Hard Drop at Games Done Quick

[Okey_Dokey]

Obligatory thread. Blink was accepted to speedrun Tetris Effect at Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) 2019. I am a very sure it will be a great viewing experience because of Tetris Effect's stunning graphics and sound effects, and because Blink is a chill guy. And it will surely move this community forward.

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Here's roughly what to expect from the run, but I think Blink will try to get SS rank in every area.

I heard Blink say that he wanted MicroBlizz to sit on the couch for commentating. Maybe, we will see a MicroBlizz Speedrun in future. One year ago, he submitted 1000 Lines in Jstris but was declined - although Tetris Sprint is basically the purest form of speedrunning. I think NullpoMino would be a better choice though. One could also add some further modes to NullpoMino for bigger variety (score race to xxx points, downstack 100 lines, etc.).

[z2sam]

This is awesome

[Shuey]

*thumbsup*!

[Blink]

Thanks for the kind words Okey, you're a sweetheart =).  MicroBlizz has confirmed with me that he will be doing couch commentary, and we are discussing a potential second person on the couch.

Hope to put on a good show and grow the community!

[pizzapizza]

congrats  happy for you  

#pizzzapizzacares

[Sumez]

Finally something interesting at GDQ again, really looking forward to seeing this.

Here's roughly what to expect from the run, but I think Blink will try to get SS rank in every area.

Are there any examples out there of SS rank speedruns?
It sounds like an interesting mechanic to balance, considering how easy it is to abuse the "zone" mechanic to get SS rank even if you're a terrible player, but at the expense of making the game much much longer due to all the zone activations. Like probably more than twice as long as it would normally be.
An SS speedrun would have to be threading the needle, only getting the bare minimum required for an SS, I assume?

[Okey_Dokey]

The Tetris Effect speedrun will happen June 28th, at around 2:05 PM PDT. It will be followed by TASBot playing NES Tetris. Note that this is only 2 days after HardDrop's 10th anniversary.

... I think Blink will try to get SS rank in every area.

Sorry, I was wrong. What Blink meant is that he will try to finish the last stage with SS rank. At the end of a complete Journey mode run you will play Zone mode for a minute. So, SS in last stage is pretty easy to achieve as long as you do some back-to-backs (Tetris, T-Spins) in those Zones.

Are there any examples out there of SS rank speedruns?
It sounds like an interesting mechanic to balance, considering how easy it is to abuse the "zone" mechanic to get SS rank even if you're a terrible player, but at the expense of making the game much much longer due to all the zone activations. Like probably more than twice as long as it would normally be.

No examples. I agree that it would be interesting. I don't see such a category at speedrun.com yet. To achieve SS rank in expert mode you need to reach the following scores:

• 85k points in areas with 3 stages
• 110k points in areas with 4 stages
• 135k points in areas with 5 stages
• 55k points in final stage

To reach SS as fast as possible, you obviously need to keep the back-to-back bonus outside of the zone. Can't predict, if players will go for Tetrises-only or also add some T-Spins to the mix (T-Spins are more tricky under high gravity, Tetrises-only is 14.4k points per stage when ignoring drop points and combos). But even T-Spinning is probably not enough for the score requirement (ZT Stacking is 2.43 times as score-effective as Tetrising, Infinite TST is 2.67 times as score-effective), and T-Spinning costs time. So it's safe to say, that players will use at least one zone per area. Obviously, only full-circle / fully-charged zones will be used because they result in a bigger score multiplier for the line clears. I would say players will try to start the zone with 2 Tetrises and make some back-to-backs afterwards: First Tetris would be 2.4k points, every following Tetris 3.6k points and every following T-Spin Double 5.4k points. I would say, if a player can finish Journey mode in 30 minutes in-game time, that player will need about 40 minutes for SS in every area.

[TheIvyX]

Hell yeah! Good luck Blink & Blizz!

That sounds oddly like a local burger joint