If you asked anyone to name the all-time greats of classic video games, undoubtedly one of the first answers you’ll hear is Tetris. This simple, yet complex game formula has lived on for decades and has been nearly perfected by truly devoted fans. As time goes on and players hone their skills, the boundary for what is humanly possible continues to be pushed further and further. Just recently, a record thought for a long time to be nearly impossible was achieved by Tetris world champion Michael Artiaga, clearing level 255 and looping back to level 0 in what is known as a “rebirth.”
There is a myriad of factors that make achieving this feat incredibly difficult. The most obvious is the speed; from level 29 and beyond the game reaches the max speed, at which point getting pieces into their ideal positions is a monumental challenge without fast reaction speed and special techniques. Furthermore, the game begins to behave strangely into the later levels. Those who remember Blue Scuti’s kill screen that was achieved earlier this year may know that at a certain point the game becomes likely to crash entirely with each line completed. To get around this, Artiaga played on a version of the game modified to avoid this so the run could continue.
Even with crashing no longer a concern however, Tetris still has some unfortunate quirks left that have to be overcome. For one, the colors of the pieces begin to change in strange ways, with some levels being incredibly difficult to tell where the pieces are against the dark background. The most notable of these is level 235, which due to a glitch requires over 800 lines to be completed to pass. Combine this with the fact that the pieces are an extremely dark green during this level, and this becomes a major hurdle to get past.
Despite the challenges present in doing this, Artiaga prevailed in spite of them all and became the first human to clear level 255. Once the game rolled over, his run continued for another 91 levels before he quit, putting his total at an astonishing 328 levels completed in one sitting. A truly tremendous feat, and one that will live on in the halls of video game history for a long time to come!
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Written by Abbie Maxwell
Lifelong Nintendo fangirl, Abbie holds a special place in her heart for video games. She has always strived to provide tips and tricks to make the experiences of those who share her passions that much better.
