Tetris: The Grand Master
Tetris: The Grand Master is a series of arcade games from the Japanese manufacturer Arika . It is a modified version of the Tetris game that has a particularly high level of difficulty and is therefore aimed at professional Tetris players.
The aim of the game is to achieve the Grand Master rank, which is linked to certain requirements. Although none of the games officially ever appeared outside of Japan, they are very popular with the Tetris community around the world.
Gameplay
While the basic principle of Tetris has also been retained in Tetris: The Grand Master, such as the Tetrominos, the playing field and the basic controls, there are also some crucial differences.
Level / rank system
Tetris: The Grand Master uses a fundamentally different level system than other Tetris games. Each placed Tetromino increases the level by one, and completing one or more rows also increases the level. Every 100 levels the difficulty of the game increases, at level 999 the game is over. However, the 100th level must be reached by completing a row, placing tetrominos does not increase the counter and it remains at 99, for example, until a row is completed.
In addition, the game is mainly defined by the ranks. These go first from 9 to 1, then from S1 to S9 and finally the highest rank, GM (Grand Master). To move up through the ranks, it is not enough just to achieve a particularly high score, but different requirements have to be met depending on the game, so around 100 levels have to be reached within a certain time limit.
Rate of fall
Tetrominos fall in Tetris: The Grand Master significantly faster than in other Tetris games, which is why a separate unit of measurement has been established for the falling speed, G. Here, 1G corresponds to a falling speed of one block per frame . From a certain level the tetrominos do not fall at all, but appear immediately on the floor of the playing field; this state is also referred to as 20G (20 blocks per frame). This falling speed represents a special challenge, as the tetrominos can no longer be placed anywhere on the playing field, but basically fall into the middle of the playing field and have to be pushed into the desired position afterwards.
Games
Tetris: The Grand Master
The first game in the series was released in August 1998.
Tetris: The Grand Master 2 - The Absolute
The second game was released in 2000. This game dramatically increased the requirements for reaching the Grand Master rank. Among other things, after reaching level 999, the game has to be played during the credits, whereby the entire playing field becomes invisible so that the game has to be played "blind".
An improved version appeared a little later under the name Tetris: The Grand Master 2 - The Absolute PLUS . This game contains the TA Death mode, in which the game starts immediately with a falling speed of 20G and thus places very special demands on the ability to react. In addition, once a certain level has been reached, the game pushes up blocks from below.
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct
The third and so far last game in the series was released in 2005. Here the requirements for reaching the Grand Master rank have been tightened again, so there are not only fixed time limits, but you must not slow down than in the last 100 levels, so you have to In fact, increase your game speed continuously and still reach a certain number of tetrissas (four completed rows at once). The Shirase mode (successor to TA Death mode) has been extended to level 1300; From level 1000 the tetrominos turn black and white to make orientation more difficult.
Achieving the Grand Master rank in Tetris: The Grand Master 3 is considered the highest honor in the Tetris community. So far, only six people worldwide have made it, only one of them outside of Japan.