Whatever i do, i "always" hit around 10min plus or less 10 sec. i think i can break 10 min with "lot of attempt" but i feel i reached my fastest time attack technics and timing. Definitly not comparable to 777. but something missing is bogging me and it's definitly a matter of stacking... It might have some coherent subset stacking rules i haven't figure out. Let compile and study deeply all data i have about 777.
Very great! You have done it. Now you must go into 20G training. You can always use 20G techniques to survive level 300-500. 500-999 is 20G and surviving for that long requires training over and over again using the 20G cheat (title screen code: down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, c, b, a). Actually down 8 times, then D, S, A in Zinc default controller setup. Remember building pyramid stack. And L J pieces should be spawned like I wrote them, using I.R.S. most of the times. I usually do the rotation and moving in order and not simultaneously, and it might not be the fastest technique but it is fun to play.
For a beginner to 20G, would training in Lockjaw ARS using 20G with ultra-long lock delay be worthwhile or not?
Thanks for your advice. I've been able to get the S3 rank a few times after that, but I haven't been able to improve my mastering time yet. I need to improve my speed drastically for a better time. I recently tried switching hands so that did time to adapt as well. I have been practicing using the 20G cheat for a while now. It's really difficult. I still have a lot of trouble. My best performances are all near level 150 with my current highest rank being 6. I still have a long way to go. But I keep practicing. Did I mention I hate the I piece. I have a lot of trouble handling this piece. I try pyramiding like you mentioned but it isn't easy. Also I'm still using two buttons only which may hinder my 20G play. In an earlier post in this thread a link to a ZiNc plugin was posted. I tried to download it again during the weekend but I noticed the topic isn't available any more. Any chance you can make it available again? Thanks in advance! I also noticed that the post you made with the pyramiding techniques disappeared. Is this my browser acting weird or has the post been deleted. But I have been checking the wiki pages for more information. Once I am a little more comfortable with 20G I'll try to improve my TGM rank. Playing the LJ high gravity modes on my DS helped me to get me over level 100 quite easily. It's useful to learn where to place certain tetrominoes. So yes it has been a help for me.
Practising with the 20G cheat would still be the best way to go IMO. As long as it's something where the grading is reasonably graduated so you can actually see improvement. The other alternative would be TA Death. As for the I piece, I find pyramiding isn't necessarily the best option, because usually you'll end up with a hole somewhere it gets caught in. Sometimes having it reasonably flat can be useful in terms of mobility. With the I, the main trick is knowing what is and is not possible. If you can put it down the hole on the right, because either there are no holes in the way so you can IRS, or that you've left the space for it to rotate at the side, then do so. If not, place it flat somewhere if you can. If there's no space, it's not a bad idea to just IRS it and then leave it standing vertically in the middle column, or alternatively against the left wall if you can. I don't find using two buttons is much of a hindrance. While three is better, quite a lot of players (myself included) get by just fine only using two.
Try the 20G cheat (same input for the code), Normal Mode in TAP - aim to finish. It's 300 levels, and you get 2 help blocks on the way. And try to clear the credit roll too! That's how I practice if I'm not on texmaster. I can't stand the garish colors of TGM1.
Thanks for your advice Rosti. I'll keep practicing and when I reach over level 200 I'll make sure to improve my grade by trying to clear more lines at once. And it's good that I don't have to worry about playing with 3 buttons for now. I'm still struggling since I switched hands. Using the cheat is what I'm currently doing the most. I have been playing Normal Mode in TAP for a while now and I've cleared the credit roll numerous times too. But my time is not great. I think my best time is around 04:45 which is abysmal. When I try to play fast my stacking is really miserable and my score suffers badly from this. I see you joined recently and you haven't been playing for that long, but it seems you already made some really decent progress. I whish you good luck with your training too! And if you have any more tips I'd love to hear them.
The most crucial thing to get down in 20G is the IRS. I know a lot of people who I've introduced to TGM, and a lot have had trouble with IRS, especially with actually getting it to work every single time, which is crucial. If you are, don't worry about trying to time it. The rotation button should be held, like you would charging DAS. Manually locking the previous piece also helps because you know exactly when the ARE starts. As a default, you should IRS the L and J into the orientations that match those of the actual letters, because they're a lot more manoeuvrable in that state.
Two really nice tricks to getting J's and L's where you want them, in addition to Rosti's "IRS them!" which is also supremely important, is to IRS, and rotate in the same direction twice more. For J, that's B (IRS) - B - B, which accomplishes the same as hitting A once. However, this scheme "rolls" the J onto the flat sides, which are a lot more maneuverable than pointing the long part down with A. I actually started by doing this rotation by going B (IRS) - A - A, which results in the same ending position, but will tend to get you in trouble since it's pointed downwards (i.e., back in the initial orientation) when you "cancel" the IRS. For L, that's A (IRS) - A - A. Again, A (IRS) - B - B will do the same, or even pressing B once, but unless you know that won't get you in trouble, it's safer to hit the same rotate button three times. Graphically, I made some screenshots from Heboris practice mode. While this is a pretty degenerate example that probably won't occur in normal gameplay, it shows how the technique works. Let's say you want to get the J all the way to the left to sit in the nook in column 1. If you don't IRS, you get this: You're stuck, so let's move the piece out of the way. Now, if you did IRS (pressing and holding B before the J spawns) and nothing else, you're in pretty good shape: Press B again to flip the J onto its backside. This conformation makes it super-easy to move around at 20G. You can freely move the J left to where you want it to go... ...and drop it in by pressing B and left. During regular gameplay, you will have to do this relatively quickly, because lock delay is counting down as you rotate the J and move it left. Practically, you'll reset lock delay on the way somewhere and there's little danger in rotating the J this way, so this is a safe maneuver at TGM1 speeds. It's valid at medium gravity like 2G-5G as well, but utterly inefficient at slow gravity since you can simply hit A once and softdrop it. You should know how the pieces rotate so you don't get into trouble. Suppose you want to get another J into the nook to make the 4x4 "monosquare" of J-awesomeness. If you pressed A to drop it in, you'd miss: So let's get rid of that J where it won't get in the way. But, if you IRS with B, you are well-positioned to stick it in: Press B again and move left, which can be done simultaneously: Press B one last time, and move the J into final position: Exercise for the reader: how would you do this with L? In this second case, you must not use B-A-A, or the J will be stuck on the right like in the very first picture. Note that from what I hear, these aren't too feasible in high-speed 20G like shirase, since it involves 3 taps of the rotates, but neither you nor I need be concerned with those yet.
Thanks for the detailed post rednefed. I'll try to pay more attention to IRS in my future games. So far I still can't stack decently in 20G. At the moment I feel like it's still just too fast for me. I need to get more accustomed to high gravity. I've made some progress but not really all that much. At first getting to level 100 was already very difficult. At the moment I get almost always over level 100 and I try to get higher grades too. Also it feels as if my keyboard is not so responsive in TGM. Sometimes when I get frustrated I almost start hammering on my keyboard. I don't have this problem in Texmaster for example. The game plays a lot smoother. I was told it may be the frame rate, but I checked and noticed that I have a solid 60 FPS most of the time. The last few days I've been analyzing some videos because it helped me in the past.
ARRRRRRRGH. S9 - level 864, 11:34:42. My 20G practice is paying off dividends, but I need to stop entering 20G with a shitty stack from the 2-5G sections. Gm is within reach! Beware!
Try stacking roughly 13 to 16 lines up the screen, which should artificially create 20G, or near enough.
Infinite happiness! It was painful but I did it! Today's summary: S9 - 994 (got too anxious and blew up) S9 - 956 (plagued by 3 consecutive misdrops) S8 - 974 (was too busy clearing garbage and making new garbage in the process) Gm - 999, woo hoo!
