The NES version of Tetris has been around for over 34 years, but a human has just completed it for the first time.
Tetris on NES does not have a traditional ending; beating this game means reaching a “kill screen” on level 157 that causes the game to crash. The time and physical skill required to accomplish this on actual hardware seemed near-impossible for a long time, so only artificial intelligence playing the game perfectly could reach this point. According to 404 Media, a new NES controller technique called “rolling” was discovered in 2021, and the fact that it lets players push the D-pad up to 20 times per second finally makes this a possibility for humans.
This all culminated when a 13-year-old named Willis Gibson reached this kill screen after 38-and-a-half minutes of nonstop play. While Gibson, who goes by Blue Scuti online, completed Tetris on NES last December, the run gained more notoriety when Blue Scuti posted the video on his own YouTube channel on January 2.
IGN reports that the community is now looking for ways to avoid crashing the game so they can reach level 255, see a pure red color scheme of blocks, and then be brought back to level 0. As a more casual fan of Tetris, it’s a fascinating run to watch as you see colors corrupt and the game reach a point no developers ever intended for players to get to. It’s a testament to the skill of the players who have been developing new strategies and completing run after run to achieve this goal.
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