A 13-year-old named Willis Gibson has achieved the feat of “beating” the original Nintendo version of the game Tetris by causing it to malfunction.

Willis, also known as “blue scuti” in the gaming community, successfully reached what is known as a “kill screen” in Tetris. This is a point in the game where the code malfunctions and causes the game to crash. While some may not consider this to be a significant accomplishment compared to achieving high scores, it is highly sought after in the world of video games. Setting records often involves pushing the boundaries of hardware and software, and even surpassing them.

This is a significant accomplishment for Tetris players, as the game was previously thought to be unbeatable. This is due in part to the fact that the game does not have a predetermined ending; the four-block shapes will continue to fall regardless of how skilled a player becomes at arranging them to clear rows. Despite top players finding ways to prolong their winning streaks by reaching higher levels, ultimately the game emerged victorious.

However, on December 21st, Willis was able to reach a kill screen on Level 157, which is seen as a triumph in the gaming community. This can be compared to pushing the software beyond its capabilities.

The creators of Tetris have acknowledged and praised “blue scuti” for their remarkable achievement, breaking all expectations and limitations of this iconic game. CEO Maya Rogers released a statement congratulating the player and mentioning that Tetris will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Rogers also described Willis’ victory as a momentous accomplishment.

“The journey has been quite lengthy. In the beginning, the individuals involved in the Tetris community were not aware of how to reach these advanced levels,” stated David Macdonald, a popular YouTuber who has been documenting the gaming world for many years. “They were stuck in levels 20 and 30 because they lacked the knowledge and skills to progress further.” Level 29 proved to be a major obstacle as the blocks fell at a faster rate than the controller could keep up with.

Over time, gamers discovered methods to advance in the game, as documented by Macdonald in his thorough video about Willis’ victory. In 2011, someone was able to reach Level 30 by using a technique known as “hypertapping,” where they could rapidly move their fingers to control the game faster than its normal speed. This approach allowed players to reach level 35 by 2018, but they were unable to progress beyond that point.

In 2020, a new technique emerged in the gaming world where a player combined a multifinger method, commonly used in arcade video games, with placing one finger on the bottom of the controller and pushing it against another finger on the top. This technique, known as “rolling,” allowed for faster movement and helped a player reach Level 95 in 2022.

However, additional challenges presented themselves. The developers of the original Tetris did not anticipate players pushing the boundaries of the game so intensely, leading to peculiar anomalies emerging at advanced levels. One particularly troublesome problem revolved around the game’s color scheme, which typically cycled through 10 distinct patterns. However, at level 138 and beyond, random color combinations would appear, making it significantly more difficult to differentiate the blocks from the black background of the game.

Two tricky designs – one with shades of dark blue and green known as “Dusk,” and the other made up of black, gray, and white blocks called “Charcoal” – proved challenging for players. Coupled with the added difficulty of longer games lasting 40 minutes or more, progress slowed down. It wasn’t until a Tetris-playing AI program named StackRabbit came along that the logjam was broken. The program helped identify where players were likely to encounter a glitch leading to a kill screen, ultimately allowing them to beat the game.

The game known as StackRabbit reached Level 237 before causing the game to crash. It used a modified version of Tetris, making it difficult to compare its accomplishments to those of human players. Its discoveries were not immediately relevant to the human-played version of the game. However, its performance showed that certain actions, such as the types of block pieces used or the number of lines cleared at once, could lead to game-breaking glitches.

This allowed for human players to handle the job of mapping out all potential situations that could lead to these crashes in the original game. These crashes often occurred due to the game’s outdated code losing its place and reading the wrong instructions, resulting in incorrect input. Thanks to StackRabbit’s experience, a significant effort was put into creating a comprehensive spreadsheet that identified the game levels and conditions most likely to cause a crash.

This is what inspired Willis to attempt breaking the record. However, even he seemed surprised when he reached Level 157 and crashed the game. In his livestream, he can be seen hyperventilating and repeatedly exclaiming “Oh my God,” while holding his head and expressing concern about potentially fainting. He then tries to regulate his breathing by cupping his hands over his mouth before exclaiming, “I can’t feel my fingers.”

Source: wral.com