13-year-old becomes the first person to beat NES Tetris

After 34 long years, a 13-year-old gamer did what many considered impossible. He beat the original Tetris game for the NES, triggering what was referred to by the community as the “True” kill screen.

While Tetris may seem like an endless game with no plot, stages, or progression, the objective is to achieve a high score and reach increasingly higher levels with faster-falling blocks. Theoretically, the game should end at level 255 (and restart to level 0). However, as aGameScout noted, it's more common than not to have a kill screen before getting there. This killscreen is triggered after doing a line at a very high level (155 or more), freezing the game completely. Up to now, only AI has been able to trigger it, but that has finally changed thanks to Willis Gibson (aka BlueScuti), a 13-year-old from Oklahoma who did it at level 157.

Previously, level 29 was considered the “Killscreen,” as the blocks fall so fast that making the right moves in time becomes nearly impossible. However, players have been pushing the limits of the game for years, developing unique techniques to reach higher levels and reach the “end” of the game. Thor Aackerlund was responsible for one of these techniques, which consisted of vibrating his fingertips (hypertapping) to move faster than the in-game speed. Using this technique, he reached level 30 in 2011. Seven years later, Joseph Saelee reached level 31 (and then 35), followed by EricICX in 2021, who got into level 38 in 2021.

In 2021, a player named Cheez discovered a new technique called “rolling,” which involved rapid button mashing to reach level 40. This opened up a whole new level of gameplay as others followed suit and pushed the limits of the game even further. However, reaching level 146 posed a new challenge, as a bug caused the colour palette to become drab and difficult to see. Despite this, P1xelAndy managed to overcome the challenge, but the game's difficulty increased even more, with almost pitch-black blocks that were nearly impossible to see. As a result, the maximum level from 2022 to the end of 2023 was only increased by two (from 146 to 148), compared to the massive jump in the previous year.

There, a race started to see who would be the first human to trigger the “True” kill screen. P1xelAndy, Fractal (2023 CWTC Champion) and BlueScuti (3rd place in CWTC) were the ones in that race. Blue Scuti reached level 153 two weeks ago, putting him just 18 lines away from the first possible “True” kill screen trigger. Two days later, they reached level 157.

After this milestone, there are still important records to beat. Following this record, the first would be the most efficient “True” kill screen trigger, possibly at level 155. The kill screen described here is the point where the game freezes and no longer supplies new blocks. While this has been found at level 157, Tetris can theoretically reach level 255, so there is still plenty of runway for players to chase new records.

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KitGuru says: Do you think a human will ever be able to complete level 255 and truly beat the game?

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