Your browser is holding you back. Level up with Opera GX: operagx.gg/SummoningSalt2 Watch the chase for the rebirth live! Alex T: www.twitch.tv/tetrisalext bluescuti: www.twitch.tv/bluescuti PixelAndy: www.twitch.tv/p1xelandy And thanks to the following people for help with research! Check out their channels: Kitaru: www.youtube.com/@KitaruTC NerdTheBox: www.youtube.com/@NerdTheBox aGameScout: www.youtube.com/@aGameScout fractal161: www.youtube.com/@fractal161 EricICX: ua-cam.com/users/EricICX
After Jonas Neubauer’s death in 2021, the Tetris World Championship trophy was renamed and redesigned in his honor. The quote from Jonas on it reads: “If you’re a high visibility player, it’s on you to move the community in a positive direction” RIP Jonas
@@mrsteamie4196 He was such a legendary player, a kind hearted, generous and fun person, honestly the only person I've never met irl that I felt genuine grief for when he passed. The first time I joined one of his streams he was immediately friendly and welcoming, and you'll find many stories of what a lovely guy he was all over the internet.
I started scrolling through the comments as soon as I hit play and my jaw dropped when I read this. I love Ecstasy of Order and I had no idea he had passed. R.I.P.
Thanks so much for making this video. I have been watching your videos even before I started playing Tetris, and being in one of your videos is really cool to me and I've always wanted to be in one.
Fractal’s heart-wrenching yelp of dismay when Scuti, his biggest competitor, narrowly missed the crash, and utter glee and pride when he got it at the last moment is the most wholesome and wonderful thing I’ve ever seen in a world record community. True sportsmanship, honor, and selflessness at the highest level.
Very much agree. I have to say I’m not totally gone on how Scuti’s achievement is portrayed here, choosing the angle that he swooped in and stole ‘Fractal’s’ rightful achievement. They were both pushing and encouraging each other to new heights, which is what the supportive Tetris community has always done. Fractal seemed genuinely happy for Scuti, I don’t think he was trying for the game crash for the limelight or the headlines, and by the sounds of it he positively encouraged even more people to try for it to increase the chances of someone getting it. Great video otherwise though.
That's the beautiful thing about the speedrunning community: it's the one group of competitors where whoever's at the top is actively cheering for the one who can beat them
I mean, at this level there’s only a few people in the world that can understand the work and technique it takes to get there. There couldn’t be a better witness of scutis achievement. Fractal was perhaps the one who could MOST understand. A very rarefied situation 😇
Thanks so much for covering NES Tetris! Perfect timing with this video, given how we're somehow in the middle of possibly the craziest year in the game's 35 year history.
@@wildcatlhThis community wouldn't exist without him. There are certainly many others that get credit, but Jonas carried this on his back for years. RIP legend.
Fractal deserves even more credit than he gets. Interrupting your WR attempts to celebrate your rival beating you takes a level of humility I and most people just don't have
Coolest part of this already really cool video was seeing Fractal get the recognition he deserved. To be so close the night before and then to lose it like that must've been maddening but he was so classy, cheering on the win...glad SS could give him the love here at least!
I love that Salt is such a class act, never making categories seem like they don't matter when he explains the one that the big focus, doesn't name cheaters so they won't get harassed over it, but will never hesitate to be savage about video quality.
Absolutely. As a Mario Kart player, there aren't many categories, but there is still so much toxicity and elitism within the community on which categories are the "real" ones. Very refreshing to see Salt lay everything on equal ground because I can imagine how that may manifest in other speedrun/time trial communities.
@@naga88-u5n me, who's heard a bit about Tetris, watching the slow climb from 1.1 to 1.4 million, knowing that at some point the game will be absolutely destroyed with a 16 million run, but not knowing when That was interesting Still fun to watch even I know about the final run The suspense makes it even better
"Maxed out" is a lie. You've watched summoning salt before, every video has someone saying "that's unbeatable" for it to almost immediately be broken xD
I still absolutely love Fractal's sportsmanship. He's watching someone else make history the way he wanted to, and is smiling and cheering the whole time. He truly cares more about the game being pushed to its limits more than he cares about being the one to do it.
Definitely my favourite moment in gaming history after seeing this (previously would've been OG's second TI win in DotA2). There's a lot of sportsmanship in speedrunning and highscore communities, but seeing someone have their accomplishment snatched from them, and still cheer for them live is so amazingly wholesome.
You could sense the disappointment, but I'm glad that he achieved the crash for himself. Probably felt like closure. Though to be honest, I don't think he would have gotten nearly the amount of mainstream media coverage if he was first. Primarily because of his age.
That shot of slowly scrolling to the right from level 66 to 146 was SO dramatic and had the PERFECT effect of suspense and blowing my mind at the conclusion. Well done!
I can't help but wonder if it was inspired by the section on Bob Beamon's record-breaking long jump in Jon Bois' documentary The Bob Emergency, since Salt has said Jon was a big influence for him.
I didn't know Jonas Neubauer was also one of the early ones to hit a verified maxout, and boy did I tear up even just seeing "Jonas" show up at 9:00. RIP champ.
Jonas used to work at a brewery next to my old work back around 2015. I knew him for about a year, and then one day i was reading an article about Mike Tyson's punchout and how they got the rights to his name for only 20k or something like that, and there was randomly a youtube thumbnail that looked a lot like the guy at the brewery next door. Sure enough it was Jonas and one of the Tetris World Championships video. I brought up that I saw that video later that day when having a beer after work. Jonas was probable one of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever known. RIP brother you will be missed.
Boom Tetris for Jonas!!! I hope his family is able to see some of these comments as well and take solace in the incredible impact he had for the game and community and how many people's lives were positively impacted by him.
He was a pillar of the classic Tetris community. Always helped anyone and everyone to be better at the game, and at everything else. Seriously one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of talking to.
The way Jonas invited in the next generation, despite them overtaking him as the top players, was incredible. Apparently, there was a normal dinner many of the top players would go out to after the tournament, and he made sure to invite Joseph (and his mom) along as well because he was now part of that. It would have been SO easy for someone who had been at the top for so long to not react positively to these kids "invading" Tetris, but him being such an inviting person completely set the tone for the community perfectly. And so when a few years later, Dog and the next generation started taking over and Joseph was no longer the top guy, he was the same way to the new kids, and it kept on going like that.
Here are some things that Salt didn’t mention in the video: A right well is almost universally preferred by players because long bars spin with a bias towards the right. When you rotate a long bar at the top of the screen, it moves into column 6 instead of column 5. This means you only need to move it 4 columns to get it to the right edge of the board while you need to move it 5 columns to get it to the left edge. That extra column is crippling on higher speeds. Every top level player plays on a CRT TV screen. Modern TVs have too much latency, which makes gameplay significantly harder, especially now that piece movement is so fast and precise. However, the lower latency comes at the cost of visibility. CRTs do not display dark colors very well, which is why dusk, charcoal, and greeeeeeeeen are all so hard to see. The 810 line level is not always level 235. It changes depending on what level you start at. This is due to a glitch that has been known about for about as long as the game has been out. The number of lines before transition is supposed to increase by 10 per starting level. However, due to a bug, levels 9-15 all only take 100 lines to transition. This means that if you start on one of these levels, you will have cleared a different amount of lines by the time the game starts to break, which then changes the 810 line level. This might be the key to getting rebirth as the other color schemes are much easier to see. Part of the reason that Tetris Gym was so widely used and accepted is that the only modifications it made were to the score and level counter. Since the game crash wasn’t understood until very recently, no one knew that this mod had unintentionally patched it. Other than this unintentional patch, gameplay was identical to the original cartridge
That's all super interesting, thanks for sharing! Getting to peek behind the curtain into what makes Tetris runs tick (beyond the sheer skill needed to control the pieces and the hours invested by each player to ingrain it into instinct) really adds to the journey everyone must have gone through, especially when looking at something like this as an outsider :)
Funny enough Retro Game Mechanics Explained and Displaced Gamers each released a video explaining the crash and looking at the game's code in detail less then 24 hours apart on the 6th/7th of March... :D
I thought Alex played on the original NeS and avoided the crash bugs because his score was so low. In another video he could be seen wondering why there was no crash.
@@skysheep747 He didn't know Tetris Gym patched crashes at the time. He was fully expecting a game crash... and then it didn't happen. So he kept going. A related glitch changes level palettes, so the 810-line level was supposed to be *charcoal*. But he had done that multiple times already, it was doable. But with that glitch patched, it wasn't charcoal- it was Greeeeeeeeen, as mentioned in the video. Which he had trouble with earlier. He had no idea the 810-level would be Greeeeeeen until he hit it... which is why he reacted like that.
maybe its because i've been forgetting my meds and its almost 3:00am but this did genuinely make me cry several times. dude it was so competitive and then they all worked together and look where they got. and a good portion of them are actual children. fractal stopping to watch scuti's run and cheering him on. wtf that's so sweet. (also!! here from sad boyz, so happy i decided to look into this
Something to keep in mind as these records continue to climb past the stratosphere: getting a maxout (1 million points) on NES Tetris is one of the most difficult and prestigious accomplishments one can achieve on the entire NES/Famicom platform. The game sold over 8 million copies worldwide, yet fewer than 500 people have recorded a maxout in the 35 year history of this top 10 all time nes game. Those 500 players represent the top .0005%. The 20 or so players featured in this documentary represent the top .000025%
thanks for the inspiration... I've been meaning to clean the dust of the old NES and buy a Tetris cartridge at a local store that sells old games and consoles (also meaning to download Tetris Gym eventually)... the 500 or so that have reached the maxout are only the 0.0005% because few others even try... so I'm gonna try
I tried NES tetris for the first time after this video - played for about an hour and only made it to level 4. I've been humbled but had way more fun than I expected, so I'll practice for awhile and see where it takes me
1:27:33 "Every game of NES Tetris ever played had ended with the player topping out." False - my younger sibling ended at least one of my games using the POWER button.
@@markymark443 He probably has 600 more laying around I didn't imagine how much money screaming at every game in existence could get you or how long you could do it without losing your voice until I saw him
Really compelling boss levels too. Like, want to beat this one? Change how you use a controller. This one? Have super eyes. This one? Computer science time!
Yes, there's this one level with only pretty much invisible, dark green pieces. You know, the one that requires 810 lines to clear it. This whole thing feels like a long planned and elaborate troll from the developer lol
That scrolling to the right for farthest level in a tournament at 1:13:30 was so brilliant and impactful. You did a great job highlighting just how big a jump that was.
@@20minutes14 Yes! In part 2 of "The Bob Emergency". A nice nod to Jon and a great way of visualizing when someone just goes so far beyond what was considered a limit.
"In level 187 after 4 rebirths, It was discovered that Tetris spontaneously turns into the Soda Popinski fight from Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Naturally, the first person to clear this hurdle was none other than Matt Turk himself."
Nowadays it's very quick for a world record video to be outdated. Alex got 13 million I watched live. Dog got 14 million and the longest level. Tristop crashed.
The “this is how far Eric made it” section reminded me a lot of a Dorktown video where they use a similar effect to show how insane the gap is; you did it so effectively. This might be the best video you’ve made yet, wonderful work!!
Tetris has no Story. It has no Plot, no Characters, no moments of crushing defeat or amazing victory of heroes overcoming impossible odds. That story, is one told entirely through the people who play it. And what an amazing story it is.
There are 100% moments of crushing defeat and amazing victory, just not of heroes. There is absolutely a plot, but it's just the player and the game, no other characters.
if you watch ericicx video on the secret ending of tetris you may decide that there is an unintentional storyline to tetris from all the glitches that appear later on in the game
I love the fact over 120 levels beyond the kill screen, Tetris goes "I didn't think I'd have to use this against you" then pulls out Dusk, then Charcoal 2 levels later, and then pulls a Sans Undertale on Level 235. Oddly poetic.
When he said that 235 was different I was expecting like a 100 or a power of 2 like 256 or something like that. Nah just plus 800 and then it goes back to 10.
The game really just goes "This isn't even my final form" and pulls out like another three boss phases between the dark colours, the crashes, and the sudden additional 800 lines. Glitches bending the reality of the game just as how final bosses often bend reality is pretty insane.
@@DefinitivNichtSascha And on console the crashes get unbelievably brutal towards the end of the game. Level 255 will automatically kill the player unless they push down on 5 out of the 7 pieces, and by the looks of it the game has lag issues at that stage too.
@maxdragonsoul5553 can confirm lag issues, did a TAS once of it, and I started to notice there was a longer delay between pieces after like 236. tbf it was a rom hack but still. And it's even worse than just 255, multiple levels in the final 6 crash if you don't push down the piece or flash the next box. btw not related to you directly but it is relevant to the thread, salt got one thing wrong in this video, and that's the 810 line level. It doesn't always happen on level 235, it can happen on different levels depending on your starting level, and if you start on level 19, the long level will be 235. It can be as early as level 219 if you start on levels 0-9
@@DefinitivNichtSaschaabout 10 levels before game crash merely dropping pieces can crash the game, you gotta do some goofy extra shit to deal with it, crazy hard too, then after all that you reach the calm waters of level one
I recommend looking up alex t as well because this video didn't even mention how he went on to prove himself after hitting the green slog (immediately after) absolutely insane
the video is as long as a full-fledged movie maybe after teaching your kids tetris and they play very, very well you should grab them some popcorn only for it to not be a popcorn flick and instead use it as a way to obliterate their minds for me this is equally difficult to comprehend as progression into graham's number
It's so crazy to me that the tech that blew the doors off the game wasn't some in-game technique or glitch discovery, but just a new way to push buttons. It's something that theoretically could have been discovered before the game even came out and yet it took over three decades to be implemented.
On the same controller everyone was using already (so no arguments about validity like how some tech in SMB is almost keyboard only) that was faster to use, easier to perform and was even less physically taxing on the hands One in a million discovery, other games only dream of having this type of tech It's crazy that it even changed the fundamental way the game was played from how much you could optimize your score before the kill screen with a very real cap to turning it into a pure survival game with an obscenely high ceiling Like, we probably would've stopped in the 1.5 million range if rolling was never discovered
@@sehtuk3953 This tech is so good that is actually being used in other games speedruns. One that use it a bit is Mega Man X Series speedruns, where it is used to rapid-fire/slash dash cancel.
It's so cool to think about the fact that Tetris having a weak code allows it to create it's own mechanics, having a dark color palette level to limit the player's ability to calculate their next move, messing up their runs, having a certain point in the game where the players have to pay attention to their next numbers of lines broken at the same time to prevent from crashing (at this point it's just an instant kill), and having a level that require the player to break hundreds of lines with a single dark color in order to progress before the rebirth (acting like a whole boss fight)
It's worth noting how incredibly supportive fractal was when scuti got the first crash. Around ~1:40:00 you describe how fractal wouldn't get the same media attention, and I'm sure that did sting and is worth mentioning, but fractal being super supportive of scuti's achievement, and not rooting against him, in spite of that is what makes him so special.
I actually knew Fractal from university for a year before I graduated. We weren't super close, but I knew he wouldn't get jealous when Blue Scuti beat him to it. He was such a positive and optimistic dude, and his friends found him really supportive whenever they needed it most. Beautiful story.
I'm so happy Fractal got so much screentime in this video! That man is an amazing role model for the tetris community. He's put in so much work, and continues supporting other players' efforts
THIS SHOULD BE ON NETFLIX! Absolutely amazing piece of art you’ve made. The amount of passion and dedication it took to make this is beyond incredible. Thank you for showing me the world of Tetris and the history in 2 hours. I recently got into watching Tetris in the past month and this made me gain so much respect for the community and the players. Amazing content, just WOW
I absolutely love how for Tetris “broke” not because someone found a new glitch or exploit, but rather a literal new innovative way to play without any loopholes or errors. And it is freaking amazing.
The scaling of NES Tetris makes this one of if not THE most ridiculous journeys in speedrunning. While most games eventually turn into dogfights for milliseconds, each WR in Tetris redefines its limits. It's not unreasonable to imagine that once someone achieves the first Rebirth, theoretical endless games are in play. Absolutely insane. Thanks for the incredible video SummoningSalt!
I wonder if once people achieve the first Rebirth on Tetris gym, if people will then try to achieve the first Rebirth on NES Tetris using crash dodging?
I think they'll make two new categories. Amount of lines cleared after you hit rebirth or your score when you reach rebirth. :D It'll be fun to see the top guys going for a tetris in level 240+ to get a higher score. BIG RISK / REWARD.
@@ryancampbell6613 I think getting rebirth on an OG cart is still a pipe dream for the moment, but one thing that I've learned over these past few years is that nothing is impossible in this game.
It's so crazy how this code that was never meant to go past level 29 created all these challenges like glitched colors, dusk, charcoal, the 810 line level, all just from the randomness of the bugged code.
@@marklund117 not a lot at all, this only works with tetris because of the type of game it is, a simple ass puzzle game, slot the thing correctly enough times and level up, i can't even begin to think of a game that simple nowadays, even if there is, the coding is way too tight and advanced to allow such things unintentionally. there are hardware limitations at play here not just the game, literally the console couldn't handle what was happening. so you will absolutely never see this in modern gaming. jank for sure, every any% speedrun uses glitches and jank, but what happened with tetris is impossible in today's titles.
@@DrMonty-ng5fo it does, because aesthetic glitches and the way it breaks does not absolutely destroy the game. and the way it works, same scren, same purpose. you can't break super mario to have more levels can you? or contra? can you play contra for 200 levels? no, because the game has a definite start and end.
i love how in every world record video u cover a player at the start who gets a good early achievement but nothing impressive, then he comes back later to the story and sweeps everyone else, then a new young player comes and end their lead
1:10:24 im putting “featured in summoning salt b-roll” on my resumé seriously though it’s so awesome seeing you cover this game! there have been whispers about this possibly happening around the community for years now and I never expected it to become a genuine reality. As someone who knew all of the information already, it’s insane how your storytelling and editing still manage to evoke such intense emotion and intensity.
Blue Scuti had lost his father to a heart attack just a week before he defeated Tetris. He dedicated the achievement to him. What an absolute legend. *EDIT FOR OCTOBER 6, 2024:* DOGPLAYINGTETRIS HAS DONE THE REBIRTH. NES TETRIS IS COMPLETE.
@@mydogisgreedy I will never forgive the fucker who just, downplayed Blue Scuti from something that damn near united the world... The upmost respect to the first Crashbringer, Blue Scuti.
I remember seeing the headlines when Blue Scuti "beat Tetris" and thought "oh it's just the kill screen" and moved on with no idea what that meant in Tetris. Making this 2 hour long video must be gruelling, but really goes to show the insane accomplishment he made, along with all the others before and after him that won't get a hundredth of the attention. Another incredible SummingSalt video.
Beginning of the video: “and he miraculously made it to level 31!” 1 hour later: “and he only made it to level 138..” Another 30 minutes later: “235, but there’s 810 lines💀”
It's like anime powerscaling. Just being able to fly was an insane feat in early Dragon Ball, but the final villain of DBZ was effortlessly destroying planets and invading the afterlife. Though comparing Dragon Ball scaling to anime as a whole is extremely unfair - Aside from Gurren Lagann, which had galaxies being thrown like frisbees in its final episode.
@@Zarvanis Dw there are many anime where powerscaling goes completely fucked up, it's just that Dragon Ball starts at a cracked base (in like episode 13 or something Muten explodes the Moon)
It's videos like these that make me realize just how much history we have (especially considering how much stuff was cut :P). We've actually come so far as a community, and I don't think we've even reached the peak. Thanks for letting all of us relive the good times and prepare for the ones ahead.
i love when games present an unintended challenge. making dusk blocks could literally be an in-mechanic, but somehow the universe aligned and just decided to make Tetris that much cooler
Rest in Peace Jonas. He will always be the greatest Tetris legend to ever live, even if he wasn't there to see BlueScuti achieve the seemingly impossible True Killscreen.
Shame he passed on before the Rolling was even used widely, he probably could have adapted and we might have even seen a redemption story play out with him winning another World Championship, or maybe even multiple again.
@@kronosomni2805 Yea, there was a video he did before passing where he was showing a drummer how to play Tetris and the drummer was showing him how to drum, and when he explained the concepts of Tetris to the drummer, the first thing the drummer did was play around with how to hit the buttons with multiple fingers to move faster. I feel like that was on the path to rolling right there, and with how amazing Jonas was at stacking, I really would have loved to see Jonas rolling.
@@sybrwookie Drummers at higher skill levels are essentially playing Tetris in a way. When you think about it, the notes are like the pieces, the sticks are the D-Pad, and the Drum is the Controller.
the shot of Jonas congratulating Joseph and giving him a hug after he won the champ is so wholesome dude holy. Impossible to know Jonas' thoughts at the time but something about his reaction feels very genuine and emotional.
I love how the glitched color pallets have some cool ass nicknames for them, it just gives this whole game a bunch of personality. Just imagine having to lock tf in to beat "dusk", like yo this shit sounds cool as hell
Tetris is a fascinating study of sports psychology and flow (being 'in the zone'). Once a player's spent enough time rolling, the physical execution becomes pretty much trivial and the only barrier is psychological. Tetris becomes a 100% psychological game. A top-tier player getting into super-strong flow can, as demonstrated, completely demolish records. As long as they stay in flow, there's nothing to stop them. But staying in that kind of flow for an hour? A state of consciousness where a lapse for a split second can end it all? Absolutely insane.
Flow state on a game like Tetris feels absolutely incredible too. I’ve never been a big Tetris player but in my experience with similar games it literally feels like you can see the future.
@@snoozbuster There's a reason human beings appreciate great art, establish meritocracies, climb Everest, and speedrun video games. Brilliance is its own dimension in the universe. One that most of us barely scratch the surface of, but all of us enjoy seeing the best of us attempt exploring. It's what generates things like fame and fortune, though the vast majority of us prefer to circumvent the prerequisite hard work involved, out of fear and laziness, so we can skip to the crude material rewards directly. In a mostly lifeless and hostile universe, pursuit of brillance and brilliant achievement, regardless of reward and recognition, is all that truly matters. Movies like Pi and Whiplash have laid out this simple truth rather aptly, as do each one of Summoning Salt's excellent videos. Most people turn away from this sort of thing due to the sheer level of difficulty, dismissing these pursuits - especially the ones that don't garner wealth - as a meaningless waste of time. Instead, we cut ourselves a break, relax, and focus on the human condition of resource gathering and reproducing. But deep down we all know that those activities are just a circular holding pattern that is maintained for the purpose of facilitating the pursuit of brilliance in all aspects of life, no matter how large or small. As history rolls on, the things we revere in museums are the artifacts of brilliance. It is, ultimately, the only part of us worth preserving. I would take scuti's game crash achievement over a billion dollars, any day of the week. Except of course, I actually wouldn't want to take it, since the entire point of an achievement like that is to earn it, not have it gifted to you. That's precisely what makes it worth more than the $billion$, a fact that most people fail to understand in their pursuit of destination above journey. Over past millenia, when philosophers discussed the overriding importance of truth and beauty, plus how the lesser of us despise those concepts and their expression out of envy and spite, this video is exactly what they were talking about. No amount of money, fame, or power in the world will ever enable someone to achieve what scuti did.
One passing thought can kill your entire run so one of the tactics is to literally clear your mind and stay "quiet" while in the zone so your brain doesn't accidentally have a thought. You're silencing your subconscious so you can use it instead of your body.
Fractal is a real one with his true sportsmanship, cheering on Studi to take the glory he had been fighting for. Nothing but mad respect for him as a person and his accomplishments. Absolutely amazing video as always Summoning Salt. This might be your masterpiece and that's saying something.
Fractal is still the reigning champ and is absolutely wonderful, he was doing warmup games during Alex's run, and actually told people to go check him out he was live. Then he booted the stream up himself and was there for hearing Alex say Fractal's catchphrase xD And kept watching all the way to the end of the run, cheering him on
Absolutely incredible video. My favorite part is when the demographic of top players switched in 2019 from guys in their 40s to young teenagers without any explanation.
Kids got in touch with tetris during covid, they found the old TV and NES of their parents, that and twitch streams. During and right after covid the tetris scene exploded in popularity
I find it quite cool how you can see the methods of verification evolve over the years 90s: reputation or a credible enough source 00s: photograph of final screen 10s: video of whole attempt 20s: live stream
For many world records, what determines the jumps in record times tends to be players finding a trick or glitch or exploit and then integrating that in their runs to play less of the intended game. For Tetris it's the opposite, the game has things trying to stop you both intentionally and as glitches, and the world record's history is about people overcoming those barriers through sheer skill to play even more than was ever intended. That is what makes this story truly amazing, and I'm glad this video covers it so well.
The key is that for Tetris, nobody cares about speedrunning. The world records are for lasting longer (furthest level, score which is easier at higher levels), not short times
EricICX and I went to high school together. Never once did he ever mention Tetris in the four years I knew him. A UA-camr he’s friends with made a video on the 2022 Tetris championships, that’s how I found out. Shared the news with some other friends that knew him, he never mentioned it to anyone. It was crazy seeing him on that video and still crazy seeing him here. We haven’t talked at all since leaving high school, but from what I remember, he’s a pretty down to earth guy and pretty funny.
@@tswan137 he did share his hobbies. We talked about Pokémon/Anime a couple times I think. I just don’t remember hearing Tetris😂. The funny part about this story, one of the few games that wasn’t blocked on our laptops at school was Tetris. So some of us would be playing Tetris in classes.
The level of impact Jonas Neubauer had on competitive Tetris is crazy. I started playing classic NES Tetris because of him and tried to qualify in germany in 2019. In one of his streams he was explaining how to approach Tetris and that it's about fast decision making, not about always making the best decision but making fast "good" decisions, they don't need to be perfect, you can deal with the consequences of a bad decision later. I carried that mentality over into competing in Tekken and it really helped me to stop being indecisive in tournaments. Glad to see how much Tetris has grown since him, the entire Classic Tetris World Championship, and all the new generation players breaking the game in the coolest way possible. Thanks for highlighting this awesome community!
I think in some shape or form, every new tetris player is directly or indirectly impacted by Jonas. So many legends had him as a idol for tetris playing. I think one turning point would be the "passing of the torch" when Joseph won against him. Many young players started because of Joseph, who was strongly influenced by Jonas. Even to this day, some new records are dedicated to Jonas, I dedicated my maxouts to him. He will always be an important character in the scene. May he rest in peace. He will never be forgotten for us. oh and: Ein hoch auf die deutsche Tetris-Szene! ;)
You have to love the way the video progresses. Start of the video: "Can we get 1 million points on video?" End of the video: "Can we survive long enough to be reborn?"
2018 - a 16-year-old beats Jonas Neubauer 2021 - a 16-year-old teaches you rolling 2023 - a 13-year-old breaks the game 2024 - a 15-year-old smashes world records
Pixel andy being oblivious to dusk, the level that took out the previous wr run. And beating it. For summoning salt trademark heavenly victory music to play in the bright and colourful pink level he was in. Only to go into night , music cuts, and pixel andy instantly dies. Absolute cinema.
@@robertoazuaje9279first my jaw dropped, then it dropped further, then I said holy shit and started laughing, then I put my hand over my mouth and started tearing up. Seeing a person achieve something that groundbreaking is like witnessing the indomitable spirit of humanity. It’s hard to put into words.
1:13:15 that’s a purposeful nod and a perfect adaptation of almost the exact same reveal from a Jon Bois video about a long jumper. It’s still such a perfect way to demonstrate the absurdity of the gap between the previous best and the attempt where all the stars aligned. Even though you know where the shot is going in principle, it still manages to induce the feeling of bewilderment because of how long it just keeps on going.
The color palette glitch is fascinating to me. It wasn't designed that way or intended to become harder by making some of the colors super hard to see. It is just an emergent difficulty that arose based on the nature of the game. It's spooky, that these threshold guardians were always there, waiting to be discovered after decades. The consequence of adventuring well beyond the boundaries of the known. Strange things are found when you find yourself at the edge of any world, even in a video game that was completely intentionally designed.
The one thing that has always gotten me with speed runs of older titles is how new things can be found 20+ years after it came out, but Tetris is something else entirely. In the last 6 years the High Score wr has been raised by like 11 million. These last 2 years especially. It’s insane. I thought those glitched lines would be it, but people just keep going. This is the Golden Age of NES Tetris High Scores; and it happened 30+ years after the game came out, on hardware that’s 40 years old, and with players who weren’t even born in the same century as its release. Absolute Insanity.
I think the most interesting part of this story is how different it is from other world records stories in that every time we get a breakthrough, it completely changes the way the game is played: Originally, the objective was to get the most perfect placements possible before reaching the kill screen, then, with the advent of hyper tapping, it became a matter of trying to score high then entering survival mode with extreme reflexes after the kill screen. But now with rolling, scoring high before level 29 is irrelevant, and survival is determined both by good reflexes, and stamina to endure the marathon sessions
To not turn the game into a "marathon" which is not the way the game was inteded to be played, in tournaments they implemented another and this time a real killscreen at level 39, so efficiency still has the relevance it deserve, turning it merely on survival was detrimental for the game
watching this almost felt like being back on Twitch in 2018, 2019 and 2020 watching the Tetris World Championship live. it was an insane feeling, the rush and tension, seeing Jonas dethroned by someone of the next generation. just meaningful period of my life that means alot
@@DarkkestNite this 100%, the "players vs human limits" attitude of highly optimized games is something whole and of itself to behold. i'm sure it's not unique to speedrunning, but it is an amazing example of human culture as a whole.
The "this is how far Eric ended up making it" and accompanying slow pan at 1:13:22 gave me real Jon Bois vibes. The glitched colors are an amazing sort of thing. They're like the event horizon of a black hole. Who could have foreseen this sort of narrative resonance? I like that before charcoal, there's an island of stability in that cheerful summery palette. Tetris and physics, huh... I feel like the story of Fractal pierced my heart. Kudos on another great video!
I have watched a lot of your videos, but I just have to say this: This one might be your Citizen Kane. I had no idea I could be absolutely glued to the screen for almost 2 hours watching people drop blocks. Just amazing work.
Fractal is the kind of person i yearn to be, even in the face of the accomplishment he pushed so hard to achieve being accomplished by someone else while barely recieving a lick of the widespread applause, he remained joyful and happy that the accomplishment had been done, and even continued to do it himself, even if he knew he would hardly recieve as much credit . An absolute legend
dude, after like 10 times of thinking "there's no chance anyone beats that score" I tapped on the video and there were 40 minutes left 🤯 insane storylines, great video as always Señor Salt
1:13:15 you really showed your Jon Bois influence there. You perfectly replicated my single favourite moment of any video he ever made (Bob Beamon's jump), and it had just as much of an emotional impact. I salute you.
I know everyone speaks highly of Jonas on here and for those that never met him or joined the Tetris community after he passed, this comment section is such a great way to tell his impact on so many people. He was welcoming and warm. He treated everyone with respect and their story with curiosity. His stream was a safe place for people from all over to come together and not just watch him play Tetris, but sing karaoke, drink whiskey, listen to music and just live a happy life. 1/5/21 was one of my saddest days and his death came far too soon. Although I will not begrudge SS for not doing some sort of memorial in his video I am so overwhelmed on everyone in the comments sharing their stories. His tetris ability and championships were world class. Him as a person was even better. RIP Jonas. LYMYMI (Love you miss you mean it). -Jets
there was one amazing video of him where he and joseph are both playing to get a high score whilst at the same time being interviewed. Joseph is concentrating really hard trying to get a really high score - overpressing and topping out quite a lot Jonas is just casually getting tetris after tetris while giving the interviewer his full attention answering all his questions fully engageing with him - whilst knocking out an amazing score - something like a 1.1 or 1.2 RIP Jonas Neubaur
I didn't know Jonas. I am not part of the community. You are 100% correct about the comments - everyone from your community is telling stories about how valued he was 👍
I agree completely. I didn't know Jonas in real life but I feel like I did. I'd lurk in the stream of him and Heather playing tetris and drinking and felt like I was among friends. Why it always seems like the truly good people get called home way too early, I'll never know.
Guy has mad story-telling skills. I can't believe in 45 minutes he made me this desperate to see a run of a game I previously barely knew the rules to. Chefs kiss
This is like watching a movie. It has plot twists, reveals, characters with triumphs and failures, and constant, detailed narrative progression. I mean, ive watch this more than once. It is such an enjoyable journey.
The reveal segment at 1:12:52 is absolutely astounding. The buildup for the past hour of commentary and footage, leading to this one, gorgeous sequence where the curtain slowly draws back to what is physically possible in this game, is up there with the Tyson Punchout reveal as Summoning Salt's best work. Fucking well done man.
There's something beautiful and poetic about level 138 Graphics glitching. Like you're unlocking a new difficulty mode and the game is trying to trip you up
I don't see how you can't call the charcoal level "midnight." It comes after dusk, is even darker, and to finish the game you have to get past midnight. Fits pretty perfectly.
Like somehow the game itself is being madly busted and having a deep JRPG vibe, the first stopping point where lv29 is too fast to even have a chance to complete, and then the rolling technique is invested deep, more of the dark challenges, even the level between 30~145 is a hurt in the ass ,with lv138 the color started to getting weird, it's like telling you that you have entered the region of forbidden. And then you get to the dusk lv146 and " the Lightless night" lv148, the " end of the world" lv155 and after, and here somehow we're in the "deep endless forest" lv235 aka you complete 1 level is in a 81 level with in a dark green, and where stand in the end of the road is "the rebirth" in lv256. Wow,that would be such a ride if someone really get there.
@@chenwinterjason8369 Yeah you really have to get to level 300. This is crazy. It's even more epic than all the glitches in the Super Mario Bros any percentage run.
It's facinating how the generations switched drastically at some point. Most retro game speedruns seem to be dominated by people who played them in their childhood, but now you have these kids taking world records and getting massive achievements despite being born nearly 20 years after its release. Really goes to show that some games are just timeless.
Unironically, TikTok brain rotten kids could be better at playing Tetris cause the game has a continuous stream of stimulation and visual information being given to you. Literally there is not a single second to relax, your brain is ALWAYS active. And people crave that activity. If a link was really to exist this could be an incredibly funny and interesting study to conduct
UA-cam, Twitch, TikTok have made doing precisely this sort of thing, playing this sort of game, not only more easily seen than it would have been even 20 years ago, but viable as a means to make money. As the generation that grew up in the heydays of these games ages out of being the "masters," it's almost easy to see that younger people might step into that void. Add to that the love for nostalgia-bait that seems to be taking over the internet and the aforementioned ability to be seen and make some money...I am not amazed at all. That said, thanks to you for pointing it out. It's a neat thought to think the very early generations of games are still being appreciated by the young of today.
Totally unsurprised that a kid today would enjoy Tetris. It's a classic puzzle game and the rudimentary graphics don't make it any worse . When they want to play old games with jank and terrible graphics like Double Dragon or something. Then I raise an eyebrow. 😄
I've watched this video so many times at this point. I don't know why. the music makes it even better. I keep trying to get other people I know to watch it but they just think I'm insane for watching a two-hour video about the history of a game I don't even play over and over.
first lv 30: Thor Aakerlund first maxout fully recorded: Harry Hong first world champ: Jonas Neubauer first roller: cheez_fish first 1.6 score rollover: HydrantDude first glitched colors: EricICX first game crash: bluescuti first 10 million: AlexT and what does Fractal161 have? Well he has the CTWC 2023 world championship, arguably the most stacked ever live, and is only the second player ever to have both 1st and 2nd in CTWC, and the only player to ever have silver and gold J-piece trophies. He also has first glitched colors on PAL-tetris and 810 lines proof of concept on Charcoal glitched color pallet. tbh I'd trade any of those first ever achievements, even bluescuti's game crash for the CTWC gold trophy, so Fractal161 has a seriously great achievement there.
What I loved about him was his sportsmanship and the fact that he saw it happen and was so excited. That's true competition. The man's a gentleman. He has my respect.
SummoningSalt, this is easily your magnum opus. I love so many of your videos, but the storytelling in this one left my jaw on the floor. It's genuinely among the best UA-cam videos ever produced. The Tetris community sounds absolutely incredible, and so many of their achievements left me completely stunned. Thank you so much for this masterpiece of a documentary.
Level 235 is so ominous. It's 81 times as long as all of the other levels. It's basically like starting an entirely new game of Tetris inside the one you're already playing. So fitting that it's bathed in drab army green because it's like fighting an entire war. It's like a battalion of soldiers surrounding you on all sides, and as the sun plunges below the horizon and their olive fatigues darken and sink into the black sky, the descend upon you. This is the new Tetris battleground
blue scuti being 13 is genuinely incomprehensible to me, in the most impressive way possible. can you imagine having that level of determination and skill, that level of discipline, so young? he earned that win, i hope he finds more and more ways to express his talents
@@rieldebonk1044experience mattters, the kid probably barely learned the basics of Tetris at the age of 7, and to dedicate years of your life to accomplishing one of the hardest things in video game history in such a short period of time to learn tech, tactics, and strategies to do what nobody else has ever done is incomprehensible. Some people have dedicated decades of their life to try and be where bluescuti is today
It's incredible. Forget about most kids not having that level of determination, patience, and focus- most people of any age will never approach that dedication in any pursuit.
Love the way the video goes from “who can get to 999999 first” all the way to “who can crash the game first”. Also you gotta love the character development of the killscreen levels lol, from pure evilness straight to the savior of the run
15:57 “well, it’s 12 years later and apparently Mat still hasn’t returned home” IS CRAZYYY you’re coming for ever today with such a nonchalant voice as well LOL I love it
Can we take a second to appreciate the comment from Jonas at 9:30 asking how to get a video online. 20 years ago that was not an easy thing to do! He would have needed a VCR DVD combo that could copy VHS to DVD, then format that was supported by internet browsers (of which there were basically 2, Internet Explorer, and AOL) and wait probably a few hours if not all day for it to upload all 7 pixels.
Your browser is holding you back. Level up with Opera GX: operagx.gg/SummoningSalt2
Watch the chase for the rebirth live!
Alex T: www.twitch.tv/tetrisalext
bluescuti: www.twitch.tv/bluescuti
PixelAndy: www.twitch.tv/p1xelandy
And thanks to the following people for help with research! Check out their channels:
Kitaru: www.youtube.com/@KitaruTC
NerdTheBox: www.youtube.com/@NerdTheBox
aGameScout: www.youtube.com/@aGameScout
fractal161: www.youtube.com/@fractal161
EricICX: ua-cam.com/users/EricICX
Do you like waffles
already have it 🫡
I love waffles
Yeah we like waffles
No, my browser is not holding me back
After Jonas Neubauer’s death in 2021, the Tetris World Championship trophy was renamed and redesigned in his honor. The quote from Jonas on it reads: “If you’re a high visibility player, it’s on you to move the community in a positive direction”
RIP Jonas
What an absolute king. That is a killer quote.
What a great quote for a trophy. It's a beautiful message for the one holding it
@@mrsteamie4196 He was such a legendary player, a kind hearted, generous and fun person, honestly the only person I've never met irl that I felt genuine grief for when he passed. The first time I joined one of his streams he was immediately friendly and welcoming, and you'll find many stories of what a lovely guy he was all over the internet.
I started scrolling through the comments as soon as I hit play and my jaw dropped when I read this. I love Ecstasy of Order and I had no idea he had passed. R.I.P.
Bloody amazing.
Thanks so much for making this video. I have been watching your videos even before I started playing Tetris, and being in one of your videos is really cool to me and I've always wanted to be in one.
Cheering for you in every tournament. Keep it up!
Dude!!! Rock on and good luck!
Huge congrats on making it into a Summoning Salt video, it was completely deserved!
Seriously the biggest congrats. Gaming community loves you dude.
i hope you never stop trying to achieve the impossible. huge congrats to you!!
Fractal’s heart-wrenching yelp of dismay when Scuti, his biggest competitor, narrowly missed the crash, and utter glee and pride when he got it at the last moment is the most wholesome and wonderful thing I’ve ever seen in a world record community. True sportsmanship, honor, and selflessness at the highest level.
Very much agree. I have to say I’m not totally gone on how Scuti’s achievement is portrayed here, choosing the angle that he swooped in and stole ‘Fractal’s’ rightful achievement. They were both pushing and encouraging each other to new heights, which is what the supportive Tetris community has always done. Fractal seemed genuinely happy for Scuti, I don’t think he was trying for the game crash for the limelight or the headlines, and by the sounds of it he positively encouraged even more people to try for it to increase the chances of someone getting it. Great video otherwise though.
I find that's how speedrunners are. They just get excited whenever a new frontier is reached.
@@PadwolffDragonbornI agree with your assessment, I got the same feeling from that segment of the video as well.
That's the beautiful thing about the speedrunning community: it's the one group of competitors where whoever's at the top is actively cheering for the one who can beat them
I mean, at this level there’s only a few people in the world that can understand the work and technique it takes to get there. There couldn’t be a better witness of scutis achievement. Fractal was perhaps the one who could MOST understand. A very rarefied situation 😇
12 hours ago, DogPlayingTetris became the first player to get the Tetris Rebirth. Congratulations to Dog!!!
That's the most amazing this ive heard in a while.
That proves that, in fact, dogs can play tetris at high level.
Thanks so much for covering NES Tetris! Perfect timing with this video, given how we're somehow in the middle of possibly the craziest year in the game's 35 year history.
W comment
Thank you for introducing me to classic Tetris with your awesome videos
i'd wait for Tetris to reach 20XX. It's inevitable at this rate.
Everyone go watch game scout’s recent videos. Absolutely mind blowing sequence of events covered in super well made videos.
I also thank you for introducing me to classic Tetris.
RIP Jonas Neubauer. He was an amazing face for the competitive Tetris scene and was the person who got a lot of us into the Tetris community
I miss jonas. There was a period where i was in him and heather's stream every night for a couple years. Best vibes stream that ever existed
Jonas deserves more credit than anyone or anything for the current popularity of NES Tetris.
Still sad about his passing.
@@wildcatlhThis community wouldn't exist without him. There are certainly many others that get credit, but Jonas carried this on his back for years. RIP legend.
It fucking broke my heart when the news came out.
The idol from Albacete. RIP
Fractal deserves even more credit than he gets. Interrupting your WR attempts to celebrate your rival beating you takes a level of humility I and most people just don't have
That's very true, was really cool of him
Not humility, honour.
Coolest part of this already really cool video was seeing Fractal get the recognition he deserved. To be so close the night before and then to lose it like that must've been maddening but he was so classy, cheering on the win...glad SS could give him the love here at least!
i would've tried to DDOS blue scuti
@@CrazyOsi that makes you a loser
I love that Salt is such a class act, never making categories seem like they don't matter when he explains the one that the big focus, doesn't name cheaters so they won't get harassed over it, but will never hesitate to be savage about video quality.
Absolutely. As a Mario Kart player, there aren't many categories, but there is still so much toxicity and elitism within the community on which categories are the "real" ones. Very refreshing to see Salt lay everything on equal ground because I can imagine how that may manifest in other speedrun/time trial communities.
"Tyler got a capture card."
you know its epic when the game gets maxed out by a legendary player and you are only 11 minutes into a 2 hour video.
Ngl I had no idea this video was that long, the fact that I watched all of that omg 😂
I keep thinking this must be the end when new record is being made, once again, then I look at the seek bar, and the video is only halfway through 😭
@@naga88-u5n me, who's heard a bit about Tetris, watching the slow climb from 1.1 to 1.4 million, knowing that at some point the game will be absolutely destroyed with a 16 million run, but not knowing when
That was interesting
Still fun to watch even I know about the final run
The suspense makes it even better
I just found out about hypertapping like…a week ago. So imagine my surprise when I get to chapter 4 at 27 minutes in.
🎉
"Maxed out" is a lie. You've watched summoning salt before, every video has someone saying "that's unbeatable" for it to almost immediately be broken xD
I still absolutely love Fractal's sportsmanship. He's watching someone else make history the way he wanted to, and is smiling and cheering the whole time.
He truly cares more about the game being pushed to its limits more than he cares about being the one to do it.
Like he said: "Kill it!"
What a legend.
Same with huff and Eric! The Tetris community always seems so inviting and kind
Definitely my favourite moment in gaming history after seeing this (previously would've been OG's second TI win in DotA2). There's a lot of sportsmanship in speedrunning and highscore communities, but seeing someone have their accomplishment snatched from them, and still cheer for them live is so amazingly wholesome.
it was so bitter sweet !
You could sense the disappointment, but I'm glad that he achieved the crash for himself. Probably felt like closure. Though to be honest, I don't think he would have gotten nearly the amount of mainstream media coverage if he was first. Primarily because of his age.
That shot of slowly scrolling to the right from level 66 to 146 was SO dramatic and had the PERFECT effect of suspense and blowing my mind at the conclusion. Well done!
The music choice was also perfect
Ngl, I was absolutely flabbergasted at that part. I actually said 'No fucking way' out loud
I can't help but wonder if it was inspired by the section on Bob Beamon's record-breaking long jump in Jon Bois' documentary The Bob Emergency, since Salt has said Jon was a big influence for him.
@@S0RGEx he did another one for the mariners 2001 season, showing how much the team improved. I got the same vibes
@@S0RGEx same thought. Cool to find other jon bois enjoyers.
I didn't know Jonas Neubauer was also one of the early ones to hit a verified maxout, and boy did I tear up even just seeing "Jonas" show up at 9:00.
RIP champ.
Legends never die.
Jonas used to work at a brewery next to my old work back around 2015. I knew him for about a year, and then one day i was reading an article about Mike Tyson's punchout and how they got the rights to his name for only 20k or something like that, and there was randomly a youtube thumbnail that looked a lot like the guy at the brewery next door. Sure enough it was Jonas and one of the Tetris World Championships video. I brought up that I saw that video later that day when having a beer after work. Jonas was probable one of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever known. RIP brother you will be missed.
This needs more upvotes ty for informing us of this legend
That's awesome.
Boom Tetris for Jonas!!! I hope his family is able to see some of these comments as well and take solace in the incredible impact he had for the game and community and how many people's lives were positively impacted by him.
Jonas' reaction to losing to Joseph was so sweet. He was so happy for the literal kid at the time. Really seemed like he was a good dude! RIP
Jonas was a man among men. The World & Eternal Champ shall be missed.
He was a pillar of the classic Tetris community. Always helped anyone and everyone to be better at the game, and at everything else. Seriously one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of talking to.
Like Michael Schumacher said: Records are Ment to be broken
The way Jonas invited in the next generation, despite them overtaking him as the top players, was incredible. Apparently, there was a normal dinner many of the top players would go out to after the tournament, and he made sure to invite Joseph (and his mom) along as well because he was now part of that.
It would have been SO easy for someone who had been at the top for so long to not react positively to these kids "invading" Tetris, but him being such an inviting person completely set the tone for the community perfectly.
And so when a few years later, Dog and the next generation started taking over and Joseph was no longer the top guy, he was the same way to the new kids, and it kept on going like that.
Great story telling. I turned in the video for background noise but couldn't look away.
Here are some things that Salt didn’t mention in the video:
A right well is almost universally preferred by players because long bars spin with a bias towards the right. When you rotate a long bar at the top of the screen, it moves into column 6 instead of column 5. This means you only need to move it 4 columns to get it to the right edge of the board while you need to move it 5 columns to get it to the left edge. That extra column is crippling on higher speeds.
Every top level player plays on a CRT TV screen. Modern TVs have too much latency, which makes gameplay significantly harder, especially now that piece movement is so fast and precise. However, the lower latency comes at the cost of visibility. CRTs do not display dark colors very well, which is why dusk, charcoal, and greeeeeeeeen are all so hard to see.
The 810 line level is not always level 235. It changes depending on what level you start at. This is due to a glitch that has been known about for about as long as the game has been out. The number of lines before transition is supposed to increase by 10 per starting level. However, due to a bug, levels 9-15 all only take 100 lines to transition. This means that if you start on one of these levels, you will have cleared a different amount of lines by the time the game starts to break, which then changes the 810 line level. This might be the key to getting rebirth as the other color schemes are much easier to see.
Part of the reason that Tetris Gym was so widely used and accepted is that the only modifications it made were to the score and level counter. Since the game crash wasn’t understood until very recently, no one knew that this mod had unintentionally patched it. Other than this unintentional patch, gameplay was identical to the original cartridge
That's all super interesting, thanks for sharing! Getting to peek behind the curtain into what makes Tetris runs tick (beyond the sheer skill needed to control the pieces and the hours invested by each player to ingrain it into instinct) really adds to the journey everyone must have gone through, especially when looking at something like this as an outsider :)
Funny enough Retro Game Mechanics Explained and Displaced Gamers each released a video explaining the crash and looking at the game's code in detail less then 24 hours apart on the 6th/7th of March... :D
I'm a bit sad that the community chose to play without crash dodging... it would have made for such amazing stories
I thought Alex played on the original NeS and avoided the crash bugs because his score was so low. In another video he could be seen wondering why there was no crash.
@@skysheep747 He didn't know Tetris Gym patched crashes at the time. He was fully expecting a game crash... and then it didn't happen. So he kept going.
A related glitch changes level palettes, so the 810-line level was supposed to be *charcoal*. But he had done that multiple times already, it was doable. But with that glitch patched, it wasn't charcoal- it was Greeeeeeeeen, as mentioned in the video. Which he had trouble with earlier. He had no idea the 810-level would be Greeeeeeen until he hit it... which is why he reacted like that.
maybe its because i've been forgetting my meds and its almost 3:00am but this did genuinely make me cry several times. dude it was so competitive and then they all worked together and look where they got. and a good portion of them are actual children. fractal stopping to watch scuti's run and cheering him on. wtf that's so sweet. (also!! here from sad boyz, so happy i decided to look into this
lol thank you, I was sitting here thinking I'm crazy for getting emotional over this
oh thank god I'm not the only one
Something to keep in mind as these records continue to climb past the stratosphere: getting a maxout (1 million points) on NES Tetris is one of the most difficult and prestigious accomplishments one can achieve on the entire NES/Famicom platform.
The game sold over 8 million copies worldwide, yet fewer than 500 people have recorded a maxout in the 35 year history of this top 10 all time nes game. Those 500 players represent the top .0005%.
The 20 or so players featured in this documentary represent the top .000025%
thanks for crushing my dreams
thanks for the inspiration... I've been meaning to clean the dust of the old NES and buy a Tetris cartridge at a local store that sells old games and consoles (also meaning to download Tetris Gym eventually)... the 500 or so that have reached the maxout are only the 0.0005% because few others even try... so I'm gonna try
Awesome! I'm back on the grind too.
i could do it
I tried NES tetris for the first time after this video - played for about an hour and only made it to level 4. I've been humbled but had way more fun than I expected, so I'll practice for awhile and see where it takes me
Summoning Salt videos be like:
"He did something, nobody could have imagined as possible"
-> still 1,5h left in the video
😂
To be fair, thats how humanity is. We go past what was first believed to be impossible
Everyone was moaning about 1m next thing you know 7m random colours and crashing the entire game by outplaying it. That is the crazy part!
@@toad7395"...and who knows? Maybe that'll be enough."
-Dr. Eggman, Sonic The Hedgehog Movie 2
This is an underrated comment😂
1:27:33 "Every game of NES Tetris ever played had ended with the player topping out." False - my younger sibling ended at least one of my games using the POWER button.
one can say you powered through the game
nah nobody uses the power button in real life, they flip the console and it gets unplugged.
Surely Poofesure would have ended the game by breaking the console
@@markymark443 He probably has 600 more laying around I didn't imagine how much money screaming at every game in existence could get you or how long you could do it without losing your voice until I saw him
😂
It's only been a few minutes since it happened as I'm writing this. As of October 5, 2024, dogplayingtetris has achieved rebirth. GGs
IT'S OVER
@@probium2832Or is it 👁
And he broke the previous record by 12 million points
W
So humanity is working on NES rebirth now? Or are we boring and going for double rebirth?
I love that high level Tetris has like boss levels completely by accident
It’s so freaking sick
100%, its like watching dragon ball
Really compelling boss levels too. Like, want to beat this one? Change how you use a controller. This one? Have super eyes. This one? Computer science time!
@@WarrioJ”Memorize these arbitrary goofy ahh perimeters or else your game ends unceremoniously lmao”
Yes, there's this one level with only pretty much invisible, dark green pieces. You know, the one that requires 810 lines to clear it.
This whole thing feels like a long planned and elaborate troll from the developer lol
That scrolling to the right for farthest level in a tournament at 1:13:30 was so brilliant and impactful. You did a great job highlighting just how big a jump that was.
Exactly
Things like this is why Summoning Salt is the GOAT
reminded me of a jon bois vid
It's a beautiful piece of work
@@20minutes14 Yes! In part 2 of "The Bob Emergency".
A nice nod to Jon and a great way of visualizing when someone just goes so far beyond what was considered a limit.
"In level 187 after 4 rebirths, It was discovered that Tetris spontaneously turns into the Soda Popinski fight from Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Naturally, the first person to clear this hurdle was none other than Matt Turk himself."
That's hilarious
Best SummoningSalt comment I've ever seen 🤣🤣🤣
this shit had me rolling
Nowadays it's very quick for a world record video to be outdated. Alex got 13 million I watched live. Dog got 14 million and the longest level. Tristop crashed.
"Since he had finger speed Mike Tyson had never seen before, he easily got 37.2 million score.'
The “this is how far Eric made it” section reminded me a lot of a Dorktown video where they use a similar effect to show how insane the gap is; you did it so effectively. This might be the best video you’ve made yet, wonderful work!!
It was Chart Party actually, from The Bob Emergency, and Salt said in a Q&A that this was an intentional homage.
Tetris has no Story. It has no Plot, no Characters, no moments of crushing defeat or amazing victory of heroes overcoming impossible odds. That story, is one told entirely through the people who play it. And what an amazing story it is.
I love that interpretation
There are 100% moments of crushing defeat and amazing victory, just not of heroes. There is absolutely a plot, but it's just the player and the game, no other characters.
The blocks have names, so they can be considered characters.
if you watch ericicx video on the secret ending of tetris you may decide that there is an unintentional storyline to tetris from all the glitches that appear later on in the game
at rebirth actually a small mushroom pops up and says "The princess is in another castle"
I love the fact over 120 levels beyond the kill screen, Tetris goes "I didn't think I'd have to use this against you" then pulls out Dusk, then Charcoal 2 levels later, and then pulls a Sans Undertale on Level 235.
Oddly poetic.
When he said that 235 was different I was expecting like a 100 or a power of 2 like 256 or something like that. Nah just plus 800 and then it goes back to 10.
The game really just goes "This isn't even my final form" and pulls out like another three boss phases between the dark colours, the crashes, and the sudden additional 800 lines. Glitches bending the reality of the game just as how final bosses often bend reality is pretty insane.
@@DefinitivNichtSascha And on console the crashes get unbelievably brutal towards the end of the game.
Level 255 will automatically kill the player unless they push down on 5 out of the 7 pieces, and by the looks of it the game has lag issues at that stage too.
@maxdragonsoul5553 can confirm lag issues, did a TAS once of it, and I started to notice there was a longer delay between pieces after like 236. tbf it was a rom hack but still. And it's even worse than just 255, multiple levels in the final 6 crash if you don't push down the piece or flash the next box.
btw not related to you directly but it is relevant to the thread, salt got one thing wrong in this video, and that's the 810 line level. It doesn't always happen on level 235, it can happen on different levels depending on your starting level, and if you start on level 19, the long level will be 235. It can be as early as level 219 if you start on levels 0-9
@@DefinitivNichtSaschaabout 10 levels before game crash merely dropping pieces can crash the game, you gotta do some goofy extra shit to deal with it, crazy hard too, then after all that you reach the calm waters of level one
14:58 "However, since he used a camera from the 1800s-"
Didn't have to grill Jonas like that!
obliteration
True but let’s face it my man ain’t lying 😂
RIP the goat
This is the kind of video that those "ahh what you record this with, a potato? 😂" comments were originally made for lol that was fucking atrocious 😂
@@n1k0n_ he was really a kind soul. I loved jumping on his stream sometimes and talk to him. His chat was very kind, and we weren't much.
I'm a few hours late but in October 5th 2024, DogPlayingTetris became the first player to ever get tetris rebirth. Congratulations to him!!!!
The idea that we have gone from "Scoring during the Kill Screen" to "CRASH dodging" is absolutely insane
And now rebirthing...
Completely in awe of the Eric tournament story against Huff…then realized there was 48 more minutes of video. HOW?!
to be honest, i was in awe at the time too
@@EricICX yoo hi ericicx
@@EricICXomg hi! dude you are so incredible, amazing job!!!!!
I recommend looking up alex t as well because this video didn't even mention how he went on to prove himself after hitting the green slog (immediately after) absolutely insane
the video is as long as a full-fledged movie maybe after teaching your kids tetris and they play very, very well you should grab them some popcorn only for it to not be a popcorn flick and instead use it as a way to obliterate their minds
for me this is equally difficult to comprehend as progression into graham's number
It's so crazy to me that the tech that blew the doors off the game wasn't some in-game technique or glitch discovery, but just a new way to push buttons. It's something that theoretically could have been discovered before the game even came out and yet it took over three decades to be implemented.
“If I can’t hit the button fast enough… I’ll make the button hit me faster”. Absolutely insane tech that changed Everything for Tetris.
It is probably the most significant change in input method since Thresh popularized WASD + mouse configuration.
On the same controller everyone was using already (so no arguments about validity like how some tech in SMB is almost keyboard only) that was faster to use, easier to perform and was even less physically taxing on the hands
One in a million discovery, other games only dream of having this type of tech
It's crazy that it even changed the fundamental way the game was played from how much you could optimize your score before the kill screen with a very real cap to turning it into a pure survival game with an obscenely high ceiling
Like, we probably would've stopped in the 1.5 million range if rolling was never discovered
@@sehtuk3953 This tech is so good that is actually being used in other games speedruns. One that use it a bit is Mega Man X Series speedruns, where it is used to rapid-fire/slash dash cancel.
If someone time travel to when NES is first released, one can enter a game conference, earn >10 million points, and just blow the gaming world.
It's so cool to think about the fact that Tetris having a weak code allows it to create it's own mechanics, having a dark color palette level to limit the player's ability to calculate their next move, messing up their runs, having a certain point in the game where the players have to pay attention to their next numbers of lines broken at the same time to prevent from crashing (at this point it's just an instant kill), and having a level that require the player to break hundreds of lines with a single dark color in order to progress before the rebirth (acting like a whole boss fight)
It's worth noting how incredibly supportive fractal was when scuti got the first crash. Around ~1:40:00 you describe how fractal wouldn't get the same media attention, and I'm sure that did sting and is worth mentioning, but fractal being super supportive of scuti's achievement, and not rooting against him, in spite of that is what makes him so special.
Tbh thats the entire tetris community. Watch any finals and you would see the first place and runner up hugging each other in joy when the game ends.
I actually knew Fractal from university for a year before I graduated. We weren't super close, but I knew he wouldn't get jealous when Blue Scuti beat him to it. He was such a positive and optimistic dude, and his friends found him really supportive whenever they needed it most. Beautiful story.
I'm so happy Fractal got so much screentime in this video! That man is an amazing role model for the tetris community. He's put in so much work, and continues supporting other players' efforts
Fractal continuing what Jonas started. Wonderful community.
It’s amazing and awesome that he was also there live watching and supporting when Dog rebirthed 10 days ago. Much respect to this man!
THIS SHOULD BE ON NETFLIX! Absolutely amazing piece of art you’ve made. The amount of passion and dedication it took to make this is beyond incredible. Thank you for showing me the world of Tetris and the history in 2 hours. I recently got into watching Tetris in the past month and this made me gain so much respect for the community and the players. Amazing content, just WOW
I absolutely love how for Tetris “broke” not because someone found a new glitch or exploit, but rather a literal new innovative way to play without any loopholes or errors. And it is freaking amazing.
The scaling of NES Tetris makes this one of if not THE most ridiculous journeys in speedrunning. While most games eventually turn into dogfights for milliseconds, each WR in Tetris redefines its limits.
It's not unreasonable to imagine that once someone achieves the first Rebirth, theoretical endless games are in play. Absolutely insane.
Thanks for the incredible video SummoningSalt!
I wonder if once people achieve the first Rebirth on Tetris gym, if people will then try to achieve the first Rebirth on NES Tetris using crash dodging?
I think they'll make two new categories. Amount of lines cleared after you hit rebirth or your score when you reach rebirth. :D It'll be fun to see the top guys going for a tetris in level 240+ to get a higher score. BIG RISK / REWARD.
@@ryancampbell6613 I think getting rebirth on an OG cart is still a pipe dream for the moment, but one thing that I've learned over these past few years is that nothing is impossible in this game.
It's amazing how the game just creates new obstacles the further you get into a run without it being part of the programming, I love it
@@MojoMonkeyMaybe, but I fully believe it will happen one day. Maybe sooner than we think.
It's so crazy how this code that was never meant to go past level 29 created all these challenges like glitched colors, dusk, charcoal, the 810 line level, all just from the randomness of the bugged code.
I wonder what more modern titles we could find similar types of hidden difficulty/jank in if we explored deep enough
@@marklund117 not a lot at all, this only works with tetris because of the type of game it is, a simple ass puzzle game, slot the thing correctly enough times and level up, i can't even begin to think of a game that simple nowadays, even if there is, the coding is way too tight and advanced to allow such things unintentionally. there are hardware limitations at play here not just the game, literally the console couldn't handle what was happening. so you will absolutely never see this in modern gaming.
jank for sure, every any% speedrun uses glitches and jank, but what happened with tetris is impossible in today's titles.
It inspires me to write my code as shitty as possible ❤
@@Myhaay It has nothing to do with being a puzzle game, and everything to do with being on the NES.
@@DrMonty-ng5fo it does, because aesthetic glitches and the way it breaks does not absolutely destroy the game. and the way it works, same scren, same purpose. you can't break super mario to have more levels can you? or contra? can you play contra for 200 levels? no, because the game has a definite start and end.
i love how in every world record video u cover a player at the start who gets a good early achievement but nothing impressive, then he comes back later to the story and sweeps everyone else, then a new young player comes and end their lead
1:10:24 im putting “featured in summoning salt b-roll” on my resumé
seriously though it’s so awesome seeing you cover this game! there have been whispers about this possibly happening around the community for years now and I never expected it to become a genuine reality. As someone who knew all of the information already, it’s insane how your storytelling and editing still manage to evoke such intense emotion and intensity.
W.
I first saw the blindfold punch out video. Set me onto the speed running community and video game deep lore. I love these groups
From a luddite who knows nothing about Tetris this video still made me feel feelings like almost nothing Hollywood has done in years.
Yeah, I know the feeling. I had a Reddit post make it into a Rules Lawyer video
I did not know keyboard is also allowed.
Blue Scuti had lost his father to a heart attack just a week before he defeated Tetris. He dedicated the achievement to him. What an absolute legend.
*EDIT FOR OCTOBER 6, 2024:* DOGPLAYINGTETRIS HAS DONE THE REBIRTH. NES TETRIS IS COMPLETE.
shame that there was some heartless person on the news to bring him down…
@@mydogisgreedy I will never forgive the fucker who just, downplayed Blue Scuti from something that damn near united the world... The upmost respect to the first Crashbringer, Blue Scuti.
@@mydogisgreedy True, however, all this did was showcase the unity and bond in the Tetris community, what with how he was defended by everybody!.
That sucks
@@mydogisgreedy What happened?
I remember seeing the headlines when Blue Scuti "beat Tetris" and thought "oh it's just the kill screen" and moved on with no idea what that meant in Tetris. Making this 2 hour long video must be gruelling, but really goes to show the insane accomplishment he made, along with all the others before and after him that won't get a hundredth of the attention.
Another incredible SummingSalt video.
Yea but Alex T did even better
@@Begeru okay? They didn't say otherwise.
the whole community not being pissed that a 12 year old broke the gsme and was excited for him shows how good these people are
Beginning of the video: “and he miraculously made it to level 31!”
1 hour later: “and he only made it to level 138..”
Another 30 minutes later: “235, but there’s 810 lines💀”
This is the best summoning salt video
@@juandgm6171 maybe but the abney one was really good to
"and they're all dark green"
It's like anime powerscaling. Just being able to fly was an insane feat in early Dragon Ball, but the final villain of DBZ was effortlessly destroying planets and invading the afterlife.
Though comparing Dragon Ball scaling to anime as a whole is extremely unfair - Aside from Gurren Lagann, which had galaxies being thrown like frisbees in its final episode.
@@Zarvanis Dw there are many anime where powerscaling goes completely fucked up, it's just that Dragon Ball starts at a cracked base (in like episode 13 or something Muten explodes the Moon)
The big reason why you know Alex deserves the record is his reaction to the 800+ level. That big smile when facing the biggest challenge is crazy.
It's videos like these that make me realize just how much history we have (especially considering how much stuff was cut :P). We've actually come so far as a community, and I don't think we've even reached the peak. Thanks for letting all of us relive the good times and prepare for the ones ahead.
Omg you are the guy from he summoning salt video
You're the man
A Fractal!! Sick
B you’re so right. The amazing things that SS wasn’t able to pack into two hours boggle the mind
🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
You're so kind hearted and cheered on Scuti even when it was your goal as well. Props for that sportsmanship, glad you got it as well! 😁
i love when games present an unintended challenge. making dusk blocks could literally be an in-mechanic, but somehow the universe aligned and just decided to make Tetris that much cooler
And Blue Scuti just beat the record yesterday (5/23/2024) starting at level 29, going to level 239, with a final score of over 18 million!
I’m only 7 minutes into the video so im confused lol
@@Lezzite Never read the comments during a summoning salt video viewing. lol
Unfortunately 29 start is a separate category, so that's more of a Proof of Concept
29 start wr (not official wr)
And Dogplayingtetris just got Rebirth two days ago.
Rest in Peace Jonas. He will always be the greatest Tetris legend to ever live, even if he wasn't there to see BlueScuti achieve the seemingly impossible True Killscreen.
Killed by Pfizer.
this was news to me. kinda bummed this video didn't feature some kind of memorial for him
Shame he passed on before the Rolling was even used widely, he probably could have adapted and we might have even seen a redemption story play out with him winning another World Championship, or maybe even multiple again.
@@kronosomni2805 Yea, there was a video he did before passing where he was showing a drummer how to play Tetris and the drummer was showing him how to drum, and when he explained the concepts of Tetris to the drummer, the first thing the drummer did was play around with how to hit the buttons with multiple fingers to move faster. I feel like that was on the path to rolling right there, and with how amazing Jonas was at stacking, I really would have loved to see Jonas rolling.
@@sybrwookie Drummers at higher skill levels are essentially playing Tetris in a way. When you think about it, the notes are like the pieces, the sticks are the D-Pad, and the Drum is the Controller.
the shot of Jonas congratulating Joseph and giving him a hug after he won the champ is so wholesome dude holy. Impossible to know Jonas' thoughts at the time but something about his reaction feels very genuine and emotional.
He was a wonderful man, I really miss the guy.
there was so much that jonas missed. i can imagine his reaction to each and every record that came at least in the coming months.
I love how the glitched color pallets have some cool ass nicknames for them, it just gives this whole game a bunch of personality. Just imagine having to lock tf in to beat "dusk", like yo this shit sounds cool as hell
Tetris is a fascinating study of sports psychology and flow (being 'in the zone'). Once a player's spent enough time rolling, the physical execution becomes pretty much trivial and the only barrier is psychological. Tetris becomes a 100% psychological game. A top-tier player getting into super-strong flow can, as demonstrated, completely demolish records. As long as they stay in flow, there's nothing to stop them. But staying in that kind of flow for an hour? A state of consciousness where a lapse for a split second can end it all? Absolutely insane.
These mfs out here black flashing in Tetris 😭😭
Flow state on a game like Tetris feels absolutely incredible too. I’ve never been a big Tetris player but in my experience with similar games it literally feels like you can see the future.
@@snoozbuster There's a reason human beings appreciate great art, establish meritocracies, climb Everest, and speedrun video games. Brilliance is its own dimension in the universe. One that most of us barely scratch the surface of, but all of us enjoy seeing the best of us attempt exploring. It's what generates things like fame and fortune, though the vast majority of us prefer to circumvent the prerequisite hard work involved, out of fear and laziness, so we can skip to the crude material rewards directly.
In a mostly lifeless and hostile universe, pursuit of brillance and brilliant achievement, regardless of reward and recognition, is all that truly matters. Movies like Pi and Whiplash have laid out this simple truth rather aptly, as do each one of Summoning Salt's excellent videos.
Most people turn away from this sort of thing due to the sheer level of difficulty, dismissing these pursuits - especially the ones that don't garner wealth - as a meaningless waste of time. Instead, we cut ourselves a break, relax, and focus on the human condition of resource gathering and reproducing.
But deep down we all know that those activities are just a circular holding pattern that is maintained for the purpose of facilitating the pursuit of brilliance in all aspects of life, no matter how large or small. As history rolls on, the things we revere in museums are the artifacts of brilliance. It is, ultimately, the only part of us worth preserving.
I would take scuti's game crash achievement over a billion dollars, any day of the week. Except of course, I actually wouldn't want to take it, since the entire point of an achievement like that is to earn it, not have it gifted to you. That's precisely what makes it worth more than the $billion$, a fact that most people fail to understand in their pursuit of destination above journey.
Over past millenia, when philosophers discussed the overriding importance of truth and beauty, plus how the lesser of us despise those concepts and their expression out of envy and spite, this video is exactly what they were talking about. No amount of money, fame, or power in the world will ever enable someone to achieve what scuti did.
One passing thought can kill your entire run so one of the tactics is to literally clear your mind and stay "quiet" while in the zone so your brain doesn't accidentally have a thought. You're silencing your subconscious so you can use it instead of your body.
@@casbynessna man ill take 1 billion instead at least I'll be able to get laid with it or sth
Fractal is a real one with his true sportsmanship, cheering on Studi to take the glory he had been fighting for. Nothing but mad respect for him as a person and his accomplishments.
Absolutely amazing video as always Summoning Salt.
This might be your masterpiece and that's saying something.
Fractal is still the reigning champ and is absolutely wonderful, he was doing warmup games during Alex's run, and actually told people to go check him out he was live. Then he booted the stream up himself and was there for hearing Alex say Fractal's catchphrase xD And kept watching all the way to the end of the run, cheering him on
I would never have been like him, I would have just completely given up
I think his masterpiece is his MTPO video
For real man. As much as he wanted to "beat" Tetris, more than that he wanted to see Tetris get "beat"
Absolutely incredible video. My favorite part is when the demographic of top players switched in 2019 from guys in their 40s to young teenagers without any explanation.
Kids got in touch with tetris during covid, they found the old TV and NES of their parents, that and twitch streams.
During and right after covid the tetris scene exploded in popularity
Old men can't roll
@@nicolasturetta7959 I doubt most of them had an NES laying around, but it’s quite cheap to buy one
It was rolling and the reflexes you need for level 29.
It was when rolling got introduced
I find it quite cool how you can see the methods of verification evolve over the years
90s: reputation or a credible enough source
00s: photograph of final screen
10s: video of whole attempt
20s: live stream
For many world records, what determines the jumps in record times tends to be players finding a trick or glitch or exploit and then integrating that in their runs to play less of the intended game. For Tetris it's the opposite, the game has things trying to stop you both intentionally and as glitches, and the world record's history is about people overcoming those barriers through sheer skill to play even more than was ever intended. That is what makes this story truly amazing, and I'm glad this video covers it so well.
The key is that for Tetris, nobody cares about speedrunning. The world records are for lasting longer (furthest level, score which is easier at higher levels), not short times
EricICX and I went to high school together. Never once did he ever mention Tetris in the four years I knew him. A UA-camr he’s friends with made a video on the 2022 Tetris championships, that’s how I found out. Shared the news with some other friends that knew him, he never mentioned it to anyone. It was crazy seeing him on that video and still crazy seeing him here. We haven’t talked at all since leaving high school, but from what I remember, he’s a pretty down to earth guy and pretty funny.
I mean you weren't close enough to bother talking to him after high school. Why would he share his hobbies with you? Lol
@@tswan137 he did share his hobbies. We talked about Pokémon/Anime a couple times I think. I just don’t remember hearing Tetris😂. The funny part about this story, one of the few games that wasn’t blocked on our laptops at school was Tetris. So some of us would be playing Tetris in classes.
The level of impact Jonas Neubauer had on competitive Tetris is crazy. I started playing classic NES Tetris because of him and tried to qualify in germany in 2019.
In one of his streams he was explaining how to approach Tetris and that it's about fast decision making, not about always making the best decision but making fast "good" decisions, they don't need to be perfect, you can deal with the consequences of a bad decision later. I carried that mentality over into competing in Tekken and it really helped me to stop being indecisive in tournaments. Glad to see how much Tetris has grown since him, the entire Classic Tetris World Championship, and all the new generation players breaking the game in the coolest way possible. Thanks for highlighting this awesome community!
I think in some shape or form, every new tetris player is directly or indirectly impacted by Jonas. So many legends had him as a idol for tetris playing. I think one turning point would be the "passing of the torch" when Joseph won against him. Many young players started because of Joseph, who was strongly influenced by Jonas. Even to this day, some new records are dedicated to Jonas, I dedicated my maxouts to him. He will always be an important character in the scene. May he rest in peace. He will never be forgotten for us.
oh and: Ein hoch auf die deutsche Tetris-Szene! ;)
To this day "Bam Tetris for Jonas" is one of the most iconic gaming phrases ever said
01:16 Sponsor
02:32 Introduction
06:21 Chapter 1: The Maxout
11:40 Chapter 2: Beyond The Maxout
16:30 Chapter 3: ENEOOGEZ
25:49 Chapter 4: Hypertapping
31:46 Chapter 5: The Next Generation
49:05 Chapter 6: Rolling
1:00:28 Chapter 7: Vaulting & Scaling
1:15:27 Chapter 8: Colors
1:25:05 Chapter 9: Crashes
1:40:46 Chapter 10: Beyond The Crash
Thanks
thank you!
Chapter 7 is 1:00:28
You have to love the way the video progresses.
Start of the video: "Can we get 1 million points on video?"
End of the video: "Can we survive long enough to be reborn?"
Just your average JRPG story
Its like a classic RPG game.
level 1: Kill Slime
Final level: Kill God
just think: 6 years ago, getting 1.3 million was nearly impossible and 1.4 million was completely unheard of
now the world record is 16 million
this comment killlllled me.
2018 - a 16-year-old beats Jonas Neubauer
2021 - a 16-year-old teaches you rolling
2023 - a 13-year-old breaks the game
2024 - a 15-year-old smashes world records
Pixel andy being oblivious to dusk, the level that took out the previous wr run. And beating it.
For summoning salt trademark heavenly victory music to play in the bright and colourful pink level he was in. Only to go into night , music cuts, and pixel andy instantly dies.
Absolute cinema.
Thats on some dark souls shit on god
@@TheVoiceOfChaos yes
"This, is how far Eric ended up making it" was actually sick
The amount of “OH SHIT” ‘s that left my mouth while it was scrolling over was enough to make my roommate come in an check on me, so yes I’d agree
I read this comment the moment he said it. Literal chills watching that
My jaw dropped when I saw that
@@robertoazuaje9279first my jaw dropped, then it dropped further, then I said holy shit and started laughing, then I put my hand over my mouth and started tearing up. Seeing a person achieve something that groundbreaking is like witnessing the indomitable spirit of humanity. It’s hard to put into words.
I get genuine chills every time this part plays. The way salt presented it was absolutely incredible
1:13:15 that’s a purposeful nod and a perfect adaptation of almost the exact same reveal from a Jon Bois video about a long jumper.
It’s still such a perfect way to demonstrate the absurdity of the gap between the previous best and the attempt where all the stars aligned. Even though you know where the shot is going in principle, it still manages to induce the feeling of bewilderment because of how long it just keeps on going.
The color palette glitch is fascinating to me. It wasn't designed that way or intended to become harder by making some of the colors super hard to see. It is just an emergent difficulty that arose based on the nature of the game. It's spooky, that these threshold guardians were always there, waiting to be discovered after decades. The consequence of adventuring well beyond the boundaries of the known. Strange things are found when you find yourself at the edge of any world, even in a video game that was completely intentionally designed.
And then you have the zone where the crashes start. You wander far enough and even more perils begin - like a minefield.
I like to imagine the game going "someone worthy has finally arrived, awaken the Old Ones from their slumber."
The universe was intentionally designed so it makes sense.
The one thing that has always gotten me with speed runs of older titles is how new things can be found 20+ years after it came out, but Tetris is something else entirely.
In the last 6 years the High Score wr has been raised by like 11 million. These last 2 years especially. It’s insane. I thought those glitched lines would be it, but people just keep going. This is the Golden Age of NES Tetris High Scores; and it happened 30+ years after the game came out, on hardware that’s 40 years old, and with players who weren’t even born in the same century as its release. Absolute Insanity.
I think the most interesting part of this story is how different it is from other world records stories in that every time we get a breakthrough, it completely changes the way the game is played:
Originally, the objective was to get the most perfect placements possible before reaching the kill screen, then, with the advent of hyper tapping, it became a matter of trying to score high then entering survival mode with extreme reflexes after the kill screen. But now with rolling, scoring high before level 29 is irrelevant, and survival is determined both by good reflexes, and stamina to endure the marathon sessions
To not turn the game into a "marathon" which is not the way the game was inteded to be played, in tournaments they implemented another and this time a real killscreen at level 39, so efficiency still has the relevance it deserve, turning it merely on survival was detrimental for the game
watching this almost felt like being back on Twitch in 2018, 2019 and 2020 watching the Tetris World Championship live. it was an insane feeling, the rush and tension, seeing Jonas dethroned by someone of the next generation. just meaningful period of my life that means alot
If there's one thing i love about speedrunners is that they'll support you on your win no matter what. That is such a noble attitude.
I think part of it is an attitude of "players vs game" (...or "players vs human limits" lol) over "player vs player"
@@DarkkestNite this 100%, the "players vs human limits" attitude of highly optimized games is something whole and of itself to behold. i'm sure it's not unique to speedrunning, but it is an amazing example of human culture as a whole.
well, unless you cheat :)
The "this is how far Eric ended up making it" and accompanying slow pan at 1:13:22 gave me real Jon Bois vibes.
The glitched colors are an amazing sort of thing. They're like the event horizon of a black hole. Who could have foreseen this sort of narrative resonance? I like that before charcoal, there's an island of stability in that cheerful summery palette. Tetris and physics, huh...
I feel like the story of Fractal pierced my heart.
Kudos on another great video!
A real Bob Beamon moment. IYKYK
@@reginaldcoloma824 straight up!
@@reginaldcoloma824 100% was the inspiration and worked really well here too
reminds me of @BobbyBroccoli , man has some good visual affects
Imagine a collab
I have watched a lot of your videos, but I just have to say this: This one might be your Citizen Kane. I had no idea I could be absolutely glued to the screen for almost 2 hours watching people drop blocks. Just amazing work.
If this is his Citizen Kane then which one is his Seven Samurai? Or for that matter his Spirited Away? 😅
@@swfcocs1 have to think about that ;)
Wait this was 2H?!??
Don’t say that. You gotta wait until he’s done. That being said yeah this might be the best one so far. The story telling is so excellent
I would like to file a complaint that I was supposed to go to bed an hour ago.
“new goal: play forever” is still one of the most powerful lines i’ve seen in gaming
Fractal is the kind of person i yearn to be, even in the face of the accomplishment he pushed so hard to achieve being accomplished by someone else while barely recieving a lick of the widespread applause, he remained joyful and happy that the accomplishment had been done, and even continued to do it himself, even if he knew he would hardly recieve as much credit . An absolute legend
I love this community because there’s always a “There was no way anyone thought that they could improve on that”-one hour left of the video.
Everyone is so supportive
basically Dragon ball plot.
people thought Goku peaked after learning kamehameha
now hes fighting gods
It's like olympic records, just infinitely more cool.
dude, after like 10 times of thinking "there's no chance anyone beats that score" I tapped on the video and there were 40 minutes left 🤯 insane storylines, great video as always Señor Salt
1:13:15 you really showed your Jon Bois influence there. You perfectly replicated my single favourite moment of any video he ever made (Bob Beamon's jump), and it had just as much of an emotional impact. I salute you.
I know everyone speaks highly of Jonas on here and for those that never met him or joined the Tetris community after he passed, this comment section is such a great way to tell his impact on so many people. He was welcoming and warm. He treated everyone with respect and their story with curiosity. His stream was a safe place for people from all over to come together and not just watch him play Tetris, but sing karaoke, drink whiskey, listen to music and just live a happy life. 1/5/21 was one of my saddest days and his death came far too soon. Although I will not begrudge SS for not doing some sort of memorial in his video I am so overwhelmed on everyone in the comments sharing their stories. His tetris ability and championships were world class. Him as a person was even better. RIP Jonas. LYMYMI (Love you miss you mean it). -Jets
Well said, Jets.
there was one amazing video of him where he and joseph are both playing to get a high score whilst at the same time being interviewed. Joseph is concentrating really hard trying to get a really high score - overpressing and topping out quite a lot
Jonas is just casually getting tetris after tetris while giving the interviewer his full attention answering all his questions fully engageing with him - whilst knocking out an amazing score - something like a 1.1 or 1.2
RIP Jonas Neubaur
I didn't know Jonas. I am not part of the community.
You are 100% correct about the comments - everyone from your community is telling stories about how valued he was 👍
He's a certified gaming legend even to people like me who don't play Tetris
I agree completely. I didn't know Jonas in real life but I feel like I did. I'd lurk in the stream of him and Heather playing tetris and drinking and felt like I was among friends. Why it always seems like the truly good people get called home way too early, I'll never know.
5/18/2024 UPDATE: Dogplayingtetris made it to level 235 and got 14,873,620 points
bluescuti 18 million
@@probium2832 that run is a different category, 29 start, like Alex t's 21 million run from level 153
I should not have looked in comments while mid-video because WHAT THE FUCK, IT CAN GO THAT HIGH???
its not even record, so the video is still accurate. still an amazing achievement tho
Uh oh uh oh uh oh
Guy has mad story-telling skills. I can't believe in 45 minutes he made me this desperate to see a run of a game I previously barely knew the rules to. Chefs kiss
He overusing the term "however"
@@pc-9826I honestly didn’t even notice.
@@pc-9826it’s a two hour vid he’s bound to repeat some words, don’t think anyone is too fussed.
Summoning Salt has one of the highest storytelling stats in UA-cam
@@pc-9826 make a video dedicated only to his usage of the word "however"
This is like watching a movie. It has plot twists, reveals, characters with triumphs and failures, and constant, detailed narrative progression.
I mean, ive watch this more than once. It is such an enjoyable journey.
The reveal segment at 1:12:52 is absolutely astounding.
The buildup for the past hour of commentary and footage, leading to this one, gorgeous sequence where the curtain slowly draws back to what is physically possible in this game, is up there with the Tyson Punchout reveal as Summoning Salt's best work.
Fucking well done man.
I don't get it and I'm not sure what I'm missing. You mean the reveal on reaching level 149?
@@onomatopoeia7505Yes. To go from level 67 to 149 was a significant leap, and entirely unexpected.
The reveal at 1:50:10 got me so good as well
Summoning Salt's greatest video yet.
It reminds me of the Bob Beamon reveal from Jon Bois' "The Bob Emergency" video
There's something beautiful and poetic about level 138 Graphics glitching. Like you're unlocking a new difficulty mode and the game is trying to trip you up
I don't see how you can't call the charcoal level "midnight." It comes after dusk, is even darker, and to finish the game you have to get past midnight. Fits pretty perfectly.
@@EGarrett01 Did the coffee cow send you?
Like somehow the game itself is being madly busted and having a deep JRPG vibe, the first stopping point where lv29 is too fast to even have a chance to complete, and then the rolling technique is invested deep, more of the dark challenges, even the level between 30~145 is a hurt in the ass ,with lv138 the color started to getting weird, it's like telling you that you have entered the region of forbidden.
And then you get to the dusk lv146 and " the Lightless night" lv148, the " end of the world" lv155 and after, and here somehow we're in the "deep endless forest" lv235 aka you complete 1 level is in a 81 level with in a dark green, and where stand in the end of the road is "the rebirth" in lv256.
Wow,that would be such a ride if someone really get there.
@@chenwinterjason8369 Yeah you really have to get to level 300. This is crazy. It's even more epic than all the glitches in the Super Mario Bros any percentage run.
@@EGarrett01because it’s a game, and it’s fun, and doing what would be obvious isn’t fun lmfao
It's facinating how the generations switched drastically at some point. Most retro game speedruns seem to be dominated by people who played them in their childhood, but now you have these kids taking world records and getting massive achievements despite being born nearly 20 years after its release. Really goes to show that some games are just timeless.
Unironically, TikTok brain rotten kids could be better at playing Tetris cause the game has a continuous stream of stimulation and visual information being given to you. Literally there is not a single second to relax, your brain is ALWAYS active. And people crave that activity. If a link was really to exist this could be an incredibly funny and interesting study to conduct
@@endeav0r_49the children crave colors
@@tuckertucker6602 well, Tetris does have plenty of them
UA-cam, Twitch, TikTok have made doing precisely this sort of thing, playing this sort of game, not only more easily seen than it would have been even 20 years ago, but viable as a means to make money. As the generation that grew up in the heydays of these games ages out of being the "masters," it's almost easy to see that younger people might step into that void. Add to that the love for nostalgia-bait that seems to be taking over the internet and the aforementioned ability to be seen and make some money...I am not amazed at all.
That said, thanks to you for pointing it out. It's a neat thought to think the very early generations of games are still being appreciated by the young of today.
Totally unsurprised that a kid today would enjoy Tetris. It's a classic puzzle game and the rudimentary graphics don't make it any worse . When they want to play old games with jank and terrible graphics like Double Dragon or something. Then I raise an eyebrow. 😄
I've watched this video so many times at this point. I don't know why. the music makes it even better.
I keep trying to get other people I know to watch it but they just think I'm insane for watching a two-hour video about the history of a game I don't even play over and over.
I actually shed tears for Fracktal. How bittersweet and heartbreaking.
He got there, though. Huge achievement in and of itself 🙌🏾
first lv 30: Thor Aakerlund
first maxout fully recorded: Harry Hong
first world champ: Jonas Neubauer
first roller: cheez_fish
first 1.6 score rollover: HydrantDude
first glitched colors: EricICX
first game crash: bluescuti
first 10 million: AlexT
and what does Fractal161 have? Well he has the CTWC 2023 world championship, arguably the most stacked ever live, and is only the second player ever to have both 1st and 2nd in CTWC, and the only player to ever have silver and gold J-piece trophies. He also has first glitched colors on PAL-tetris and 810 lines proof of concept on Charcoal glitched color pallet. tbh I'd trade any of those first ever achievements, even bluescuti's game crash for the CTWC gold trophy, so Fractal161 has a seriously great achievement there.
@@chimyshark Wrong actually, Harry hong has 1st and 2nd.
@@llkurofoxll1013 forgot about that haha. Didn't bother to check that he actually has 2 second placings.
What I loved about him was his sportsmanship and the fact that he saw it happen and was so excited. That's true competition. The man's a gentleman. He has my respect.
I did too, was just too much
Been waiting for this one for a long time. I have 2 things to say:
1. RIP Jonas
2. Boom! Tetris for Jeff
It's neck and neck!
I like how after every milestone in tetris its like "you cant keep playing after this.... but what if you did?"
*VSauce music*
Lmao
Take my dam like
The next milestone is going to be very boring though, since it just resets the game to level 1.
Nah bro, next milestone would be the second rebirth
@@felearce4718 tetris bout to have incremental game prestiging system
I’ve listened to this video about 10 times already. This is IMO the best video on UA-cam. It’s a crazy story told by an amazing storyteller. Bravo.
It's a masterpiece
"Since he used a camera from the 1800's" in such a serious tone caught me WAY off guard. I'm absolutely laughing my ass off in my cubicle at work.
Caught me off guard too lmao
i know dude i missed it my first watch
he said it so nonchalantly that for a second i thought he was serious 😭
Also enjoyed that lol
I absolutely bursted out laughing into my pillow when I heard this exact statement! Like, dude! 😭
SummoningSalt, this is easily your magnum opus. I love so many of your videos, but the storytelling in this one left my jaw on the floor. It's genuinely among the best UA-cam videos ever produced. The Tetris community sounds absolutely incredible, and so many of their achievements left me completely stunned. Thank you so much for this masterpiece of a documentary.
Level 235 is so ominous. It's 81 times as long as all of the other levels. It's basically like starting an entirely new game of Tetris inside the one you're already playing. So fitting that it's bathed in drab army green because it's like fighting an entire war. It's like a battalion of soldiers surrounding you on all sides, and as the sun plunges below the horizon and their olive fatigues darken and sink into the black sky, the descend upon you. This is the new Tetris battleground
War…war never changes. But warfare does.
A seemingly neverending darkness that breaks the existing rules of the games reality. Reminds me of house of leaves and the doom mod, myhouse
Just a Tetris curious, not a good player.
Really cool, I liked what you wrote.
@@LMMotoss corny
I didn’t know we got shakespeare in these comments
As of October 5th, REBIRTH HAS BEEN ACHIEVED BY DOGPLAYINGTETRIS!
14:57 "However, since he used a camera from the 1800's, this was never verified as an official WR" LOL
Dying lol I have home videos from the early 90s that look better than that haha
blue scuti being 13 is genuinely incomprehensible to me, in the most impressive way possible. can you imagine having that level of determination and skill, that level of discipline, so young? he earned that win, i hope he finds more and more ways to express his talents
Age doesn't matter in video games.
@@rieldebonk1044experience mattters, the kid probably barely learned the basics of Tetris at the age of 7, and to dedicate years of your life to accomplishing one of the hardest things in video game history in such a short period of time to learn tech, tactics, and strategies to do what nobody else has ever done is incomprehensible. Some people have dedicated decades of their life to try and be where bluescuti is today
@@farewell418 True
On a game so antiquated and before his time, no less. An amazing feat and he absolutely should be proud of himself.
It's incredible. Forget about most kids not having that level of determination, patience, and focus- most people of any age will never approach that dedication in any pursuit.
Love the way the video goes from “who can get to 999999 first” all the way to “who can crash the game first”. Also you gotta love the character development of the killscreen levels lol, from pure evilness straight to the savior of the run
Level 1: rescue a cat from a tree.
Level 100: Drain the world's oceans so we can find and kill god.
... all the way to "who can play for so long that you cause the computer to run out of numbers to count, invoking digital reincarnation"
@@joshburns1777 yes that’s more accurate lol
😊
Dogplayingtetris just got the first Rebirth 2 days ago, with almost 30mio points at the end, playing for almost 2 hours!
15:57 “well, it’s 12 years later and apparently Mat still hasn’t returned home” IS CRAZYYY you’re coming for ever today with such a nonchalant voice as well LOL I love it
almost back
@@mabu100 how's the traffic?
@@mabu100 Man's been on the road for 12 years but still has internet connection on the edge of the world, who's your provider ?
@@mabu100 YOO good luck G I hope tou don’t run out of gas
Traffic jams can be brutal
R.I.P. Jonas. Wish you could see where these kids have taken the game.
Can we take a second to appreciate the comment from Jonas at 9:30 asking how to get a video online. 20 years ago that was not an easy thing to do! He would have needed a VCR DVD combo that could copy VHS to DVD, then format that was supported by internet browsers (of which there were basically 2, Internet Explorer, and AOL) and wait probably a few hours if not all day for it to upload all 7 pixels.
I appreciate it. I remember those days. getting gameplay footage online was not easy, especially console game footage
It's a good thing Jonas wasn't trying to upload on windows ME or it never would have uploaded properly without BSOD'ing.