Tetris The Absolute The Grand Master 2

Tetris The Absolute The Grand Master 2 is the second arcade game in Arika's TGM series. Shortly after it was released Arika offered a free upgrade to a PLUS version, which added TGM+ mode and the famous Death Mode while also creating quite possibly the longest official title for a Tetris game ever: Tetris The Absolute The Grand Master 2 PLUS.

Scoring
Unlike the first game in the series, score is completely unimportant in this main game modes. The only mode where score counts for anything is Normal mode. The algorithm is identical to TGM1, with an extra bonus added for sonic drops. The equation is:

Score = ((Level + Lines)/4 + Soft + (2 x Sonic)) x Lines x Combo x Bravo

Where:
 * Level is the current level you are on.
 * Lines is the number of lines you just cleared.
 * (Level + Lines)/4 is rounded up.
 * Soft is the cummulative number frames during which Down was held during the piece's active time. Note that this means manually locking pieces already on the ground will increase the Soft value by 1.
 * Sonic is the size of the single greatest sonic drop during the piece's active time. Note that this is non-cummulative.
 * If the previous piece cleared no lines, Combo is reset to 1. Otherwise and its Combo value is:
 * Combo = (previous Combo value) + (2 x Lines) - 2
 * Example: A double-triple-single combo will have combo values 3, 7, and 7 respectively.
 * Bravo is equal to 4 if this piece has cleared the screen, and otherwise is 1.

It should be noted that Normal mode multiplies line clear scores by 6. Also, the player is given a time bonus of 1253 x Seconds where Seconds is the amount of time in seconds, rounded up, that the clear time is below 5 minutes.

Normal
Normal mode behaves just like Master mode in gravity and speed timings, but stops at level 300. At levels 100 and 200 a special item block (also found in versus play) is given to the player. "Free Fall", which moves all blocks in the field down through holes (like gravity being turned on) is given at 100 and "Del Even" which clears every other row throughout the field is given at 200. The credit roll challenge is a slow 20g, but playing through it is not required for a "Clear". For this mode, all line clear are worth 6 times more than they are worth in other modes.

Speed Timings
The unit for gravity is G (rows per frame), as a fraction with a constant denominator of 256. This means G = Internal Gravity/256. For example, at levels 90 through 99, the gravity is 64/256G, or 1/4G.

Master
Master mode is Arika's upgrade to the original Tetris The Grand Master gameplay and behaves very much like that game. One of the most important differences is that the speeds continue to increase throughout the 500–999 levels, similar to but not exactly like 0–499 of T.A. Death (of TAP), as opposed to topping off at TGM's 20g mode speed. Also, a hard drop that doesn't lock was introduced, improving sub-20g play by giving birth to the Zangi-moves. The ranking system is also much less forgiving and former TGM Gm class players will find themselves struggling to make S7 or even finish for that matter. Perhaps the most infuriating addition to the Gm qualifications is an invisible challenge during the credit roll where pieces disappear immediately after being locked; topping out results in rank M. Arika is currently hosting a video showing a Gm performance: tgm2master.

The M-Roll
Although the Grade Recognition System is currently believed to be identical to the upgraded "PLUS" version, the conditions to activate the "M-Roll" are significantly different, and include at least the following:

The M Grade is awarded as soon as the "M-Roll" begins (as opposed to TAP, where the M Grade was only awarded upon topping out), and surviving the entirity of the "M-Roll" results in the Gm Grade.

Doubles
Doubles is a two player cooperative mode that puts both players in one well that is 14 units wide instead of 10. It is accessed by entering a special code, though it was made selectable from the menu in TAP.

Each player has a separate level counter, and both players must reach level 300 for the win. Though the level counter does not stop at every x99 as in standard modes, the final 299 does require a line change to 300. If one player reaches 300 before the other, he enters 20g for the rest of the game. It is quite difficult to survive for long with 20g in such a wide well, so winning requires a fine degree of coordination between the players so that they reach 300 synchronously.

Versus
The versus mode in TA works in a very similar way to that in it's predecessor, TGM. Each player has their own field, and clearing two or more lines in their field will cause garbage lines to be sent to the bottom of their opponent's field. Unlike the multiplayer modes in other Tetris games, the garbage holes correspond to the location of the line clearing piece. This means that the usual playing style of the series, of leaving a column down the right for Tetrises is not as beneficial, because if both players do it then any garbage sent will line up with the opponent's Tetris hole. Alternating sides, or using other pieces to clear lines will send garbage that is more difficult to the opponent to clear. Oddly enough, the versus mode in Bloxeed' and Dreamworld's DuelTris worked in a similar manner.

All of the four single player modes can be played in Versus mode. The first player picks a mode, and starts as if playing alone. When the second player pushes their respective start button (assuming there is a credit) they will be asked if they want to challenge the other player. If they choose 'yes', then the other player will lose their game, "Here comes a new challenger" will scroll across the screen, and versus mode will start in whatever mode the first player was playing in. Normal, Master and Death use their respective speed curves for each player. TGM+ mode has garbage rising automatically from the bottom, in the same way it does on single-player. To prevent unwanted versus games, the first player can press their start button, which will cause "no more challenger" to display on the opposite field. Pressing the start button again cancels this effect. If a second player starts while "No more challenger" is displayed, then it will skip the challenge menu and go straight to the mode select.

For versus there is a default target level of 200, and a default time limit of 2:40:00. The target level can be changed in the game setup (in 100 level increments), with the time increasing or decreasing by 1:20:00 for every 100 levels. If a player tops out their field, then they lose. If neither player tops out their field in the allocated time limit, then the winner is the player with the highest level. If a player reaches the target level then the game ends and they are declared the winner. By default, the overall winner is the first player to win two games. Again, this can be changed in the game setup.

Items
Each player has a green bar to the side of their field. With each piece placement, this bar increases slightly. When the bar is filled, the next piece the player receives will be an item piece. The shape of the piece is retained, but the appearance of the individual composite blocks will be different, depending on the item. The piece is placed normally, and the item is used automatically when a line containing part of the item piece is cleared. Again, Bloxeed was the inspiration here. Many of the powerups, like the 16 ton weight, and the delete even, are based around the ones in Bloxeed. But unlike in Bloxeed, DuelTris, and Tetris DS, the entire piece counts as the item, instead of just one block of it.

Items can be turned off by each player holding their respective start buttons as Versus mode is initiated.