Tetris: The Grand Master - 20G Big Mode GM @

[@spacemoai]

Also it's so smooth throughout the run, which gives me an idea of what it takes to be a big GM.... thanks for the inspiring vid!

[@kkruhkhaar9914]

Nice job on the GM Alex. It's always amazing watching people play Tetris and TGM

[@KitaruTC]

Thank you!

[@shrizza]

Thanks. I learned a placement or two.

[@b3n4dryl]

Congrats! Way to go kitaru!

[@KitaruTC]

Thank you!

[@cantaloupeme]

I noticed that pieces are dropping fast at the start. But mine didnt do that?

[@KitaruTC]

Good point. This is 20G + Big modes together. I can update the video title. Normal Big and 20G Big are treated as interchangeable on the community leaderboard (I suppose in a similar way to NES Tetris starting level preference), so I focused on 20G starts to build-up the necessary consistency and survival skills.

[@cantaloupeme]

@@KitaruTC ahhh gotcha. That makes sense. Didn’t know both could be activated at the same time.

[@KitaruTC]

@@cantaloupeme Yep, any combination of the six mode codes can be stacked together (although 20G + TLS doesn't do anything, lol). The game will happily allow you to play 20G Big Uki Reverse Monochrome TLS mode.

[@cantaloupeme]

@@KitaruTC oh? There’s more than 3 codes? I gotta mess around with that

[@KitaruTC]

@@cantaloupeme Yep! There's a full list at tetris.wiki/TGM#Hidden_modes

[@miyazukini]

spent about two months trying to figure the vanilla big mode, sadly my highest score wasn't registered to the board bc my internet was out lol. this is a great mode tho, might be weird to say but i can see people competing in endurance races with it!

[@KitaruTC]

I feel you on the leaderboard woes, it's part of why I haven't really played much portable Big away from an internet connection. Also hmm, endurance Big, that does sound like it could be a pretty fun format! I'm even starting to imagine a battle royale, BigTet 99. ;)

[@jeffn9952]

2:16 3:02 3:53 4:55 Creating and exploiting this shape must be part of a solution. You did a similar thing with the two L's at 6:55 when it wasn't the only option. Looks like you're doing it instinctively.

[@KitaruTC]

Interesting observation. I'll give some analysis. I think at 2:16 & 3:02, the stack shape of 10110 is rather poor; the 101 portion on the left gives odd checkerboard parity that we either want to correct with a T piece or an appropriate line clear. It seems bad to have this stack shape with L in the preview and no good way to stall to see what comes afterwards. A placement like Ld-234 would be "bulky" -- it increases the line clear distance for nearly every follow-up piece (only I or another L have immediate line clear options), and shifts the divot to column 1 (risks bulking into a right-side stack unless we get T to fix the situation or I to forestall it). A placement like Lr-12 is in some ways better (4/7 pieces have immediate line clear options), but it feels very "angular" and the T parity issue is kind of just getting "hidden under the bed" in a way where we can't actually clean it up right away. Sending the L piece to the right technically gives us an adjustment option of Lu-345 vs. Ll-45. Of the two options, I think Ll-45 (as chosen in-game) is the most generically stable; it feels "compact" (stays in bottom three rows w/o creating any holes), the majority of pieces have immediate line clear options (technically 6/7, although clearing with I-piece in column 2 has a very bad leave), and it leaves a surface on the right to stow O or I if needed. A duplicate L would also have more than one line clear option (I'm thinking of Ld-123 with synchro vs. Ld-234* with wallkick to twist under, although I guess technically Ll-12 is also available). 2:16 - Follow-up of T is pretty ideal. Checker parity is fixed, and layers of 00011 over 11101 give plenty of good stacking or line clear options. 3:02 - J has line clear options with either Jd-123 (as chosen) or Jr-23 (would have been a better adjustment for the I-piece in preview). The reasoning at 6:55 is similar -- the "ziggurat" structure left behind by the S and Z minos is technically "global even" checker parity, but the structure on the left is "local odd" and wants a T piece to fix it. I won't know I have another L-piece incoming until this one is already in the playfield, so I'll be prepping IRS B + DAS Right the same as the scenarios described previously. When the second L appears, I have the option to adjust for either Ld-234* tuck if I'm lucky enough to roll an I-piece for a triple on the left, or Lr-12 as chosen if I roll most anything else (leaves the classic "Sega/TGM spin" shape that will accept T, J, or Z, has a basic line clear with O, a cheeky S->J spin continuation, or right side stow in other cases). At 3:53, it's interesting that the mirror shape does appear. I think it's by way of choosing the more compact placement for the previous T. Td-234 sort of "invites a line clear," whereas something like Tl-23 creates an ugly structure that only immediately resolves if given another T and Tr-34 is begging too hard for an O-piece to appear. So, the shape kind of appears naturally out of the fact that J is the follow-up piece available to clear lines (although it has much the same beneficial properties as its mirror -- if not more so just by dint of being a left-stack rather than a right-stack). The situation at 4:55 is I think similarly circumstantial.

[@Shuey187]

It got a little scary a couple times, but you pulled it out! Congrats Alex! :) Was this your first?

[@KitaruTC]

Thanks Shuey! Yep, this is number one, previous PB was ~730. The console versions are making it so much easier to come back to improve Big and Reverse. No need to swap PCBs or hook up a recording setup, now I can just boot the PS4 whenever there is a little slice of free time and know the auto-recording buffer is already running.

[@RaceBandit]

Wow, Big Mode didn't move your piece two spaces at once like in future TGM games? _(I'm not actually sure if it was 2 or 3 that gave Big Mode double move.)_ That sounds like it could've led to a cruel, crippling misdrop.

[@KitaruTC]

Yep! In TGM1, Big Mode has the same "half-block" movement as the Death Block item in Versus. It's actually a double-edged sword: the benefit is that spawning on an odd column often gives you left/right mobility options you don't have in TGM2/TGM3, but the dangers are half-block misdrops and half-overlap top-outs. TGM2 Big Mode does have "full-block" spawn alignment and movement. The reduced movement options make it more challenging to clear. TGM3 Big Mode also has "full-block" behaviors, but the added floorkicks, previews, and Hold make it much easier. Another gotcha: TGM3 Sakura has an EX stage with big pieces, but it's implemented using the Death Block item effect! It's entirely possible to half-block misdrop on this stage and be in an unwinnable state near the end of a Sakura run.

[@bensmith6518]

Yeah, it is seriously tedious. I noticed Kitaru doing lots of kicks and movements to avoid shifting pieces at all

[@KitaruTC]

@@bensmith6518 Yep, kicks are double-moves, so they're super useful for finesse. You ideally only want to use single taps or DAS, as triple taps will momentarily put you "off-grid." Wallkicks help bridge that gap so you can still reach those positions safely and efficiently.

[@bensmith6518]

@@KitaruTC that's good to know. I've been playing big mode and that was a big issue for me. I can't find how to access 20g big mode though

[@KitaruTC]

@@bensmith6518 20G code is Down x8, C B A. You can stack together any combination of the six mode codes. The article on Tetris Wiki should have a list of the others.

[@trixciel]

Ay, nice job !

[@KitaruTC]

Thank you!

[@JMUDoc]

I've done monochrome GM, 20G GM, monochrome WITH 20G GM... but big, I absolutely SUCK at it.

[@KitaruTC]

Big is definitely a steep challenge. It's mode that always has the player on the knife's edge...

[@nebbii]

nice

[@KitaruTC]

thank