Today, I finally have a working Tetris: The Grand Master setup (abbreviated as TGM) on a MAME emulator.

If you're unfamiliar with what any of what I just said is, don't worry. All you need to know is that It's Tetris, But Hard.

I haven't booted the game up yet. I'm excited. I'm worried that I won't like the 8bitdo's SN30 Pro Plus controller's d-pad, and that I may have to switch to using my Steam Deck (I like clicky d-pads.), or find an alternative (I was originally gonna buy the arcade archives on the switch, but on second thought, the Switch Lite's d-pad has far too many accidental inputs to genuinely consider using. Also, I heard it has a tiny bit of extra input lag).

I'm ready. I enjoy a good Tetris. This is exciting and terrifying. Will I be up for the challenge? I hope so.

UPDATE 1: I just walked for 3 hours. I went home and booted TGM. I got to rank 4 before getting my ass kicked. The game looks, sounds, and feels amazing. I am very excited for more attempts, but I'm not in the right mental/physical spot right now. I will try again later.

UPDATE 2: I got rank 2, after 2 hours or so. I had a huge headache most of the day. Life is tough. The game is great.

UPDATE 3 (nov 8): It's my birthday! And this is my first S1! I love everything about this game (I'm an avid Tetris fan). 20G is a blast, I'm excited to play more of it. I had a really bad endgame, which I think is what did me in ultimately, I can easily see this being an S2/3.

UPDATE 4 (nov 9): 9 S1 ranks. new pb at 20653. no upload today, no run warranted it. :(

UPDATE 5: I got 6 more S1 ranks lol. First S2! I try to make it a rule to not force myself on games, to avoid burning out. And I swear I'm really not forcing myself to play, TGM is just way too fun. I was sitting here from 4 to 7 in the morning playing, forearms fucking strained and shit. got me drinking bad apple. I was listening to "Oh My God" by Masa Artisan during the run. I liked it because it sounded like he was reacting to my shitass board. It was motivating. In the last hour of my session I felt something "click" about the game, like getting what it's truly about. I don't know how I'd put it into words. It's not really visible either. The sensation feels super good tho. I need to remember to always stack flat. In this run, I kinda gave up on stacking flat after lvl1 and just kinda autopiloted. 20G is still scary. i-piece rotations are absolute fuckups, it is nearly impossible.

UPDATE 6: 3 more S2 ranks today. Don't feel like playing more TBH. I have started resting my arms on a Mario pillow as to not destroy the entirety of my left and right arms (just the wrist :D). I'm getting back to my normal standard of "good Tetris", which means getting clipped by 20G (I just realized I haven"t even explained it yet. 20G is when the gravity is so hard that the pieces fall instantly onto the board.), which means dying inbetween S2 and S3. Circles with circles. Wheels within wheels. Turtles all the way down.

UPDATE 7: S3! At last! Huge fluke. Huge end (in a bad way). First good run of the day, I didn't even get to get an earlier S2 or something lol. My stacking was really clean. I'll have to do 20G runs soon to practice my stacking. A nice fellow gave me their cambridge (a fangame that tries to emulate the TGM series) settings to practice 20G, I might try it.

UPDATE 8: played for like 4 hours. Got four amazing starts (S1 right into lvl3, either early and straight up) but I fumbled. Four S2s, no new PB. :(

UPDATE 9: played cambridge, a TGM fangame, and, holy shit, it felt amazing. there is just, a massive, massive gap between MAME and a native windows app, i dont know how to explain it. i think this is my new preferred way to play. got an S2!