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13-Year-Old Becomes First Person To Beat Tetris On NES

In an unprecidented moment in gaming history, a 13-year-old going by the handle Blue Scuti, had beaten the NES version of Tetris.

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Article Summary

  • 13-year-old Willis Gibson, aka Blue Scuti, first to beat NES Tetris at its peak difficulty.
  • Blue Scuti set new world records in score, levels, and total lines while reaching the True Killscreen.
  • Utilized the "Rolling" technique for rapid D-Pad inputs, matching pace with the game's demands.
  • Achievement honored late father, showcased in interview with Twitch streamer ITZsharky1.

You'd think a game that has been around for almost 35 years would have been beaten by now, but nope. Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the landmark titles from the era that had a lot of pros come and go who set world records and high scores and even walked away with championships in esports tournaments. But up until this week, no one had officially beaten the game at its hardest point. There are people in this world who have mastered and beaten almost every other version, sequel, and random incarnation of this franchise since, but the NES one is practically a benchmark game that separates the amateurs who can beat their friends just hanging out on the couch and those who can claim to be the greatest of all time.

Today, a young boy has etched his name in the annals of gaming history.

13-Year-Old Becomes First Person To Beat Tetris On NES
Credit: Tetris

A 13-year-old named Willis Gibson, who goes by the handle Blue Scuti, managed to beat Tetris on the NES at its hardest level. But he didn't just beat it; he shattered a number of world records for total score, level achieved, and total number of lines as he got the True Killscreen. If you're not aware, the True Killscreen is where you get bombarded with so many tetrominoes, that the game basically crashes because the cartridge can't handle what's happening on the screen. It took about 30 minutes, all of which you can see in the video below, but Gibson achieved a True Killscreen on their own.

Up until this point, this had only been achieved by the Tetris AI StackRabbit, which operated like a TASBOT to beat the game using an algorithm to plan every move perfectly and keep up with the pace of falling blocks. However, Gibson was using the "Rolling" technique in which a player will roll their fingers on the bottom of the NES controller to get a faster response out of the D-Pad inputs so that they are able to keep pace with the game. If you want to see the moment in action, go to 38:25 and watch his reaction.

Blue Scuti later gave an interview about the achievement to Twitch streamer ITZsharky1, where he dedicated the achievement to his late father, Adam Gibson, who passed away in December.

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Gavin SheehanAbout Gavin Sheehan

Gavin is the current Games Editor for Bleeding Cool. He has been a lifelong geek who can chat with you about comics, television, video games, and even pro wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy on Overwatch, recommend random cool music, and goes rogue in D&D. He also enjoys hundreds of other geeky things that can't be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, and Hive, for random pictures and musings.
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