Which Tetris would you run a tournament in?

Thread in 'Discussion' started by Ezzelin, 21 Jan 2006.

  1. As the question states, I'm thinking about running a VS. Tetris tournament at a local Anime con. However, which game to use has been puzzling me. I don't want to run anything imported or emulated, which rules out most good Tetris games. My priorities are modern quick piece movement / lag time (which rules out Gameboy Tetris and SNES Tetris & Dr. Mario) and classic rules (I want someone who has only played Gameboy Tetris not to be confused and penalized for now knowing about game specific rewards). So far I'm thinking of hooking up two Gamecubes to Gameboy Players, getting a Universal Link Cable, and using Tetris DX for the Game Boy Color. What do you all think?
     
  2. I've never played Tetris DX multiplayer, but I think I heard it has crazy auto-handicapping which might ruin the tournament.


    The New Tetris (N64) wouldn't be bad with 4 player support, but that has an added "make squares" gimmick. If you'd import I'd recommend Super Tetris 3 (SNES), which can also support 4 players and has no gimmicks. Tetris 4D (DC) would work without importing if you can get a Dreamcast and have loose morals.


    Then again if you can get those Gameboy Players together, the best compromise might just be the classic GB version.
     
  3. where do you plan to have the tournament? tetris dx / gamecube sounds perfect. tetris dx runs fairly fast, and it uses modern rotation rules (dual axis symmetry). with normal tetris gb, your spectators won't have a tv to watch the competition. i wouldn't use n64 tetris. as you said, some people won't know about gold/silver block stacking. anyone who does will have a huge advantage. i wouldn't use super tetris 3, either. it uses 1:1 garbage ratio in vs mode. this means clearing 1 line yields 1 garbage, 2 yields 2, 3 to 3, and 4 to 4. gameboy version (as well as just about all other versions) give higher clears more value in vs with 1 to 0, 2 to 1, 3 to 2, and 4 to 4.


    although, i don't like the garbage system too much in dx either. it doesn't use random garbage hole alignment. this promotes "i send you a tetris worth of garbage, and then you send me it straight back." even so, it sounds like a great game for a tournament. i might consider tetris worlds for xbox or gamecube, though (no other system). it has the same surface rotation system as dx, but acts a little differently with spinmoves. it also runs a little faster than dx. it uses random garbage hole alignment, and this promotes a more in-depth "downstacking" strategy. however, i'll bet more players will feel comfortable with dx than worlds.


    how many players do you expect? what tournament format do you plan to use? tetris dx already uses best-of-5 format in vs mode.
     
  4. Yeah, I wan't planning on using N64 or Super Tetris 3 for those exact reasons. And Tetris worlds has some strangeness too. For one, if a player gets 20 lines or so it'll automatically clear their entire playfield, which seems quite a bit unfair. Also, doesn't it reward T-spins with extra lines? That's another stupid rule I'd not like to have. Besides, the backgrounds make the pieces very hard to see, and the play control seemed a bit odd.

    As far as the garbage system goes, Tetris DX has classic Gameboy rules. While it will give you a single hole, it does change to a different hole once in a while. What is this "downstacking" strategy you're talking about? I'm interested. Oh, and I kind of like the back and forth of slinging Tetrises at each other. It allows for some interesting gameplay and underscores the importance of keeping that one hole open, which is a fundamental Tetris concept in the first place. It may not be quite as challanging, but it's a known quality, and everything else being even in the end the best player will probably still win.

    What is this auto handicapping in Tetris DX, colour_thief? I can't find any information about it on the web. I see that it keeps track of lines, and "power", but other than that, I don't see how this applies to Multiplayer. I thought that was only used to calculate the playing style of each player's simulated computer persona that you can play against in Vs Computer mode. If it has any bearing on VS Human, please let me know. I was just planning on making the tournament entirely played at Level 9 anyway, as that still isn't very fast at all, makes the drops go faster, and makes the one problem with this game much harder to exploit. That is, that the player's pieces can climb the walls if they keep rotating next to a wall. However, it's much harder to do intentionally at higher levels, and besides, I'd just make a rule saying that any players would be disqualified if they did it. It's pretty obvious.

    What is there to recommend about Tetris 4D? I've heard of it, but haven't played it. And yes, the GB version is out, due to the total lack of speed. It would penalize good players too much. OK, now that I googled it, Tetris 4D sounds interesting, but would it work on a US Dreamcast? Oh, and does it have 1 to 1 garbage like ST3? How is the 4 player play? Where does the garbage go in 4 player play?
     
  5. i'd think the best way to do it would let the player choose which level, and just ban wall climbing.


    downstacking means that a player not only needs to concentrate on the upstack (agressive stacking with tetrominoes), but the player also needs to concentrate on the garbage (the downstack, a defensive play style). doing this, a player needs to strategically place blocks above each garbage hole and make the most out of each clear-- taking as much garbage away as possible as well as adding as much to his opponent. mathematically in a random garbage hole alignment, the garbage will give a single 100%, a double 10%, a triple 1%, and a tetris 0.11%. it gets complicated with the different yield values that upstack and garbage combination clears produce, but in short: players rely on a both upstack and downstack to play optimally. makes for some very deep-thinking games.
     
  6. Yeah, I suppose you're right. And actually, I just discovered that pieces do fall at the same rate in VS no matter the level, so I suppose it's no big deal if everyone just plays level 0. I'm still confused about the auto-handicapping, though. Anyone?
     
  7. I know its probably not the most exciting way of versing someone but you could just take turns in single player highscore mode, it proves more than whos fastest at the game. Im not saying I dislike battle tetris, I just think its all about speed and not as much about technique. Would like to here how the comp goes and who wins, should see if you can monitor it some how.

    good luck


    - Jono
     

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