Current Events > First ever NES Tetris "Rebirth" achieved

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.ign.com/articles/teen-becomes-first-tetris-nes-player-to-clear-level-255-and-achieve-the-mythical-rebirth
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/nintendo/first-ever-killscreen-less-rebirth-achieved-in-nes-version-of-tetris-38-years-later

TL:DR:

* The original Tetris for NES "kill screens" (crashes) at level 157, with Willis, AKA Blue Scuti, becoming the first human to achieve the feat in December 2023. Just getting to that point at all is extremely difficult due to the game speed and some levels having color schemes with low visibility.
* Modified versions of Tetris that make the game less prone (but not totally immune) to crashes were created, letting players theoretically reach levels higher than 157 if they can dodge the remaining crash points that could not be fixed.
* Earlier this week, Michael Khanh, AKA dogplayingtetris, became the first human to ever clear level 255. This caused the game to reach level 256, loop around to level 0 due to an integer overflow error, and slowed down to the speed of level 1 while keeping his current score and line count going. He essentially caused the game to have a "Rebirth", by completing every possible level and restarting from level 1.
* Khanh continued playing until post-Rebirth level 91 before calling it quits, setting a new all-time record in levels cleared and total score, and proving that an "endless" game of Tetris is theoretically possible.

A monumental achievement in one of gaming's most iconic titles.

Neat

Wild. I saw that one 2 hour video about the history of Tetris high scores and they mentioned this. Someone actually did it.

I remember being so hyped last year about the first person to reach the kill screen, thinking that was "the end" of Tetris. I had no idea they had made a patched version to take things even farther until I saw this accomplishment cross my feed. It really is incredible just how far people have pushed this simple game.

I cannot stress enough just how fast these goal were reached in just the last year after this game given it's been out for 30 years. It's insanely impressive. Especially for those of us who have been playing tetris for decades.

These new techniques are definitely that for the young ones. My joints would hella lock up. They might be giving themselves early onset carpel tunnel!

Wonder what the next goal post will be?

Tetris Olympic Endurance Runs incoming. Players playing for days without stopping. Food, drink, and a bottle will be brought to players at paced intervals.

-ZIO- posted...

Wonder what the next goal post will be?

Probably a double Rebirth, or maybe races to see who can reach Rebirth in the shortest amount of time.

Kurt_Russel posted...

Tetris Olympic Endurance Runs incoming. Players playing for days without stopping. Food, drink, and a bottle will be brought to players at paced intervals.

Does NES Tetris have a pause button? If not (or even if it does) then the really slow levels shortly after a Rebirth when it's back down to the speed of level 1 and 2 would be the best time for breaks. The whole run from level 1 to Rebirth took a little over 80 minutes.

It's fucking insane to me that just a year or two ago it was unthinkable to play even a little into the 30s

and here we go, they're overflowing the level counter

the sky's the limit at this point

Amusingly, the CTWC has a 2x killscreen speed for some things or something on their ROMs, so there's still potential for a new interesting challenge there

Oh shit. I remember hearing about that from SummoningSalt's Tetris video. That's awesome.

Calwings posted...

* The original Tetris for NES "kill screens" (crashes) at level 157, with Willis, AKA Blue Scuti, becoming the first human to achieve the feat in December 2023. Just getting to that point at all is extremely difficult due to the game speed and some levels having color schemes with low visibility.
* Modified versions of Tetris that make the game less prone (but not totally immune) to crashes were created, letting players theoretically reach levels higher than 157 if they can dodge the remaining crash points that could not be fixed.

So, this isn't completely accurate. Even in the unmodified version it is known what causes crashes on each level that crashes can occur, so it is theoretically possible to avoid those crashes even on an unmodified version. The issue of course is avoiding all of those things while also playing at a skill level to not lose.

Calwings posted...

The whole run from level 1 to Rebirth took a little over 80 minutes.

And 20 of those are on one bugged level that needs 810 lines cleared.

rick_alverado posted...

So, this isn't completely accurate. Even in the unmodified version it is known what causes crashes on each level that crashes can occur, so it is theoretically possible to avoid those crashes even on an unmodified version. The issue of course is avoiding all of those things while also playing at a skill level to not lose.

I know, I just had to trim the explanation in the opening post down to "TL;DR" levels. From what I understand, the crash points actually start popping up at level 155, but 157 is where it becomes extremely difficult for a human to avoid all of them while also playing at the skill level required to not lose normally. I'm pretty sure 157 was the farthest anyone ever got on the unmodified version before they switched over to using the modified version.

lucariopikmin posted...

And 20 of those are on one bugged level that needs 810 lines cleared.

Yep, level 235 is really fucked up. 810 lines required to clear it and it has a really low visibility color palette that's awful on the eyes. Khanh even said "I see the light" after he finally made it past that hellish level, because that was basically the final major hurdle left to clear before the Rebirth.

Calwings posted...

Yep, level 235 is really fucked up. 810 lines required to clear it and it has a really low visibility color palette that's awful on the eyes. Khanh even said "I see the light" after he finally made it past that hellish level, because that was basically the final major hurdle left to clear before the Rebirth.

Watching the full run, that transition was honestly like a flashbang

Its a modified version of the game to prevent crashes. Doesnt count.

Someone already made a 256-level TAS on the original game over a decade ago.

iGenesis posted...

Its a modified version of the game to prevent crashes. Doesnt count.

you must be fun at parties