I don't have it so I play "gelules" wich is kind of like Docteur Mario...

[Hunter]

I had Tetris Blast for my Game Boy...you had little bombs which were the only way to clear blocks...and one mode had these little virus-looking guys that would make your block fall all the way if they hit it and you won by killing them with the bombs...so much fun...

[candela]

I want to see that video of the guy playing tetris, but the link to it doesn't seem to go anywhere.

[ohnoaninfp]

I have tetris on my cell phone. It comes in handy when I am waiting at the doctors office or something like that.

[Strephonade]

Hey, you have 123 posts!

:D

[Birnam]

try http://firefox.itn.liu.se/funny/tetris_japan_finals.mpeg

and, wow. He's pretty good. I've not played tetris proper, just a pc version called bricklayer (a nice one though). I'm curious, what's a x11 or x13?

[antireconciler]

I'm curious, what's a x11 or x13?

In Tetris Attack (originally for the SNES), you have a screen that looks like:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/lucas5w4/ta1.jpg

The player can move a two-panel cursor around and switch any two blocks or empty space. If empty space, then the stuff above just falls down to what is below. The picture shows the left player finishing a switch with a star and a triangle. The idea is to line up three like blocks. The player on the left has just done this with the stars. When this happens, the blocks flash for a second (like the three circles on the right-player's screen), disappear, and leave empty space behind. If there are blocks above it, they fall onto what is below it (in this case, a single purple triangle block. If the falling stack left by the destroyed blocks lines up at least three more blocks when they land, you've formed a x2 chain. The time the blocks flash specifically allows you to move other blocks around so that when the blocks disapper and the blocks above it fall, that they line up at least three blocks immediatly when they land. In this example, the left player has several options of how to create a x2 chain when the three stars disappear and the stack above them falls. For one, he can switch the blocks circled:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/lucas5w4/ta2.jpg

so that after the stars dissappear, that the green circles make a line of three. Once you have a x2 chain, you can repeat the process by moving other blocks around to form a x3 chain ... and on and on. By the time you get up above ten, it gets extremely difficult to keep the chain going because you've used up so many blocks on the screen already!

It's GREAT fun.

[Star Cannon]

ooooh! There's a great Tetris game at Dosgames.com!
It's called Acid Tetris! Very good Tetris variant. If anyone can beat a highscore of 340,000 then your very good! I really do like Tetris...^.^

Star Cannon

[Birnam]

sorry for the delay, I've had lots of fun projects come up...

I get it antireconciler- That sounds like fun (the only PC version I have doesn't do anything like so cool). The hardest thing I ever did on purpose was take out four rows of the same color at once. (in the game I have, each type has only one color which doesn't change) That means that I had to have 9 four-long pieces covering the bottom before I could put one more in to finish them off. I must have tried hundreds of times before I finally did it. I was disapointed though- I thought I would get a nice large point bonus for it... oh well :)