A 13-year-old streamer, Blue Scuti, became the first human to ever beat the classic game Tetris on the NES. Blue Scuti broke a total of three world records – including that monumental feat – during a semifinal match for the 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). On Tuesday, he posted the full video on his YouTube channel.
It might be funny to think that a 34 year old game has never been beaten before, but that is exactly the case. Since Tetris (or Classic Tetris) was released on the NES and was truly considered unbeatable. Players played as long as they could until they reached 29th level, at which point the pieces fell so quickly that it seemed impossible to keep up. Only an AI could have ever defeated it, until Blue Scuti arrived on the scene.
Blue Scuti's winning strategy was the culmination of the technique younger players have developed in recent years. These newer strategies, such as 'hypertapping' and later 'rolling', emerged in 2016 and 2020 respectively, allowing players to operate the NES controller even faster than the buttons by tapping the bottom of the controller. In 2022, most players who joined CTWC were using some version of these strategies.
In the 38-minute video, you can see Scuti becoming more tense as he approaches higher and higher levels. Immediately after making a great save, he lands on the game's frozen screen – signaling victory – and ecstatically says “oh my god” as he takes off his gloves. “My hands are tingling, I can't feel my hands,” he says, with his face in his hands.
In a post-game interview with streamer ITZsharky, Blue Scuti describes feeling nervous after 30 minutes of playing, but that he “still managed to hit the 5 ticks.” He added: “You miss one tick of 5 and the run can end.”
This one never did, making Tetris history.