For the longest time, I've been waiting for the MAME emulator to come to the Vizzed RGR. And I swore to myself, when it came out, this would be the very first game I played on it. I have been a die hard TGM fan for years, and now... it's finally here. Well, for beta testing, at least.

Tetris the Grandmaster(TGM) is the first in a series of three games made by game developer Arika and created by Ichiro Mihara. Unlike the more casual Tetris games released, Tetris the Grandmaster is more focused on hardcore Tetris fans.  The goal of the game is reach the end of the game with the highest grade possible. To do this, you must be skilled in speed, planning, and Tetris in general. The grading system starts you off at grade 9. If you score enough points, you will advance to the next grade. The grades go from 9 through 1, then S1 through S9, then the coveted Grandmaster(GM) grade, which requires lots of practice and hard work.
But now to the actual review portion of the game.

Graphics 8
The graphics are alright for a game released in 1998. While I wish there would've been better line clear animations and background images(who wants to look at a picture of blood cells?) the graphics as a whole were pretty good. Although it could have used animated backgrounds, like the second game in the series, it really doesn't matter to me.

Sound: 9
I love the sound and music in the game. As with the graphics scenario, there's still a bit to be desired, but I can't help but listen to it while doing stuff, like homework or playing games. It really picks up once you get to the second half of the game.

Addictiveness: 10
Remember how I said I was a die hard TGM fan? Before this came to the RGR I would play clones of Tetris the Grandmaster for a long time, and got better at the game in case it showed up at my local arcade or I could easily play it via emulation. Well I've played a couple games and I can honestly say... I still suck at it. But I'm still going to keep playing, for a long time to come, until that Grandmaster grade is mine. Then I will keep playing, then move on to the second game in the series: Tetris the Absolute: The Grandmaster 2... but that's another review entirely. Point is, you're gonna be playing this game for a long time. Once you start, there's no stopping.
This game lacks a story of any sorts, so I will not grade it for a story.

Depth: 9
If you want that Grandmaster grade, you're gonna have to play for a really long time. Months, even. The only reason I'm giving it a 9 and not a 10 is due to the fact that it only has two game modes: the normal mode and a versus mode to play against someone else. But prepare to pretty much sell your life if you want a high ranking on the game.

Difficulty: 10
You start off rather slow. As the game goes by, though, the pieces fall faster and faster based on the level you're on, until the pieces start spawning at the bottom of the stack. You only get about half of a second to move and rotate your piece before it locks into place, so most of the difficulty comes from how fast the game goes and how quickly it goes to such a speed.

Conclusion: 9.4/10
Although the game may sound daunting, with practice it can be a lot of fun. I honestly hope this game becomes more popular among the Tetris community on Vizzed, as it is a really enjoyable and challenging game. Now, I'm off to play a couple more games. Got to get better if I want to reach the top!

The love the TGM series. I have TGM 3 on my computer (don't ask how, I don't remember) and I got to play a real TGM 2 once. But I'm not very good at either of them. xD I can get to about level 400 before the game forces me to stop because I'm too slow. ;w;

I hope the MAME emulator on Vizzed gets better so it becomes easier to play on here, because the quality is horrible right now. I hope to see more TGM players on Vizzed.

Yeah, TGM is pretty awesome, but difficult. Although I'm pretty sure you're better than me at it. It would be sweet if MAME got netplay, making Versus battles a great possibility.
I wonder who will be the first on Vizzed to get Gm on this game?

i have not played this Tetris before... what exactly is the diffetence netween this Series and the other ones?

Take your average Tetris game you may play. Then multiply its difficulty by about a thousand.
Check it out, if you want.

I tried the game out and I loved it. It was hard, but it was fun. I managed to get to number 5 on my first try. That's not bad I guess.

Great review, I liked how much detail and work you put into this review.

Thanks for the feedback. Grade 5 on your first try is really good. Keep it up, and you will be a GM in no time.
P.S. Best I've gotten so far is Grade 1. Got a ways to go still.

awesome99999, this review is a pretty nice one!  I hope you can keep up the great work and even keep working at new reviews so that you can improve.  For a game as simple as Tetris, I'm impressed you could right a review of such a decent length.    

Jordanv78 :  This one has -minor- spacing issues.  Needs some paragraph breaks.  Could you do me the honor and let me know?

Singelli : It's all taken care of. No problem.