Thanks to Spikestuff for the encode!

Introduction

This obsoletes my previous run, beating it by 5,666 frames (1:34.43) and by 1:14 in-game time. I have another (now cancelled) submission which is faster by 123 frames and 5 seconds in-game time but uses Easy instead of Expert and a significantly different route. This is intended for Moons and possibly Notable Improvements.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 1.7.0
  • Aims for fastest time to 999,999,999
  • Uses hardest difficulty
  • Genre: Puzzle

Comments

As before, luck manipulation was still the hardest part. Additionally, the Expert AI does some luck manipulation of its own, stalling until the piece in the shared next box is one it wants then dropping its current piece immediately on the next frame. It's possible to counter this with some stalling of your own, since the AI still needs to wait the 31 frames of ARE before it actually gets the piece.
As with the Easy difficulty submission, I exploit the fact that line clears appear to advance the seed, as well as the hard drop + rotate on the same frame.
I've moved my comments on the game mechanics to a separate game resources article.

Stage by stage comments

Stage 1

This time around I pull off a 17 combo for a x3000 multiplier. Since the player is saddled with a longer meter on Expert, I can safely do a 16+ combo without prematurely triggering the meter. However, this took a lot more luck manipulation and I had to take one pentomino to make it happen, which made the number of blocks on my playfield odd. This made it impossible to get an All Clear until I did something to make it even again. Thankfully, the meter is always at an even height on Expert, making it easy to make it leave behind an even number of blocks. I wasn't able to luck-manipulate my way into 2 consecutive I pieces before the meter triggers an I piece rush, so I settle for an L and a J, which combine with 3 additional I pieces from the rush to create a 2x10. A bit more luck manipulation gets me two more All Clears, which is just barely enough to push the bonus over a billion.
The stalling leading up to the third All Clear is not for luck manipulation, but rather to ensure the AI dies. Whenever either side clears a single line, they get a number of "charges" equal to the current intensity level (displayed in the clock in the top center). These go towards countering magic pieces first, then any left over go into the meter. I had to intentionally stall to avoid giving the AI "!" pieces, which can't be countered, so that the AI's single-line clears will counter my attacks instead of filling up the meter. I do this just enough so that the AI dies one charge away from filling its meter.
Then I build a crude "TAS" out of the blocks while waiting for the AI to die.
Score for stage 1:
  • 13,146,450 from line clears & combos
  • Bonus subtotal: 337,000
    • 35,000 points for time
    • 2,000 points for 2 countered magical pieces
    • 300,000 points for 3 All Clears
  • Bonus multipler: x3000 for 17 combo
  • Bonus: 337,000 x 3000 = 1,011,000,000
  • 1 point for clearing the stage (added during the stage transition, but not displayed since I had already hit the cap)
Total score for stage 1: 1,026,146,451

Stage 2

Not much to say here. I intentionally top out as soon as possible, since the in-game time only stops when you lose. Then I input "TAS" for initials and end the movie.

Other comments

As with my other submission, there may be room for more optimization, either via better luck manipulation or by finding a way to make the AI die a couple seconds earlier on stage 1 (but not too early, since you have to rack up a bunch of All Clears first).
I still wanted to build a much tidier-looking "TAS" at the end, but I wasn't quite able to luck manipulate my way into just the right series of pieces.
Screenshot suggestion: Frame 5800 showing the "TAS" I built out of blocks.

FractalFusion: Accepting as an improvement to the published run. In addition, this run, which was done on the hardest difficulty, was chosen in favor of the Easy mode run.
Spikestuff: Hey, I still have the files... might as well get a quick publish out of the way. Publishing.


TASVideoAgent
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Spikestuff
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That's Completely fine... Just means that I have to update the title and link to your submission (and like remove your brackets because I am not deleting it) and yes vote.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Personman
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Joined: 4/20/2008
Posts: 465
I like this version significantly better than the other, and it follows the 'plays on hardest difficulty' site rule. Awesome run :D Not being familiar with the game, at first I thought there must be some kind of ridiculous corruption of the score counter going on, but nope - that's just how absurd combos work!
A warb degombs the brangy. Your gitch zanks and leils the warb.
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Joined: 7/16/2009
Posts: 686
I agree with Personman: apart from following the rules, it looks a lot better. A lot of the run has this "wait for it" feel to it, after which it ends with some very fast combos. Yes vote.
Qlex
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Hm, yes vote as well. It's pretty hard to decide which one is better, though... The 6 all clears were interesting and it varied enough, this one is also good and shows these mechanics, also that twist at combo 17 was pretty awesome... But it doesn't have Wolf's theme ;) In any case, I think it's fair that a "plays on the hardest difficulty" takes it. Either way pretty good TAS ^^
Joined: 9/1/2014
Posts: 58
Entertaining to watch as with the previous ones, it is good to see the entire score being maxed on just the first guy. I prefer the column type puzzle battles like Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Pokemon Puzzle League with the throwing stuff on the opponent, but since it only lasts a few minutes it definitely keeps my attention for the full duration.
Enjoys speedruns but hasn't actually tried making any yet.
Ford
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Well good on ya letting Minnie win like that. I'm sure she appreciated it!
Spikestuff
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Question from the YouTube: "Are you striving for the maximum combo bonus of 20 lines? That could be awesome in my opinion."
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Qlex
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That was to be expected, I guess. At this point, the 20 hit combo is like the holy grail of Magical Tetris Challenge, it's a possibility, but it seems so incredibly luck-based... Gotta hate the devs for showing that 20!
PoochyEXE
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In fact, a 20 combo was actually the very first thing I tried to do when attempting an Expert run. This was the closest I managed to get after many attempts. The problem with executing a 20 combo is that it requires the sides of the playfield to be filled almost exactly to capacity. More precisely, I can leave up to 3 cells empty total across both sides, and those cells must be in the upper corners and connected to the main well. And leaving more than 1 empty cell would significantly limit the choices I have for the last couple hits in the combo. There's absolutely no wiggle room whatsoever. (Case in point: In this run, I had to dump a Z piece in the top left corner before starting my combo. With a 20-combo setup, there wouldn't have been any room in the corner for that piece.) There's one tiny exception if I can manipulate my way into getting 1-2 white stick pentominoes (and no other attacks just before them) just as I'm about to start my combo, in which case I can leave 1-2 additional cells empty in columns 3 and/or 7 as long as they're not in the same row nor in the bottom 2 rows. I still suspect it's just barely within the realm of possibility, but I'm pretty stumped as to how to luck-manipulate my way into it.
Techokami
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Yesss, this is the better version :D Yes vote!
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Oh yes yes yes!!! Much better version being on the hardest difficulty.
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Sorry for the late reply. I watched both runs, and I agree that the Expert difficulty run is preferable.
PoochyEXE
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OK, I've cancelled the Easy submission in favor of this one.
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FractalFusion wrote:
Sorry for the late reply. I watched both runs, and I agree that the Expert difficulty run is preferable.
So why don't you accept this one?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2691] N64 Magical Tetris Challenge "maximum score" by PoochyEXE in 01:57.38