QUOTE(iphys @ Jun 7 2010, 12:06 PM)

The DAS in this game has always confused me too. You're so quick you might be better off just tapping. I think the autorepeat is 6 frames, and that's probably how fast you tap anyway.
For Blink, I think I'd agree. Tapping all the time is probably a bit tiring, but I think that's what someone with such a killer tapping speed should be doing when they're uncertain DASing will cut it for a given placement.
Also, I had him do the Hudson Shooting Watch clone in Flash a while back, and he was getting scores in excess of 10hz. That means that he can match or exceed the DAS without managing charge. However, it is definitely worth keeping in mind that these were very different conditions than holding a d-pad (as opposed to having a dedicated key to mash at with a thumb and finger) and having to mash out high rates at a moments notice.
QUOTE(iphys @ Jun 7 2010, 12:06 PM)

If you're going for a maximum marathon score, your odds of achieving a highscore are theoretically highest starting at level 9, but some people start higher I think either because they want to stay used to playing at higher speeds or minimize the amount of lines they'll need to get a highscore (and minimize the odds of screwing up somewhere along the way in the process). A maxout starting at level 19 is renowned as the hardest, so do yourself a favour and start lower. The other benefit of starting at a lower level is you can safely stack higher to maximize the number of I pieces you can use to score tetrises.
Not so. Starting levels 17 and up are better. 9, 11, and 18 are the preferred starting levels. (
source,
additional data)
QUOTE(iphys @ Jun 7 2010, 12:06 PM)

NES Tetris is basically the left/right reverse of GB Tetris because of the way the pieces spawn and rotate, so you'd probably want to stack on the right and tetris on the left side of the screen. Personally I recommend stacking for tetrises in the middle at high speeds, because if you miss getting an I piece to the wall you are totally screwed.
Right, most of the pieces trend one cell to the right compared to other games, whereas the I and O retain their typical alignment. Tetrising on the left wall can be a bit dangerous at times due to the right-handed rotation of the I-piece, though. If you want to start your stacking on the right, I'd say still do at least 2 columns of stacking on the left. With a 2-wide partition of the stack on the left, you can wall finesse and easily throw the I-piece in the 3rd.
Here is a diagram demonstrating the range of the O and I with fully charged DAS coming out of ARE:
One last trick: It is possible to extend the range of a piece using DAS a tiny bit by tapping as soon as the second-to-last iteration finishes. Since you have 6 frames to wait for the next one to happen "naturally," you can sacrifice your DAS charge by tapping before it falls the last three rows. Since you're probably doing this to reach the wall, you can tap again against the wall to get your DAS charge back.