Revenge of the Grandmaster

TGM4 released on 2025 April 4. The sequel once thought to be 'too difficult for human' is finally arriving, and I am so excited for that.

I have been reporting classic Tetris closely with thoughts on every CTWC since 2020. Does it go way back? Sure, I covered about old(ish) generation players like Jonas, Green Tea and Koryan before. And of course, boom Tetris for Jeff during CTWC 16.

But that's still not my original experience on Tetris.

Back when I was small, I had a pocket sized monochrome pixelated console that plays Tetris and many more game like racing or space invaders. No NES, just simple machines like that. When I grew up, I came across to the arcade version of Tetris -- the authentic one with orthodox buildings at the middle. Those games were proper exposure to early Tetris, although my attention quickly turns into other more attractive games like...Pokemon.

Some years later a video went viral, with someone claiming TGM3 GM title on arcade.

The speed, the shadowy movements (under 240p video quality), the way he cleared the 999 levels with various cruel handicaps and then through invisible blocks during credit roll, is an absolute beauty.

That, to me, is the highest standard of 'extreme Tetris gameplay', someone to be appreciated when put into the perspective of seeking ultimate form of gameplay which is basically one of the main theme of my philosophy. 

It's not just me as well. TGM has been a solid must-see in early days of GDQs with efforts from KevinDDR and friends. It has been there again and again and again because audiences loves to watch that as the hardest Tetris series around that really pushes the limit. And it's back on AGDQ2025 as well!

Think about this -- when Tetris is pushed to extreme, what is the real limiting factor of gameplay performance? When I ask such question I always refer to the best possible human performance with however the resources possible. It is not piece placing or algorithms doing that. We all observed the track of evolution on the matter in recent years. Given enough time, player and competitiveness, it will be refined to near perfect over time.

The real ultimate constraint is the physical reaction and input speed. Just think about how hypertapping wasn't considered by classic Tetris players back in the days, and how rolling evolutionary was when it came out. When input speed is not a problem, the only thing to consider is physical reaction but that is tolerable when gravity is fixed giving you enough reaction time. I have predicted that when rolling is refined enough we will see players going as far as possible sooner or later. That indeed happened as players approached rebirthing. In that sense, classic Tetris is pretty much solved.

(I don't like to use the word solved but I think the word fits the community when potent is exhausted in predictable future. Almost a year since the last CTWC and just look at how much noise it is creating comparing to some years ago...)

TGM however, is just another unworldly beast, an untamed one.

The instant gravity means that it can go as quick as it can. The IRS reduces unphysical rotations which is the main selling point of SRS. What is left is a system that has a continuous scaling of impossible-high difficulty (unlike classic Tetris with lv19 and lv29 only), without any 'cheats' that allows you to cheese the stages regardless of the assigned difficulty. In other words, that is a system perfect to measure the absolute potential of human or humankind on the subject of Tetris.

Of course, the scale does not go forever and is topped by the GM title. TGM1 GM is barely doable, TGM2 GM is extremely unforgiving, and TGM3 GM is limited to probably mere double digits even at 2025 standard. That is, only a few dozen players have their Tetris potential unmeasured by the means of TGM3 -- and they will undergo the test of TGM4, something that was 'too difficult for human'...

Should we expect an extremely difficult game that serves its purpose of exhausting human potential, or a game showing that human does conquer Tetris at its extreme form? We shall see.

*The above was written at the end of March, and is posted a few days after its release. Glad to see the gimmicks and how hard it is to get even halfway towards the GM title :)