13-year-old Tetris prodigy first to ‘beat’ original NES Tetris

13-year-old Tetris prodigy first to ‘beat’ original NES Tetris

In a stunning feat, a 13-year-old boy from Oklahoma has become the first human to “beat” the original NES version of Tetris. Willis Gibson, who goes by the handle Blue Scuti on YouTube, played the iconic block-stacking game flawlessly for over 38 minutes until finally forcing a kill screen error that crashed the game.

While Tetris has no official ending, these kill screens are caused by the game speeding up so much that the software can’t keep up, creating an overflow glitch. In 2021, an AI program called StackRabbit was the first to accomplish this, but now Gibson has scored a victory for humanity.

Utilising an advanced technique called “rolling,” which allows players to roll the NES controller between their hands to hit the D-pad up to 20 times per second, Gibson kept clearing lines with machine-like precision until the game could take no more. This revolutionary style has redefined competitive Tetris since being pioneered a couple years ago.

Prior to this remarkable achievement, the teenage Tetris prodigy had already broken records for the game’s high score, number of levels achieved, and total lines cleared using his lightning-fast rolling method. But forcing the elusive kill screen cements his status as one of the greatest NES Tetris players of all time.

In an interview, Gibson revealed that his accomplishment was dedicated to his late father, who passed away last December. The non-stop, frenzied gameplay session left his fingers numb afterwards.

While enthusiasts have been competing over high scores in the classic block-dropper since its launch in 1989, most considered the endless game theoretically unbeatable by human limitations. But this achievement has proven it can be done with superhuman skill and dedication.

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