It's about time I got around to making a leaderboard for my favorite game series.
The games are best played (least input lag) on a real PCB, but in terms of emulation you might have some success with Zinc for TGM1, and ShmupMAMETGM for TGM2+. Keep in mind that you will need the ZN1 BIOS and TGM1 ROMs for TGM1, and the tgm2 and tgm2p ROMs for TGM2+.
The TGM series requires some serious time and dedication to become good at, but even that isn't enough without a good strategy guide! Luckily, there is a really good one in English (thanks to Villadelfia for translating from the original Japanese and Kitaru for hosting it).
TGM1 and TGM2+ Master scores are ranked by grade, then Mastering Time (the time at which you got your final grade).
Tetris: The Absolute The Grand Master 2+
MASTER MODE
Rank--Name-----------------Grad - Lvl @ M. Time - Date - Comment
1--Kitaru-----------------Gm - 999 @ 08:11:48 - 12/02/11
2--KevinDDR---------------Gm - 999 @ 08:21:71 - 05/08/11 - Orange Line GM, Best M in 08:10:68
Tetris: The Absolute The Grand Master 2+
DEATH MODE
NAME ------------- Lvl @ Time |
====================================|
1--Kitaru ------------ 999 @ 6:01:86
2--KevinDDR ---------- 999 @ 6:11:35
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 24th, 2011, 9:34 am
by Kitaru
You know you don't actually hold 1st here. <3
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 27th, 2011, 12:49 am
by davewellington
According to the scoreboard he does
Here's my second day TGM 1 effort:
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 30th, 2011, 6:59 am
by davewellington
Advancing... Completely screwed up when it came down fast though.
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: December 3rd, 2011, 2:57 am
by Kitaru
davewellington wrote:According to the scoreboard he does
That's only because I haven't submitted here.
Now he has to put me in first. ;D
Anyway, that's a nice score for your first week of TGM! You'll be cracking into grade S1 and up pretty soon here.
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: May 12th, 2012, 3:49 pm
by Ghegs
Might as well record my progress in TGM1 here as well.
My first S1, after ~10 or so credits. It was a struggle towards the end.
(The picture is a screenshot of the direct-feed video I recorded while playing the PCB.)
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: July 7th, 2012, 4:03 pm
by Ex_Mosquito
Okay, Kevin DDR will forever be #1 on this but i'll submit it anyway.
Havnt played this in a few years but here's my time from 2009.
Mark.
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: July 26th, 2012, 8:58 am
by KevinDDR
It's about time I updated this thing.
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 27th, 2014, 6:46 pm
by Ex_Mosquito
Finally a sub 12mins Gm, about bloody time! I paniced a little towards the end so I hope to get it lower soon.
Damn, I've hit a wall around S2/S3, need to change my tactics, do you have any recordings of your runs? Or have any good videos to recommend? I try to stack pyramid style on later levels and have lots of blocks in the eaarlier.
Do you use a regular 8way joystick? my biggest problem is I sometimes miss by one block when draging one object from the top to the bottom, might change my gate to a 4way one to avoid that problem.
love love love the game though!
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 18th, 2015, 3:32 pm
by Ex_Mosquito
RoZioN wrote:Damn, I've hit a wall around S2/S3, need to change my tactics, do you have any recordings of your runs? Or have any good videos to recommend? I try to stack pyramid style on later levels and have lots of blocks in the eaarlier.
Do you use a regular 8way joystick? my biggest problem is I sometimes miss by one block when draging one object from the top to the bottom, might change my gate to a 4way one to avoid that problem.
love love love the game though!
Hera mate. I have a couple of runs recorded on my YT channel but they're years old and not very good times. YouTube has a ton of amazing TGM replays that are way better, I recommend watching someone else S1/S2, so you're getting stuck around level 400 when the gravity kicks in? One way I know a lot of people trained to get their first Gm rank was to use the 20G code (down x8 - CBA on the title screen) this kicks the games into level 500 20G instant gravity from the start, it saves you having to play the first 500 levels to get yourself accustomed to 20G stacking, then once you can consistently get to level 500 in 20G mode then switch back to starting it at normal gravity.
Are you aware of IRS? (Instant rotation system) This is vital to stacking in high gravity. If you're not aware, if you hold a rotation button as soon as the previous piece locks, when the next piece spawns on the playfield it will be rotated 90degrees in whatever rotation direction you pressed.
I recommend you going here, it will massively improve your game and help you visually understand what I mean and the nuances of the rotation system, there is a lot of stuff that isn't immediately obvious. It was originally Japanese old website but the amazing Kitaru (on this very thread) hosts a translated version.
And yes you need to have your stick set to 4-way, using an 8-way will drive you crazy, even on TGM1, and even more on TAP/TGM3. A Sanwa JLF is regarded as the best be cause of its smooth diamond shape in 4-way.
Good luck! It won't be easy but stick with it and practice correctly and a Gm rank with be yours
And yes the TGM games are a masterpiece!
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: November 19th, 2015, 9:54 am
by RoZioN
This was EXACTLY the kind of response I was hoping for!
Now I'm changing my actuator, and the code saves me about 6 minutes every try !
Will also check the website. I have in some degree used the movement buffering but not in any controlled way =P
Thanks for all the tips, now I'm motivated to give the game another chance =)
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: December 9th, 2015, 8:18 am
by RoZioN
So I still have a looooong time to go. At best I survive around 2 minutes in 20G mode after about 50 credits.
But its so rewarding once you get into the pyramid-stacking mindset, a few hundred credits more and I might actually do this.
Lovelovelove this game.
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: December 14th, 2015, 2:48 pm
by Ex_Mosquito
Good to see you haven't given up! it's a brutal game when 20G kicks in isn't it. Unfortunately getting used to 20G wont come overnight but over many months, just hold onto the dream and that Gm rank will come if you really want it ...Then you have another few years to get Gm on TAP/Death :/
I agree, it's pretty damn good
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: December 17th, 2015, 9:24 pm
by Ex_Mosquito
If you have a GBA and an R4 cart you could alway play the TGM homebrew to practice on the go
Re: Tetris: The Grand Master series
Posted: January 12th, 2016, 1:42 pm
by RoZioN
I think I'll stick to PCB. haven't played now for a while but will get back into it soon.