When they're not playing very well I understand. Watching the pro's however is mesmerising. Type 'CTWC' into youtube, watch a game, be amazed, then probably become a fan of high level Tetris and the drama of the championships.
0:20 "I'm probably not going to blow anyone's mind in this video..." 1:30 - 2:16 "So that's why it's likely that aliens from other planets have also made Tetris already." YOU LIED TO ME, MATT.
If you consider it to be true that the universe expands infinitely in every direction it is a mathematical certainty that earth and it’s entire history exist an infinite amount of times in this universe.
@@jordannelson7911 Minor math-nerd nitpick, but it technically wouldn't be a true certainty, so much as just a practical one. Of course something could occur a finite amount of times, it's just that that would be improbable. This of it as: if the universe really does extend infinitely in all directions, then even if something is truly unique, you could never prove that it is, because to do so, you'd have to check everywhere to make sure, which is infinite.
Fun fact: Alexei Pajitnov initially planned to design the game with pentominoes but due to lack of RAM the soviet computer he ran the code in couldn't handle such INTENSE GEOMETRY. So we have Electronica-60 to thank for one of the most noteworthy design decisions in game design history.
Here's something that might make the game change drastically: the size of the board. When a board is wider or taller, it might be more difficult or easier to get points, or to lose. The Gameboy Tetris, measuring the size of the blocks, has a board size of 10 x 18(?). But if a Tetris board was something like 20 x 36, would the game be much easier? If it is, then it probably takes longer to achieve points, and also makes it more difficult to lose. But what about other board sizes? Is there a "perfect" board size, or is that the one element of Tetris that can change?
***** Good point! Another mechanic that is somewhat up for debate is what type of line clear gravity a given sequel of tetris decides to use. Basically, if you clear a line with a tetronimo that leaves a block in mid air, does the block stay floating in place or does it fall till it hits the ground or another block? Some tetris games do it one way and some do it the other and I imagine (I'm no tetris expert) that higher level tactics vary massively depending on which type of line clear gravity the game uses, and that someone's preference for either of them would be highly dependent on which one they played first.
I think, in most traditional Tetrises, a line-clear moves every block above the line-clear down one line. Blocks that fall individually would fill holes and make the game much easier.
The scoring system doesn't just "keep people coming back." It provides a risk/reward system that wouldn't otherwise exist. Without it, there would be no rational reason to stack blocks high or clear multiple lines.
Nobody paid attention to their score the first time they played Tetris. The game's speed increase over time is what provides a single Tetris game's sense of progression. The score provides a sense of progression (and stakes) over multiple games. You only care about the score if you came back to beat it. Also, damn, six years. You probably don't even remember this comment.
I would just like to point out that, on what is probably my fifth rewatch of this video over the years, I just now paid enough attention to notice Matthew's totally intentional Tetris blueballs. He's right about to get a Tetris: long piece is next, exactly four in a row, it's perfect, and then it's cut off. At 3:30 and 6:23. This happens not once, but twice.
The most subjective aspect is the music, and now Tetris Effect has taken that malleable element and weaved it so tightly into the game that a few of the levels have made me weep with joy.
Another key to Tetris' success is portability. It's easy to port to new systems, and is quite possibly the most ported game to new systems, with DooM trailing in second(This is due to the original DooM engine being open sourced).
MCHellshit In literature, a piece of work can be considered good because of its used of literary devices or imagery. -But the book its self may not be pleasing. Songs can be "mathmaticaly" beautiful to humans. -But you may have a favorite song which does NOT display perfect mathmatic composition. Games can be perfect based on game design elements. A simple game is easily more "perfect" than a complex game, yet a complex game can be more pleasing. There are not any "perfect" complex games I can think of, but it is possible. -You don't have to like a perfect game, being perfect means nothing as to how pleasing it is. Also, everyone needs to remember a "game" can refer to a mathmatical model such as simulations and in Game Theory. There are a few "perfect" games such as conways game of life which would be considered "simulations"
Connor Hill The word perfection is very often misused and people make far too big of a deal about it in general. I hate how people have a tendency to call their favourite games perfect, when they clearly aren't. It doesn't need to be perfect to be that good and something doesn't need to be perfect to even be that enjoyable. I also have more appreciation for something that's more ambitious and accomplished, but has some flaws, rather than something that's very simple, but has none. Bloodborne has recently become one of my very favourite games, yet it's definitely not perfect. I love it so much because it marries so many things together, and accomplishes more than most games ever have. I don't care about its imperfections as a result. A game like Portal is probably more perfect, yet it's not even a small fraction as ambitious, so I'm not going to hold it nearly as highly. It's much easier to create that sort of thing. It's just a glorified and more refined version of Narbacular Drop.
gilgamesh310 Narbacular Drop is in fact Portal. They are basically (and complexly) the same game made by the same people. Only in hindsight does portal exhibit flaws and most of them due to current culture. Not to say that games exist in a vacuum and that the parameters for "good" are set in stone. If you want a semi perfect game, Half Life 1 (before cultural change) was a very very very good game. The pacing, controls, story telling, lore telling, and geometry (level design + props) all worked together beautifully. My point: Portal is much more ambitious if you remember Narbacular Drop was a senior project of the guys who created portal. You could say it was an early alpha of portal. Bloodbourne on the other hand plays very similar to Demons Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II. The currency/upgrading system is almost exactly the same. They added a step to backstabs, but strafe/roll/stab gameplay is almost exactly the same. Some enemy design is very similar. It uses similar menus, fonts, boss designs, boss music, ect ect ect. Bloodbourne is a better game than dark souls II and I could see arguments for it being better than Souls 1. to get to the point of my point: Portal was much more ambitious, it felt different than any other game and it continues to feel different than most games. (portal 2 on the otherhand has some good puzzles but has as little ambition as possible) And bloodbourne is basically dark souls. People even mistake and call "blood memories" or whatever as "souls" while playing because of how similar it is. I just feel you have things backwards. You basically said one of the most ambitious games in the past 10 years was somehow common. Then you tell me Pokemon(bloodbourne) is ambitious? lulululululululul
Connor Hill I place little importance on originality. To me, Bloodborne is a refinement of everything that made the Souls games good. It may not do much fundamentally new, but it does what it does extremely well. It combines the great level design, horror and depressing nature of Demon's Souls, with the brilliant interconnected world design of Dark Souls, cuts out all the cheap bullshit of some of the previous games, like the Anor Londo archers of and invisible pathways of Dark Souls. It has the best level design and greatest interconnected world of any game to ever exist. It has the best enemy design of any game I've ever played(I could give less of a fuck if they slightly resemble those of Dark Souls, as that has the second best), it has just the right difficulty. It's probably easier than Demon's and Dark Souls, but for the right reasons. It has just the right blend of frustration and the supremely gratifying feeling of accomplishment. There appropriate shortcuts to most bosses, which just seem much fairer. The art direction overall is the best I've ever seen In a game. The storytelling and lore is among the best(superior to Half Life's). Portal is a ridiculously short, piss easy game. It's probably more unique than Bloodborne, but I could care less about that. It's nowhere near as memorable. Perfection is extremely subjective anyone. Someone somewhere can eventually find flaws in anything. And if not, aliens probably can. It's just not that relevant to me. Not as much as the overall standard of excellence is.
We use non-euclidean geometry as well, euclidean geometry only really works fully with a two-dimensional plane - a big deal with it is the assumption that parallel lines which never touch one another must exist, when they obviously don't when you try to draw them on a sphere, lines of longtitude are parallel at the equator, but meet at the poles.
No - but only because the Pope has almost certainly *already* played Tetris. (Undertale was still a bad choice imo, but only because it fundamentally relies on prior immersion in the tropes and culture of videogames.)
I was amazed to find out as a kid that this game actually had a story, when i saw the shuttle for the first time i thought "Oh that is the reason why i did all that".
Listen to this, my friend said that Just Cause 2 is the best game ever, and then I say: "Surely Tetris is the best game ever?" he replies "No, Tetris has bad graphics, and no story".
Joki Jankovic It's impossible to compare Just Cause 2 and Tetris. I couldn't think of two more different games, and yet they are both some of my absolute favourites. Also, "the best game" implies an opinion, whereas "a perfect game" implies that changing any aspect of the game would detract from the experience. I don't think Tetris is the best game, but I can see how it is perfect. "Tetris has bad graphics and no story" LOL your friend might be missing the point slightly!
Joki Jankovic Just Cause 2 is filled with terrible flaws to the roof... it can't even be logically be considered to be one of the best games... one might even say the gamedesign part is utterly terrible
I'm of the opinion that this video on Tetris might just be the most perfect video Matthew has produced, and I say this as someone who has been addicted to his videos for years, as this comment will show. I've recommended his channel to several of my co-workers in the physics department, always through this video, and have never been let down by the reaction. If you ever see this, keep up the great work Matthew!
I'm glad that someone finally talked about how all the shapes we are given in Tetris are all the possible combinations that can be done with tetrominoes. Not very many people are aware of this fact.
"Some version of pentris exists on internet" - I used to have one of those random LCD tetris games that were tetris with calculator display - just some third party release of it. Anyway, it had a mode 2 to it which had few pentominoes - but not ALL possible ones from the image @ 4:10 timestamp it had first, second, 6th and it's counterpart, and the plus shaped pentominoe mixing up the game. And this was some 3rd party LCD tetris game back from mid 90's - my grandmother had the machine to the day she died - making tetris always feel special to me since as a kid I never really liked it but for whatever reason my grandmother did (this what I at least thought as a kid)
I do agree on your point. But I don't think your Main argument for it holds; you CAN remove most singular parts of it and it remains functional. But yes: it is very much necessarily a videogame, and it's pure - timeless - independent of reality, and has a strange perfection to it - in a technological world based on squares and pixels.
Hey, random teacher historian here. I would argue that the cultural/historical context of the game does matter, but in a very subtle way. So subtle, that few ever think of the following variables: music and background story. Both the music and background story are completely related to the folk music and culture of Eastern Europe. The song is a classic, perhaps the most beloved folk song called Korobeiniki of all time, I opine, because it’s about the act of Peddling cheap goods and also trying to find love. All taken together, it’s the perfect game that is both universal in understanding and play, but also interestingly very culturally specific and influenced by the simple yet beautiful act of peasants trying to seek a living and also seek love. Perhaps like when the blocks fall extra fast in Tetris, trying to find love while poor is a seeming impossibility.
Basic Tetris is also simple in both its sound and game design. It's timeless because it's easy to understand, at least if you have any technology knowledge. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts about newer versions of Tetris, about how you think the added elements work, and maybe its relation with other non-electronic games, such as shape sorters, Rubik's Cubes and so forth. Great video.
If I had a nitpick, I'd argue that one of Tetris's great strengths as a piece of work, aesthetically, is that it has universal appeal in the abstract, but has very specific cultural appeal surrounding its invention. Pajihtnov had finished Tetris in 1984, in the midst of Cold War tensions, as Russia boycotted the LA Olympics, and during the Russian Bear Trap. Placing blocks, even when done neatly, pushes the player closer to their inevitable destruction, and typically ends in frantic desperation.
I keep coming back to this video since the first time I watched it a few years ago and honestly I don't understand how it doesn't have billions of views.
I love your analogy about aliens, because it perfectly explains your point in a way everyone can understand -- I think that's what makes your analysis so captivating. you are able to explain things in ways immediately understandable to anyone.
When I see devs trying to "improve" on Tetris' perfection I'm reminded of people attempting to improve chess (like adding new pieces, making the board bigger, etc)
Tetris + Dominoes. Fun fact: in Tetris Evolution for the Xbox 360 there is a large emphasis on 'creating life' by playing Tetris. In this game, the blocks are called Tetraminos. Same (or similar) pronunciation, but this time it is Tetris + Amino (acids which make up protien, and allow life).
2:05 That just blew my mind. I've always believed in the idea that there has to be other intelligent civlisations in our galaxy, as I'm sure many of you have. But that... that just really put it into perspective though, thank you Matthew.
I feel like there was a beat missed in this video in that there was not mention of the undeniable satisfaction in clearing out loads of lines, which as well as a score make the only reward function of the game. Otherwise, great video! :)
Tetris probably is probably underappreciated because while it's "perfect", it's also simplistic. The simpler the gameplay, the easier it is to craft a perfect experience as there is less chance for error or subjective disagreement to creep in. It's also worth noting that Tetris is more mathematical than artistic and also more obvious. Anyone researching polyominos would probably come up with the same game. Even just looking at basic grid geometry could lead to the idea very easily. So is it a perfect game? Yes, but in a way that can't be at all compared to other game titles because the perfection of Tetris is ingrained in the mathematical and physical properties of the universe rather than anything artistic.
I am even more late here , but art as topic is certain for subjectivity in opposite of mathematics that means people wouldn't agree on artistic piece in comparison to mathematical or physical research in other words everyone no matter their agenda and culturel difference can appreciated tetris and not any other video game . tetris is a machine without any outsider effect and perfectly composed key features no one can take it from it without ruining it's core appeal of course it doesn't feel human nor it have his flaws and art borne from human passion and devotion but this is have nothing of importance to perfection of tetris as video game
You could actually come up with a few reasons why an alien couldn't play Tetris. What if they didn't have eyes, but used echolocation to 'see'? What if the eyes they did have could only sense a difference in ambient light? What if the EMF field any computer gave off was painful for them? However, since the music is not necessary in the slightest to experience Tetris, I'd say that his logic still stands. An alien would only need eyes, a comprehending brain, and possibly some hands to play it.
For sure though, developers stand to learn a lot by looking to Tetris to see a game where 'design by subtraction' (Fumito Ueda's term) was executed almost perfectly.
In my opinion Magical Tetris Challenge is the best Tetris game ever made. It even has Pentrominos as punishment in the 2p Battle mode (even though you can also play without them) and the music is awesome
@Matthewmatosis, wow. You have done it again. Incredible. You really are someone I look up to because you sound like the kind of consumer who actually purchases and values everything you get. Tetris is absolutely universival as well as important and influential for our culture. Thank you for teaching us something that I find very valuable.
Pong is a bit like Tetris then. Yet it's based on the ping pong, but it's as easy to understand the set of rules as it is for tetris, there's also brick break games alike with one player if you want the experience of pong.
I guess it would be quite challenging to make a mechanical version of Tetris which also contains line clears but it might be technically possible. Also moving and rotating the pieces in a matter that is somehow like on the video game would be difficult (you could move them at a constant speed instead of "jumping" between lines, but still). But it would probably be too expensive to ever be built. It might include a 3D printer and something that recycles pieces when lines are cleared and it would probably only run at a rather slow speed (mainly because the speed would be limited by the 3D printer).
The idea that live forms elsewhere in the universe have invented Tetris is simultaneously plausible and mind-blowing. Thanks for the interesting video.
I disagree that there's nothing inherently human about Tetris. For one, the idea of stacking blocks on top of each other cleanly being a goal strikes me as a reflection of humanity's tendency to build walls, or as an appeal to the human ideals of symmetry/wholeness. The high score is the bigger issue, though. Humans have this innate idea that, generally, more = better, thus it makes sense to have a higher score as it proves that you could keep up with the game for longer. I have no frame of reference to comprehend this, but there's probably some alien civilization out there that doesn't understand why a higher score is an incentive. Maybe one that always had an abundance of resources and never got the idea in their head that more (food, money, safety) is better. There are actually probably plenty of humans following philosophies and living lifestyles that wouldn't tell them a high score is desirable, but I imagine that they would probably get it in like a second since survival is in our genes. I agree that Tetris is pretty perfect, though, if not absolutely. The one quibble is the sheer amount of variation there can be in the rules, as you brought up in your video. There's also harder to comprehend stuff like what the perfect randomization algorithm is, how the colors should be, etc. I guess the Platonic ideal of Tetris, the one in everyone's head, *is* a perfect game, but then, of course it is because that doesn't really exist.
Interesting. Really interesting. You know, I never thought about it. I always disregard Tetris, I just never liked that kind of game. My thing are immersive games, games that transport me to another universe and serve as a distraction of the horrible world around us. So I never give to much attention to simple games like Tetris. But from a technical standpoint, yea, this game is flawless; it just comes to the player's preference in games.
I have to say, given your MO, I was not expecting a less than 30min video about a game with both simplistic mechanics and aesthetics, but I can't say I was disappointed by it.
I do like how you title the video "A perfect game?" instead of "The perfect game?", implying any game developer with enough talent is capable of making a perfect game. However, I think it is impossible to make game that's more popular than Tetris, but we'll see.
@@ketrub Because the OP seems to think that popularity factors into Tetris being perfect somehow. It's irrelevant. Tetris is perfect based on its design, it doesn't actually matter if anyone even likes it.
perfect game in literature sense doesn't exist excluding tetris developers should focus in hiding or overcoming or minimizing the flows of their games than focusing in crafting the perfect game and I think they will create something special that appeal to them personally, perfection is the result of something doesn't have flows mindless concept that people can or can not achieve, people should care about their enjoyment and not about finding if video game is really perfect or not
@@ZeroKitsune I did not think that actually. I commented that Tetris reached a level of popularity that I personally thought was impossible for any developer to overcome. I don't hold that opinion anymore because I think Minecraft could be argued to be as or more popular than Tetris.
Hey Matthew, Is there any chance that during the end of your video you can tell us what you'll be talking about next? I think it'll add more anticipation for us lowly RUclipsrs. Also, great video.
The only thing I think this video lacks is a mention that the depth of the well and speed of the pieces is arbitrary - a deep well or slower pieces makes the game easier and a shallow well or faster pieces makes the game harder, and it was just a judgement call from the designer that decided the game's starting difficulty. As Matt says, it will always reach a challenging speed for skilled players, but it is possible to imagine a player who is so bad at Tetris at the starting speed that they cannot succeed at it for even a single line clear.
Saying it's perfect, isn't saying it's the best. I think what you mean by your comment is that you don't think it's the best game out there. And it probably isn't in the eyes of most gamers. But it's game play, as stated by Matt, is perfect.
I sure wasnt spoiled this time to play the game. Just kidding, you are what most people have been waiting for as reviewer, You are too simple, always in a neutral point where you dont hate nor love but just give your honest opinion and never discourage someone to play it. Keep up the good work, you are doing quite the excellent job.
I will say, Tetris as it is fundamentally there's really nothing wrong with it I can point out. It's such a simple game that I think it works to it's advantage I would say. It's not my favorite game to play ever but it is fun at least to me. And I think if aliens were to look at how our Video Games/computer games are Tetris I think would probably be the most easiest for those said aliens to understand since like you said there's nothing human about it. It's just different variations of 4 blocks and them falling down in different patterns to make a line. It's as simple as a game can get without being boring and it's the most easiest game for anybody to get into I would argue. Anyways, great analysis man and I have watched this video at least 3 times at this point,
I really like how you said that you believe some other intelligent life has made a game just like this. That really made me think. Great review, as always.
If there is a criticism that can be made for Tetris, it's that having to start from the beginning each time sucks. Particularly once you start to really understand the game, starting over becomes a waste of time. Later versions allowed you to start at a higher speed, which is a nice touch, but if you care about scoring, then you're forced to start at a slow speed to get the easy points. Otherwise, I agree that Tetris is as close to a perfect game as we've come across.
When I was a kid I used to have this shitty portable console, it was a "1000 games in 1 system" kinda deal, and they were all variations of tetris. Of course, there were most likely 5 versions repeated 200 times. Anyway, one of those version had pieces of three, four and five blocks mixed together, and it really, really broke the game and I'd wonder why someone would put those 5 blocks pieces. Years later when I learned why the game was called Tetris I was like "Oh, now everything makes sense."
Desire is a human, or perhaps Earthly concept. We can't say all living things understand the concept of desire just because the concept of success exists. It seems plausible that desire is universal to all life, but we can imagine cases where it may not be.
Tetris is so perfect, so universal, it feels like it was discovered instead of invented.
Watching somebody else play Tetris is one of the most intense frustrations any human being can experience.
When they're not playing very well I understand. Watching the pro's however is mesmerising. Type 'CTWC' into youtube, watch a game, be amazed, then probably become a fan of high level Tetris and the drama of the championships.
0:20 "I'm probably not going to blow anyone's mind in this video..."
1:30 - 2:16 "So that's why it's likely that aliens from other planets have also made Tetris already."
YOU LIED TO ME, MATT.
All the pieces really fit together...
If you consider it to be true that the universe expands infinitely in every direction it is a mathematical certainty that earth and it’s entire history exist an infinite amount of times in this universe.
Interesting thought.
@@jordannelson7911 Minor math-nerd nitpick, but it technically wouldn't be a true certainty, so much as just a practical one. Of course something could occur a finite amount of times, it's just that that would be improbable. This of it as: if the universe really does extend infinitely in all directions, then even if something is truly unique, you could never prove that it is, because to do so, you'd have to check everywhere to make sure, which is infinite.
So when League of Legend players tell me to uninstall the game and go play Tetris it's actually a compliment?
+Bloggerboy1000 Yes.
+Bloggerboy1000 good advice they're providing
+Bloggerboy1000 maybe its because they are tired of league and want to do something else and encourage others to play better things =]
Bloggerboy1000 xD
Nah they think league of legends is much complicated for you so they tell to play Tetris because it's much more simple
Fun fact: Alexei Pajitnov initially planned to design the game with pentominoes but due to lack of RAM the soviet computer he ran the code in couldn't handle such INTENSE GEOMETRY.
So we have Electronica-60 to thank for one of the most noteworthy design decisions in game design history.
The story behind the creation of Tetris is insane too, imagine a Russian developer releasing a mega successful game in America, during the cold war
Here's something that might make the game change drastically: the size of the board.
When a board is wider or taller, it might be more difficult or easier to get points, or to lose. The Gameboy Tetris, measuring the size of the blocks, has a board size of 10 x 18(?). But if a Tetris board was something like 20 x 36, would the game be much easier? If it is, then it probably takes longer to achieve points, and also makes it more difficult to lose. But what about other board sizes? Is there a "perfect" board size, or is that the one element of Tetris that can change?
***** Good point! Another mechanic that is somewhat up for debate is what type of line clear gravity a given sequel of tetris decides to use. Basically, if you clear a line with a tetronimo that leaves a block in mid air, does the block stay floating in place or does it fall till it hits the ground or another block? Some tetris games do it one way and some do it the other and I imagine (I'm no tetris expert) that higher level tactics vary massively depending on which type of line clear gravity the game uses, and that someone's preference for either of them would be highly dependent on which one they played first.
minch333 That mechanic can totally change the way the game plays, in my opinion. Although I've been trying to find a Tetris game that does that.
***** Tetris 2 I think?
*****
There's no simple answer, it's a matter of preference, which is why so many version of Tetris exist.
I think, in most traditional Tetrises, a line-clear moves every block above the line-clear down one line. Blocks that fall individually would fill holes and make the game much easier.
The scoring system doesn't just "keep people coming back." It provides a risk/reward system that wouldn't otherwise exist. Without it, there would be no rational reason to stack blocks high or clear multiple lines.
Nobody paid attention to their score the first time they played Tetris.
The game's speed increase over time is what provides a single Tetris game's sense of progression. The score provides a sense of progression (and stakes) over multiple games. You only care about the score if you came back to beat it. Also, damn, six years. You probably don't even remember this comment.
@@Graphomitehi how are you doing
"The designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
I would just like to point out that, on what is probably my fifth rewatch of this video over the years, I just now paid enough attention to notice Matthew's totally intentional Tetris blueballs. He's right about to get a Tetris: long piece is next, exactly four in a row, it's perfect, and then it's cut off. At 3:30 and 6:23. This happens not once, but twice.
The most subjective aspect is the music, and now Tetris Effect has taken that malleable element and weaved it so tightly into the game that a few of the levels have made me weep with joy.
Another key to Tetris' success is portability. It's easy to port to new systems, and is quite possibly the most ported game to new systems, with DooM trailing in second(This is due to the original DooM engine being open sourced).
I once played a version with pentominoes and wow... I've never seen a great game be completely ruined so easily
Lot of people in these comments misunderstanding what the word 'perfect' means
MCHellshit
In literature, a piece of work can be considered good because of its used of literary devices or imagery.
-But the book its self may not be pleasing.
Songs can be "mathmaticaly" beautiful to humans.
-But you may have a favorite song which does NOT display perfect mathmatic composition.
Games can be perfect based on game design elements. A simple game is easily more "perfect" than a complex game, yet a complex game can be more pleasing. There are not any "perfect" complex games I can think of, but it is possible.
-You don't have to like a perfect game, being perfect means nothing as to how pleasing it is.
Also, everyone needs to remember a "game" can refer to a mathmatical model such as simulations and in Game Theory. There are a few "perfect" games such as conways game of life which would be considered "simulations"
Connor Hill The word perfection is very often misused and people make far too big of a deal about it in general. I hate how people have a tendency to call their favourite games perfect, when they clearly aren't. It doesn't need to be perfect to be that good and something doesn't need to be perfect to even be that enjoyable. I also have more appreciation for something that's more ambitious and accomplished, but has some flaws, rather than something that's very simple, but has none.
Bloodborne has recently become one of my very favourite games, yet it's definitely not perfect. I love it so much because it marries so many things together, and accomplishes more than most games ever have. I don't care about its imperfections as a result. A game like Portal is probably more perfect, yet it's not even a small fraction as ambitious, so I'm not going to hold it nearly as highly. It's much easier to create that sort of thing. It's just a glorified and more refined version of Narbacular Drop.
gilgamesh310
Narbacular Drop is in fact Portal.
They are basically (and complexly) the same game made by the same people.
Only in hindsight does portal exhibit flaws and most of them due to current culture. Not to say that games exist in a vacuum and that the parameters for "good" are set in stone.
If you want a semi perfect game, Half Life 1 (before cultural change) was a very very very good game. The pacing, controls, story telling, lore telling, and geometry (level design + props) all worked together beautifully.
My point: Portal is much more ambitious if you remember Narbacular Drop was a senior project of the guys who created portal. You could say it was an early alpha of portal.
Bloodbourne on the other hand plays very similar to Demons Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II. The currency/upgrading system is almost exactly the same. They added a step to backstabs, but strafe/roll/stab gameplay is almost exactly the same. Some enemy design is very similar. It uses similar menus, fonts, boss designs, boss music, ect ect ect.
Bloodbourne is a better game than dark souls II and I could see arguments for it being better than Souls 1.
to get to the point of my point:
Portal was much more ambitious, it felt different than any other game and it continues to feel different than most games. (portal 2 on the otherhand has some good puzzles but has as little ambition as possible)
And bloodbourne is basically dark souls. People even mistake and call "blood memories" or whatever as "souls" while playing because of how similar it is.
I just feel you have things backwards.
You basically said one of the most ambitious games in the past 10 years was somehow common.
Then you tell me Pokemon(bloodbourne) is ambitious? lulululululululul
Connor Hill I place little importance on originality. To me, Bloodborne is a refinement of everything that made the Souls games good. It may not do much fundamentally new, but it does what it does extremely well. It combines the great level design, horror and depressing nature of Demon's Souls, with the brilliant interconnected world design of Dark Souls, cuts out all the cheap bullshit of some of the previous games, like the Anor Londo archers of and invisible pathways of Dark Souls. It has the best level design and greatest interconnected world of any game to ever exist. It has the best enemy design of any game I've ever played(I could give less of a fuck if they slightly resemble those of Dark Souls, as that has the second best), it has just the right difficulty. It's probably easier than Demon's and Dark Souls, but for the right reasons. It has just the right blend of frustration and the supremely gratifying feeling of accomplishment. There appropriate shortcuts to most bosses, which just seem much fairer. The art direction overall is the best I've ever seen In a game. The storytelling and lore is among the best(superior to Half Life's).
Portal is a ridiculously short, piss easy game. It's probably more unique than Bloodborne, but I could care less about that. It's nowhere near as memorable.
Perfection is extremely subjective anyone. Someone somewhere can eventually find flaws in anything. And if not, aliens probably can. It's just not that relevant to me. Not as much as the overall standard of excellence is.
gilgamesh310 You know what Bloodborne is also good at? Crushing my soul under the weight of its relentless difficulty.
What if these alien races use non-euclidean geometry?
What if they don't see light?
Mudcrab Then they'll make the non-Euclidean equivalent to Tetris
then we're all fucked
Then that means all the blocks are actually curved... which they in fact are! ;)
We use non-euclidean geometry as well, euclidean geometry only really works fully with a two-dimensional plane - a big deal with it is the assumption that parallel lines which never touch one another must exist, when they obviously don't when you try to draw them on a sphere, lines of longtitude are parallel at the equator, but meet at the poles.
So... this was the game that should have been given to the Pope instead of Undertale?
Yah
No - but only because the Pope has almost certainly *already* played Tetris.
(Undertale was still a bad choice imo, but only because it fundamentally relies on prior immersion in the tropes and culture of videogames.)
I was amazed to find out as a kid that this game actually had a story, when i saw the shuttle for the first time i thought "Oh that is the reason why i did all that".
Listen to this, my friend said that Just Cause 2 is the best game ever, and then I say: "Surely Tetris is the best game ever?" he replies "No, Tetris has bad graphics, and no story".
Joki Jankovic It's impossible to compare Just Cause 2 and Tetris. I couldn't think of two more different games, and yet they are both some of my absolute favourites.
Also, "the best game" implies an opinion, whereas "a perfect game" implies that changing any aspect of the game would detract from the experience. I don't think Tetris is the best game, but I can see how it is perfect.
"Tetris has bad graphics and no story" LOL your friend might be missing the point slightly!
Joki Jankovic Just Cause 2 is filled with terrible flaws to the roof... it can't even be logically be considered to be one of the best games... one might even say the gamedesign part is utterly terrible
+Jovan Jankovic Haha, I love JC2, but it's honestly a pretty mediocre game. Just has some fun gimmicks is all.
inoffensive coddler it was pretty gorgeous for when it came out.
+Jovan Jankovic Lol how could tetris possibly have bad graphics, it's a game made up entirely of squares
This is probably one of my favorite videos of yours. Great, short, concise explanation of a game.
Could you even say that the review itself is _perfect_? :^)
This got me into Tetris. And I'm really happy that I did. Thank you so much
You watched the CTWC on youtube? I advise it.
I'm of the opinion that this video on Tetris might just be the most perfect video Matthew has produced, and I say this as someone who has been addicted to his videos for years, as this comment will show. I've recommended his channel to several of my co-workers in the physics department, always through this video, and have never been let down by the reaction. If you ever see this, keep up the great work Matthew!
I'm glad that someone finally talked about how all the shapes we are given in Tetris are all the possible combinations that can be done with tetrominoes. Not very many people are aware of this fact.
"Some version of pentris exists on internet" - I used to have one of those random LCD tetris games that were tetris with calculator display - just some third party release of it. Anyway, it had a mode 2 to it which had few pentominoes - but not ALL possible ones from the image @ 4:10 timestamp it had first, second, 6th and it's counterpart, and the plus shaped pentominoe mixing up the game. And this was some 3rd party LCD tetris game back from mid 90's - my grandmother had the machine to the day she died - making tetris always feel special to me since as a kid I never really liked it but for whatever reason my grandmother did (this what I at least thought as a kid)
Fun fact: there's acually a name for it if you get 4 lines at the same time. It's called like the game ''Tetris''
"I didn't watch the whole video but that won't stop me from trying to argue with him"
I do agree on your point. But I don't think your Main argument for it holds; you CAN remove most singular parts of it and it remains functional. But yes: it is very much necessarily a videogame, and it's pure - timeless - independent of reality, and has a strange perfection to it - in a technological world based on squares and pixels.
Game Grumps brought me here. Matthew you are a genius!
Tetris is the only game that my father every played.
Hey, random teacher historian here. I would argue that the cultural/historical context of the game does matter, but in a very subtle way. So subtle, that few ever think of the following variables: music and background story. Both the music and background story are completely related to the folk music and culture of Eastern Europe. The song is a classic, perhaps the most beloved folk song called Korobeiniki of all time, I opine, because it’s about the act of Peddling cheap goods and also trying to find love. All taken together, it’s the perfect game that is both universal in understanding and play, but also interestingly very culturally specific and influenced by the simple yet beautiful act of peasants trying to seek a living and also seek love.
Perhaps like when the blocks fall extra fast in Tetris, trying to find love while poor is a seeming impossibility.
Basic Tetris is also simple in both its sound and game design. It's timeless because it's easy to understand, at least if you have any technology knowledge. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts about newer versions of Tetris, about how you think the added elements work, and maybe its relation with other non-electronic games, such as shape sorters, Rubik's Cubes and so forth. Great video.
If I had a nitpick, I'd argue that one of Tetris's great strengths as a piece of work, aesthetically, is that it has universal appeal in the abstract, but has very specific cultural appeal surrounding its invention. Pajihtnov had finished Tetris in 1984, in the midst of Cold War tensions, as Russia boycotted the LA Olympics, and during the Russian Bear Trap. Placing blocks, even when done neatly, pushes the player closer to their inevitable destruction, and typically ends in frantic desperation.
A physical solid version of this game would be so satisfying
I keep coming back to this video since the first time I watched it a few years ago and honestly I don't understand how it doesn't have billions of views.
I love your analogy about aliens, because it perfectly explains your point in a way everyone can understand -- I think that's what makes your analysis so captivating. you are able to explain things in ways immediately understandable to anyone.
When I see devs trying to "improve" on Tetris' perfection I'm reminded of people attempting to improve chess (like adding new pieces, making the board bigger, etc)
Probably my favourite video on the channel, so concise and well thought out and explained
Tetris + Dominoes.
Fun fact: in Tetris Evolution for the Xbox 360 there is a large emphasis on 'creating life' by playing Tetris. In this game, the blocks are called Tetraminos.
Same (or similar) pronunciation, but this time it is Tetris + Amino (acids which make up protien, and allow life).
2:05 That just blew my mind.
I've always believed in the idea that there has to be other intelligent civlisations in our galaxy, as I'm sure many of you have. But that... that just really put it into perspective though, thank you Matthew.
Now I know where the name "dominoes" relates to!
I feel like there was a beat missed in this video in that there was not mention of the undeniable satisfaction in clearing out loads of lines, which as well as a score make the only reward function of the game. Otherwise, great video! :)
Tetris probably is probably underappreciated because while it's "perfect", it's also simplistic. The simpler the gameplay, the easier it is to craft a perfect experience as there is less chance for error or subjective disagreement to creep in. It's also worth noting that Tetris is more mathematical than artistic and also more obvious. Anyone researching polyominos would probably come up with the same game. Even just looking at basic grid geometry could lead to the idea very easily. So is it a perfect game? Yes, but in a way that can't be at all compared to other game titles because the perfection of Tetris is ingrained in the mathematical and physical properties of the universe rather than anything artistic.
I'm very late here, but considering that it's the best-selling video game of all time, Tetris is hardly underappreciated.
@@danielg3857 which has now been taken over by minecraft
I am even more late here , but art as topic is certain for subjectivity in opposite of mathematics that means people wouldn't agree on artistic piece in comparison to mathematical or physical research in other words everyone no matter their agenda and culturel difference can appreciated tetris and not any other video game . tetris is a machine without any outsider effect and perfectly composed key features no one can take it from it without ruining it's core appeal of course it doesn't feel human nor it have his flaws and art borne from human passion and devotion but this is have nothing of importance to perfection of tetris as video game
@@jbailiaymen9192 "I am even more late here"
Nah, you're just in time :)
You could actually come up with a few reasons why an alien couldn't play Tetris. What if they didn't have eyes, but used echolocation to 'see'? What if the eyes they did have could only sense a difference in ambient light?
What if the EMF field any computer gave off was painful for them?
However, since the music is not necessary in the slightest to experience Tetris, I'd say that his logic still stands. An alien would only need eyes, a comprehending brain, and possibly some hands to play it.
I'm convinced.
Tetris is really both perfect and flawless.
I can't think of a AAA title where i can't think of an improvement
*Hears the music.
I see what you did there.
Great review as always and you brought up a lot of stuff I had never thought of before.
Wow great video came from your patreon page and must say this best video I watched today subscribed.
Man, I used to play this in my homeroom on the original gameboy I'd had for years but rarely used senior year of HS. Endlessly entertaining.
For sure though, developers stand to learn a lot by looking to Tetris to see a game where 'design by subtraction' (Fumito Ueda's term) was executed almost perfectly.
Not to take any credit away from Alexy Pajitnov, but Tetris feels like something that was discovered rather than invented.
In my opinion Magical Tetris Challenge is the best Tetris game ever made.
It even has Pentrominos as punishment in the 2p Battle mode (even though you can also play without them) and the music is awesome
It was so fulfilling watching you play the game.
@Matthewmatosis, wow. You have done it again. Incredible. You really are someone I look up to because you sound like the kind of consumer who actually purchases and values everything you get. Tetris is absolutely universival as well as important and influential for our culture. Thank you for teaching us something that I find very valuable.
Pong is a bit like Tetris then.
Yet it's based on the ping pong, but it's as easy to understand the set of rules as it is for tetris, there's also brick break games alike with one player if you want the experience of pong.
Fascinating insight, thanks for the video.
must confess that at my first attempt at tetris when i was very-young i thought it was about building cool towers.
Universal appeal? Check this guy out and his 3 dimensions.
Tetris is 2d thou. As 3rd dimensional beings we understand it perfectly. Cross dimensional understanding is universal.
I thought the things in Pacman were jujubes
Excellent video as always!
...But I can't stop myself from noticing every time you say "tetronimo" instead of "tetromino". xD
Every time you mention Tetris, someone opens new tab and starts playing it.
Well said, somehow I never realized that all tetris pieces were made from only 4 blocks
I guess it would be quite challenging to make a mechanical version of Tetris which also contains line clears but it might be technically possible. Also moving and rotating the pieces in a matter that is somehow like on the video game would be difficult (you could move them at a constant speed instead of "jumping" between lines, but still). But it would probably be too expensive to ever be built. It might include a 3D printer and something that recycles pieces when lines are cleared and it would probably only run at a rather slow speed (mainly because the speed would be limited by the 3D printer).
The idea that live forms elsewhere in the universe have invented Tetris is simultaneously plausible and mind-blowing. Thanks for the interesting video.
I disagree that there's nothing inherently human about Tetris. For one, the idea of stacking blocks on top of each other cleanly being a goal strikes me as a reflection of humanity's tendency to build walls, or as an appeal to the human ideals of symmetry/wholeness. The high score is the bigger issue, though. Humans have this innate idea that, generally, more = better, thus it makes sense to have a higher score as it proves that you could keep up with the game for longer. I have no frame of reference to comprehend this, but there's probably some alien civilization out there that doesn't understand why a higher score is an incentive. Maybe one that always had an abundance of resources and never got the idea in their head that more (food, money, safety) is better. There are actually probably plenty of humans following philosophies and living lifestyles that wouldn't tell them a high score is desirable, but I imagine that they would probably get it in like a second since survival is in our genes.
I agree that Tetris is pretty perfect, though, if not absolutely. The one quibble is the sheer amount of variation there can be in the rules, as you brought up in your video. There's also harder to comprehend stuff like what the perfect randomization algorithm is, how the colors should be, etc. I guess the Platonic ideal of Tetris, the one in everyone's head, *is* a perfect game, but then, of course it is because that doesn't really exist.
Interesting read!
there's a ludologic dissonance between the gameplay field and the brick walls to the sides - imperfect!
I never thought you would review this. Quite the nice surprise.
I haven't played this game in a *very* long time, but I remember enjoying Columns a whole lot more.
This singular most insightful video on Tetris on the internet.
Interesting. Really interesting. You know, I never thought about it. I always disregard Tetris, I just never liked that kind of game. My thing are immersive games, games that transport me to another universe and serve as a distraction of the horrible world around us. So I never give to much attention to simple games like Tetris. But from a technical standpoint, yea, this game is flawless; it just comes to the player's preference in games.
Did you ever play Proteus?
Nope. I have not heard about it.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
I have to say, given your MO, I was not expecting a less than 30min video about a game with both simplistic mechanics and aesthetics, but I can't say I was disappointed by it.
So super hexagon would be a perfect game without the electronic music?
I do like how you title the video "A perfect game?" instead of "The perfect game?", implying any game developer with enough talent is capable of making a perfect game. However, I think it is impossible to make game that's more popular than Tetris, but we'll see.
Popular =/= Good
@@AngieYonaga how is this related to anything whatsoever?
@@ketrub Because the OP seems to think that popularity factors into Tetris being perfect somehow. It's irrelevant. Tetris is perfect based on its design, it doesn't actually matter if anyone even likes it.
perfect game in literature sense doesn't exist excluding tetris developers should focus in hiding or overcoming or minimizing the flows of their games than focusing in crafting the perfect game and I think they will create something special that appeal to them personally, perfection is the result of something doesn't have flows mindless concept that people can or can not achieve, people should care about their enjoyment and not about finding if video game is really perfect or not
@@ZeroKitsune I did not think that actually. I commented that Tetris reached a level of popularity that I personally thought was impossible for any developer to overcome. I don't hold that opinion anymore because I think Minecraft could be argued to be as or more popular than Tetris.
Deeper then that. Citizen Kane was more of a "Renaissance" for cinematography then it was an example of what the "perfect movie" would be.
Hey Matthew,
Is there any chance that during the end of your video you can tell us what you'll be talking about next? I think it'll add more anticipation for us lowly RUclipsrs.
Also, great video.
Shout-outs to Disney Tetris on N64 where your trash pieces are pentominoes
I got addicted to Tetris DS, that game got me to dream about Tetris blocks!
Re: pentominoes, you should investigate a board game called Blokus. Really, very good fun.
The only thing I think this video lacks is a mention that the depth of the well and speed of the pieces is arbitrary - a deep well or slower pieces makes the game easier and a shallow well or faster pieces makes the game harder, and it was just a judgement call from the designer that decided the game's starting difficulty.
As Matt says, it will always reach a challenging speed for skilled players, but it is possible to imagine a player who is so bad at Tetris at the starting speed that they cannot succeed at it for even a single line clear.
I needed to check and see if this was uploaded on April 1st halfway through. Truly the greatest shitpost is one from the mouth of a scholar.
It may not blow my mind, but I feel safe knowing you explained the facts. You're the concrete to Tetris being the perfect game.
great video its a shame that many people putting effort into their youtube content are so small....
Saying it's perfect, isn't saying it's the best. I think what you mean by your comment is that you don't think it's the best game out there. And it probably isn't in the eyes of most gamers. But it's game play, as stated by Matt, is perfect.
Your videos are great. Keep up the good work
I sure wasnt spoiled this time to play the game. Just kidding, you are what most people have been waiting for as reviewer, You are too simple, always in a neutral point where you dont hate nor love but just give your honest opinion and never discourage someone to play it. Keep up the good work, you are doing quite the excellent job.
Keep reviewing - I watch everything you upload, and I haven't owned a console since 2006.
tetris is for computergames, what chess is for board games
You mean what go is for boardgames. A far more perfect game. Less rules, lots of deeper complexity.
This was a great challenge, and I think you nailed it. Well done and thanks for the great review... GET THIS ON KOTAKU!
I love your reviews, but am quite disappointed that I wasn't warned of the immense Tetris spoilers in the video.
I will say, Tetris as it is fundamentally there's really nothing wrong with it I can point out. It's such a simple game that I think it works to it's advantage I would say. It's not my favorite game to play ever but it is fun at least to me. And I think if aliens were to look at how our Video Games/computer games are Tetris I think would probably be the most easiest for those said aliens to understand since like you said there's nothing human about it.
It's just different variations of 4 blocks and them falling down in different patterns to make a line. It's as simple as a game can get without being boring and it's the most easiest game for anybody to get into I would argue. Anyways, great analysis man and I have watched this video at least 3 times at this point,
Yeah, it might be perfect. But I'll just go play Tetris Attack instead.
tetris is a lovecraftian horror
I really like how you said that you believe some other intelligent life has made a game just like this. That really made me think. Great review, as always.
I bought a new 3ds xl and the game I play most on it is tetris.
Citizen Kane of Gaming?
Not just a perfect puzzle game but a perfect game. That’s a big fucking feat that not many other games can say
If there is a criticism that can be made for Tetris, it's that having to start from the beginning each time sucks. Particularly once you start to really understand the game, starting over becomes a waste of time. Later versions allowed you to start at a higher speed, which is a nice touch, but if you care about scoring, then you're forced to start at a slow speed to get the easy points. Otherwise, I agree that Tetris is as close to a perfect game as we've come across.
Fukkit, grabbin' me gameboy...
When I was a kid I used to have this shitty portable console, it was a "1000 games in 1 system" kinda deal, and they were all variations of tetris. Of course, there were most likely 5 versions repeated 200 times.
Anyway, one of those version had pieces of three, four and five blocks mixed together, and it really, really broke the game and I'd wonder why someone would put those 5 blocks pieces. Years later when I learned why the game was called Tetris I was like "Oh, now everything makes sense."
Desire is a human, or perhaps Earthly concept. We can't say all living things understand the concept of desire just because the concept of success exists. It seems plausible that desire is universal to all life, but we can imagine cases where it may not be.
Excellent video!