Best of Five Ep 1 "A Chance to Win" - The Classic Tetris Champions Documentary

"Best of Five: The Classic Tetris Champions" is a five-episode documentary series about people who play Tetris on the original Nintendo console. It covers the fifth year of the tournament, 2014, when a single player-Jonas Neubauer-had won the first four in a row. Going into that fifth year, every player went in with a single goal: Beat Jonas.
This documentary tells the story of Jonas, along with all the people who took him on. We meet the key players, watch nine full tournament matches, and then catch up on where everybody ended up ten years later.
SUMMARY: Episode 1 introduces the CTWC, which began in 2010. First we recount the history of the tournament leading up to 2014, its fifth year. Then we meet some of the key players we'll follow. We see qualifying for the tournament, fill in (most of) the bracket, and show our first match. At the end, we meet the five key players we'll follow for the rest of the series.
Directed by Chris Higgins, Best of Five is a love letter to Classic Tetris. It is presented here on KZbin for free in order to reach the widest possible audience-but it cost a fortune to make. If you'd like to send Chris a tip, go to: ko-fi.com/chri...
If you'd like to BUY Best of Five along with UPCOMING BONUS FEATURES, DRM-free MP4 downloads (including 4K), and streaming, go here (use coupon code HIGGINS for 20% off): bestoffive.vhx...
You can also buy merch (stickers, mugs, books) at our merch store: www.bestoffive...
Soundtrack album available here: carlking.bandc...
Legal disclaimer: This film was not sponsored or endorsed by The Tetris Company.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Strobe Warning
00:10 Opening Titles
02:28 CTWC History
04:43 Harry vs. Jonas
08:17 What Is Tetris?
12:56 Level 19
15:13 Terry
19:58 Qualifying
25:42 The Bracket
26:50 Dana
29:52 Meet the Announcers
31:49 Match 1
45:34 Top Five Seeds
46:23 Closing Titles
Gear used to make this video:
MacBook Pro M3 Max - amzn.to/3xBed0m
Shure SM7B Mic - amzn.to/3VPravC
Adobe Creative Cloud - amzn.to/4bu8Xt9
OWC ThunderBay 8 - amzn.to/4eJDkyJ
Sennheiser HD 600 headphones - amzn.to/3Li51kp
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[@dphirschler1]

High quality. It's great to see all this great archival footage... especially of Jonas, whom we cannot hear from anymore. I am learning so much about the scene from when the trophy was a 'T'.

[@guelphdgc7995]

Like many others, the recent hype has brought me in. I was absolutely shocked the first time I heard about his passing. I think he would be ecstatic to see the recent boom in popularity of the game he loved. To Jonas!

[@davidgildegomezperez4364]

RIP Jonas Neubauer

[@willythewyno]

He was a legendary human being, not just Tetris player. People like Jonas don't go away when they die, nor do their contributions. That's what it means to be "larger than life"

[@viktorchuiko9312]

😭😭he died like 1 year ago but still

[@Moon-uq6ob]

Although unexpected, I love that we got to hear more from Terry, who has been a very overshadowed person in the community even though he has had very good placings throughout CTWC history.

[@thelatenightattempts]

Terry was a true gentleman and nothing but encouraging when we iinteracting in line in 2013/2014. I was always rooting for him.

[@osmeridium]

What an excellent and well-paced first part!! SO glad this has FINALLY been fully fleshed-out and released, and I hope you keep this format and continue the CTWC scene's narrative throughout the hypertapping and rolling eras, if it seems interesting enough to you personally. I really find your work to be excellent, and I love that you aren't in a rush or have a need to condense it down and that you give it the time it needs. Thank you for making this, Chris.

[@TimothyBlankenship-ib9pm]

Yoooooo I been waiting on this for SO LONG!

[@chrishigginsfilms]

Me too :) :)

[@Arm-tl9bg]

Been a long time fan of this community and game. Watched the other documentary about Jonas’ time. Extremely excited to see this one!

[@franciscovcm3910]

Great video, awesome documentary. Very cool to hear more from Terry who has been a very undershadowed figure in the community.

[@grapefruit256-wu5ml]

Back then on the gameboy, Tetris for me was that "not-SuperMarioLand" game. So fascinating what Tetris still triggers in gamers after the development gaming has undergone... 😯 Thank so much for that documentary about this gaming phenomenon 🙏

[@amilano9862]

Loved this. Great job!

[@squick1842]

Looking forward to the next episode!

[@DrPepperone]

Not to over-psychologize people from a video but it’s kind of peculiar the contrast between Terry’s unproven presumptuousness and Jonas’ humility despite his multiple championships. I wonder if that confidence isn’t some sort of defense mechanism due to Terry’s difficult upbringing.

[@chrishigginsfilms]

Well also, I probably could have done better in explaining the context of that comment-meaning, how exceptional Terry was in the period just before the 2014 tournament. (Or perhaps Terry could've; he did not often brag about his achievements, though as you saw, he did confidently state what he believed.) So for some added context: At that time, Terry was a meteor. In the span of about a year, he got his first ever maxout, then he got a level 19 start maxout (considered absolutely elite at the time), then he got "the earliest maxout" (record for getting that score at the earliest level, aka fewest lines-so he set a world record in addition to the other things). This is explained a little in the end-credits thing by Ben Mullen. We had *never* seen a player smash through barriers like that. So going into 2014 everybody's eyes were on Terry. And he felt that, I think, both in positive and negative ways. (Basically: A LOT of pressure.) We will hear more from him during the show. :)

[@mojigae]

I think it only gets more prominent in future episodes. Without any spoilers, I think Terry's attitude is in stark contrast to Jonas. Not just in things he says about his skill level and chance of winning but about other people in the community. At one point someone mentions that Terry recently got his first maxout, and Terry has a reaction that I wouldn't have expected. Also for a bit more context, I don't think Terry maxed out in a year. I think he had been playing for a long time, and then he decided to buckle down and try harder for a max out.

[@Tigerpow]

10:12 : "There's actually no way to win classic Tetris" Oh how times have changed

[@kr12a2y]

Scuti and company were like "hold my root beer."

[@DrPepperone]

To be fair a crash isn't exactly a win by design either.

[@kellyfreas]

Technically it's still true. Some can beat the game, but I wouldn't call it a "win".

[@Tigerpow]

Yeah you are all right, it is technically not a win, i just thought it was kinda funny that all of the news stations saif that blue scuti "beat" tetris, even though it was a crash, not a win

[@tolstoj_]

People keep forgetting about B-Type, which was always designed to be "won".