Challenge: NES PAL Version, Try to beat my girlfriend.

Fascinating!!! It all makes perfect sense now!!! I always wondered how the hell NTSC players where playing past level 19 so easily; I figured there must be some speed difference between the NTSC and PAL version and now I know there is - and a rather substantial one at that.

Hmm, this new information will be useful for me; very useful indeed...

- Jono

 

Jono returns...! Welcome back!

 

Thank you Kitaru; very glad to see your still here and playing strong .

- Jono

 

Hello everyone,
Great to see this forum so active! Haven't introduced myself yet, but I'm Niels and my family has played Tetris a lot in the early ninetees, (gameboy) and a few weeks ago I took out my old NES, went to the retro gaming store and started playing NES Tetris after seeing the movie. I managed to squeeze out a 374300 last week on the PAL version, starting on level 13 (similar to level 18 ntsc speed), pretty quickly messing up when I got to level 16 (similar to level 19 speeds ntsc). I can definitely Tetris a few times before I would have the number of lines that would have me reach level 19 when Im practicing and start on level 16, so I am now starting to wonder what is actually possible on the PAL version.

So I have a few questions. 1. who is Jani? 2. If I read it correctly and the highest recorded 'transition' to 19 on the ntsc version is 600K-high (read that in another thread) isn't that likely to be about PAL's high-score, or did jani just stack up and tetrised twice after reaching 600K high on PAL 19 or something? (19 is really unplayable, as far as I can estimate)
3. Does anyone know of an overview of PAL high-scores? Of course I'll try to beat the score in the video (526K) but the 716 would be a significantly harder nut to crack

Thanks in advance for the info, looking forward to talk tetris here the coming time!

 

Hi Niels, it’s a pleasure to meet you.

I wish I could help you out a bit more with the “overview” of the PAL highscores for NES Tetris – I am quite interested myself. I have scored over 600,000K a few times, but I don’t think I have ever reached 700,000K (- I’m willing to try though). I am pretty certain no one has maxed the score out (to 999,999) thus far, but theoretically speaking it is possible.

- Jono

 

Jani can play at the 19+ speed for quite awhile. I wish I could get the Euro set up here in American, so I could actually give him a challenge (or try to) at PAL.

 

Thats amazing he is able play on level 19 for an extended duration (I would love to see a video of this). I can play fine on level 20 on GB Tetris, but level 19 gets me every time on the NES version.

I feel much the same about the NTSC version I might have to catch a plane to the states in the near future I think (my sister does live there after all). Oh, and if your ever in Australia feel free to drop me a line (pun intended); always happy to accommodate fellow Tetris player and gamers

- Jono

 

Sure, I can easily obtain NTSC games and run them in Oz - I do this quite often actually. Problem is the games don't run at the correct speeds (as you probably already know NTSC=60HZ and PAL=50HZ), they still play relatively fine though.

- Jono

 

Hi Jono,

Pleasure to meet you too! And great scores. What level do you start on when you get the 600K+ scores (13 seems right to me)? And do you think it would make sense to make an PAL A-type high score thread?

Niels

 

Whow, that's crazy. I can make a few lines but I would think you have to be quite lucky with your pieces to tetris and really lucky to tetris more than once (or can he stack higher than 4 lines?). Surviving seems like it could be possible for a little while. Maybe that's a nice challenge actually, surviving for a minute on PAL tetris 19. Can Jani do that?

Anyway, I'm a beginner here it seems so maybe it's just hard for me to estimate what is and what is not possible. I played from ages 6-11 or something on the gameboy, and just started again on the NES a few weeks ago. Loving the resources on the wiki and in the forum.

 

Jani has beat 19-2 B type on PAL back to back.

 

I have a PAL NES, just can't get it to work.

 

Ah yes, the Famicom would indeed play NTSC NES games at 60Hz, thats providing I could actually tune it into one of my TV's - which I wouldn't be able to unless the console was modified in one way or another.

I used to try starting on level 18, which I highly advise against. These days if I play I will usually start on level 15, but I have been debating if this is the most optimal way to approach a particularly high-score :/
Yes, I think starting a thread for PAL highscores is a rather brilliant idea; it should help encourage a few more PAL players to join in on the fun

- Jono

 

I can maintain it. I'll set something up this weekend.

 

Thanks Kitaru; greatly appreciated .

- Jono

 

I started out starting on 15 too, but Im estimating that for me at the moment, the extra 20 lines on 14 and 15 before I advance to 16 average me more points than the extra 2400 per Tetris I'd get for starting on 15 rather than 13 for the first 100 lines. But I'm not taking stats, so I really wouldn't know. And I guess it's different if you're consistently able to stack up very high on 15, which I'm not. What are your thoughts on this?

EDIT: Found this in another thread:

 

Thanks Kitaru, that would be great!

 

I wish I could be of more help, but I am really no expert on NES Tetris (you probably no about it than me strategy-wise), hence the doubts with my current level 15 start strategy

- Jono