Thirteen-year-old Blue Scuti has become the first human to “beat” Tetris on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This achievement shattered a 34-year streak for the beloved block game.
On December 21st, 2023, Blue Scuti reached Tetris’ “kill screen” after a stress-filled 40 minutes. Reaching 1,511 lines, the Tetris screen crashed as it hit its functional limits.
Thankfully, the historic moment was recorded and shared on the streamer’s YouTube channel. Check out the video below or skip to the 38-minute mark to see it all unfold.
Tetris has long been believed to be an “unbeatable” game. Many community members have thought a human player couldn’t reach beyond 290 lines. However, the competitive side of Tetris has really begun ramping up over the last few years as the mad dash to beat the game actively continued.
In Tetris, the fastest speed the game provides is unlocked after reaching Level 29 and clearing upwards of 290 lines. It then becomes functionally impossible to turn and place each Tetromino before it lands properly. However, players began to develop and use a technique dubbed “hypertapping.” This unique way of gripping the controller allows players to hit the NES D-pad at least 10 times per second. It’s become widely adopted by competitive players.
Before Blue Scuti, Tetris was beaten by an AI program called StackRabbit, which forced the kill screen. This occurred in 2021.
Blue Scuti now holds several impressive records. Not only have they become the first to beat Tetris, but they did so in roughly 40 minutes. In a recent interview, when asked what would happen if someone beats the record, Blue Scuti said they’d “go after it and take it back.”
Image credit: Blue Scuti
Source: Blue Scuti Via: Ars Technica
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