Source: Willis Gibson / Tetris
History was made early in 2024. One human did the impossible and “beat” Tetris; of course, another human found a way to hate on the massive accomplishment.
13-year-old Willis Gibson can cement his name in the history books after becoming the only human being to “beat” the NES version of Tetris 34 years after its release.
There is a reason for the use of quotation marks. Technically, Tetris is unbeatable, but Gibson played a flawless game, forcing a “kill screen” due to an overflow error.
Gibson is the first person to accomplish the feat. Engadget reports that an AI program called StackRabbit forced the same “kill screen” while playing the NES version of Tetris in 2021.
Per Engadget:
This was done by incorporating a gameplay style called the rolling technique, which has players glide their fingers along the bottom of an NES controller and use that momentum to roll the controller into the other hand. When done correctly, you can hit the D-pad up to 20 times per second. The method revolutionized competitive Tetris play a couple of years back. Prior to this achievement, the 13-year-old had already broken the game’s high score record, level achieved record and the total number of lines cleared by using the rolling technique.
I just spoke to BBC radio about a 13 year old gamer beating Tetris. He played so fast the game just froze.
This version of Tetris is from 1989.
He’s 13.
It’s 2024.
This year is already off to a wild start. pic.twitter.com/owgvcQCN2E
— ᴀʀᴅᴀ Öᴄᴀʟ (@Arda) January 4, 2024
Gibson, who goes by the gamer tag Blue Scudi, told a fellow YouTuber that he was dedicating his accomplishment to his late father, who passed away in December.
The young gamer also revealed that while accomplishing the astounding achievement, his fingers were numb due to the frantic nature of his gameplay session.
There Is Always A Hater
While many news outlets speak about Gibson’s accomplishment as one of the first “feel good” stories of the new year, Sky News anchor Jayne Secker is catching heat from gamers.
Secker is being labeled a hater after saying, “As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen, go outside, get some fresh air. Beating Tetris is not a life goal,” with a huge smile on her face.
Sky News’s Jayne Secker breaks script to tell 13yo who reached a WR Lvl. 157 in NES #Tetris
“Beating Tetris is not a life goal. Go outside and get some fresh air”
This priggish, ignorant belittlement of Willis Gibson’s achievement shows gaming stigma is sadly alive & well pic.twitter.com/KRix9g6A32
— Nintendo South Wales (@Nintendo_SW) January 4, 2024
Bruh. Someone needs to show Jayne Secker how profitable gaming is.
In response to her comments, one X user wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter:
“This Kid is 13 Years Old and has achieved something so mentally difficult while being the First Person to ever do it in 34 Years. Yet this @SkyNews reporter chooses to make fun of and belittle him. People are disgusting.”
Agreed.
Congrats to Gibson on the achievement, and side-eyes to Jayne Secker.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Willis Gibson / Tetris
