TGM Versus Mode Guide

History

Ichiro Mihara was first inspired to create a Tetris game after watching a Japanese game show where contestants would compete in Tetris. The versus mechanics of the game used by the show did not look very interesting and he thought he could do much better. After Arika developed a prototype and shared it with the show's producers, they flatly rejected it on the grounds that "it was too complicated, Tetris should be an elegant and approachable game." This feedback then inspired Mihara to instead develop the streamlined and elegant TGM series. While the original prototype versus game has never been shared publically, the core ideas were reused for the TGM series' versus mode. Because of this unique heritage, TGM has a rich and exciting (if complicated) versus system despite primarily being a simple and polished single player game.

Overview

The biggest distinguishing feature is the 100% deterministic tactical garbage system, which gives players full control over what garbage is sent to their opponent. Players receive identical piece sequences using the TGM randomizer, further reducing random factors.

It also features a large number of items, which come in attack, defense, and neutral varieties. In addition to item effects, attack items will also destroy an opponent's active piece, allowing deliberate piece sniping as a mechanic. The items, often criticized by new players as being overpowered and unfair, have a surprising amount of depth to them and their impact can be mitigated or amplified in the hands of an experienced player. While they do introduce a degree of randomness, there is a system to the randomness that makes it is more balanced than it may at first seem.

The pace of matches is slower than many popular versus Tetris games, due to ARE and a long line clear delay. Despite this, popular modes with 20G such as T.A. Death and Shirase are so difficult that players are at risk damaging their board just as much as their opponent is.

These elements combine to place a focus on dynamic interactions between players rather than a tug of war over raw speed. Screen reading is required for high level play, with important examples including:

• sniping a valuable piece or item block
• reading which columns your opponent is vulnerable to garbage in
• reading where your opponent is about to send you garbage so you can keep those columns stacked low
• timing item activation for maximum effect
• stacking in a way minimizes the damage your opponent's item will cause

In order to keep games relatively short, there is a time limit of 2 minutes and 40 seconds per round as well as a level limit of 200. Most rounds end in a player dying, though reaching the level cap first will also secure a victory. If the time runs out, the win goes to the player with the highest level count. In the unlikely event of simultaneous death, simultaneously hitting the level cap, or having tied levels when time runs out, the round will end in a draw which is effectively treated like a win for both players giving them each a point for the round. The winner of a set is the first to win 2 rounds. In the unlikely event that a draw awards the winning point to both players, the defending player (the one who was playing a credit before a challenger came) will be declared the winner. The time limit/level cap and number of rounds may be modified in the service menu.

Tactical Garbage

Mechanics

Singles send no garbage. Everything else sends 100% deterministic garbage following simple rules: Take the line clear, erase the clearing piece, and send it vertically flipped to your opponent (compare Bloxeed which is similar but does not flip the garbage hole). To illustrate this, see how the line clears (left) create the final garbage pattern (right):

Note that if your line clear results in a perfect clear, you will double your attack power by sending the same garbage pattern to your opponent twice. Since TGM does not use the 7-bags randomizer, perfect clear openers aren't a viable tactic and in general perfect clears almost never happen.

There is a limit to how much garbage can be queued up to attack our opponent. The first 8 lines will be sent, and anything beyond that will do nothing. This is extremely unlikely to occur unless your opponent is stalling at low gravity, or you do something ridiculous like combo into a Tetris perfect clear.

Mix Ups

There is no specific bonus for a Tetris or T-spin. They are all equally efficient in terms of sending garbage lines. Despite the slow line clear animation, it is generally favorable to clear doubles, while mixing up the columns as much as possible. The extra inconvenience to your opponent in downstacking more than makes up for the line clear animations you suffer. The reason doubles are preferred over other line clears is that you can do more mix ups per unit of material on the screen. Given 6 lines of material, 3 doubles can mix up over 3 different locations whereas 2 triples can only mix up over 2 locations.

Consider the trivial hole from a Tetris:

Now compare it to the damage dealt by 2 skim doubles:

The above illustrates the effect of a small mix up, spread over 3 nearby columns. More generally, if you can clear doubles in a faraway column, it will be even more powerful. It's worth making an effort to spread your doubles around as long as you don't sacrifice your board stability or too much speed. Mix ups are extremely improvisational, an intuitive sense for the opportunities is more effective than memorizing setups.

Tier List

The different possible clears and their corresponding garbage patterns have emergent value depending on their mix up potential and how annoying they are to deal with. Other factors like line clear delay or damage spiking are less important.

S Tier

Note that while a T-spin is perfectly fine for this, it is not required. Simple T-doubles are just as effective.

Being a double, it has great mix up potential. It is also powerful because the convex hole shape forces your opponent into a compromising situation. They will have to stack up around it to avoid singles and maintain garbage efficiency. If their stack is not stable enough for this, which is more likely given that they must be careful about overstacking in 3 columns, then they will be forced to take a single. Whether an opponent takes a single or stacks up for a better clear, either way you have a momentary relief from their garbage attacks.

A Tier

This garbage has most of the advantages of the T-double, which is a convex hole shape and mix up potential. The drawback is that now your opponent only has to worry about overstacking in 2 columns.

B Tier

This garbage has most of the advantages of A-tier, but as a triple there is less opportunity for mix ups. Also, your opponent can clear a double without overstacking, so they have more options to maintain their garbage efficiency while downstacking through it.

C Tier

This garbage has the mix up potential of doubles, which is nice. While this is a convex hole shape, that doesn't help here since it's possible to clear it (while maintaining garbage efficiency) without stacking up using wallkicks. This garbage is therefore more easily counterable than than B tier. If you do need to stack up, L and J kicks mean you only need to avoid stacking in 2 columns.

D Tier

These holes are concave and therefore very easy to deal with. Their only saving grace is that they force your opponent to avoid overstacking in 3 columns.

E Tier

These concave holes are also easily cleared, but this time they only need your opponent to be mindful of overstacking in 1-2 columns. This garbage is best used as part of a mix up. Situationally, the O double can be decent in openers to neuter your opponent's Tetris hole. However, good opponents will not go for a Tetris opening making the counter useless.

F Tier

Unless you're clearing these to counter garbage that your opponent has sent you, these are clears you want to avoid at all costs. They are easily countered. If they have any place at all, it is to apply pressure to an opponent who has so much other garbage that they are unlikely to ever open this hole.

Item System

At the start of each round you begin with an empty item meter in the center of the screen. With each piece that spawns on your screen, the meter will charge up slightly. After 20 pieces, the meter will be fully charged and the 21st piece will be a randomly selected item. Clearing a line which contains an item piece will activate the item's ability. The game will continue to cycle like this, 20 non-item pieces followed by an item piece, until the round ends. Note, however, that while you are attacking your opponent with an attack item, none of your piece spawns with charge your meter until the attack is completed.

Both players start each round with their own bag containing one of each item. Items are randomly drawn (according to their probability weighting) without replacement. On default settings with a level cap of 200 a player will empty less than half of their item bag, making some items extremely rarely seen. Before any items are dealt, the sum of the weights of the bag add up to 1970. So the probability of getting a Color Block as your first item is 250/1970, whereas getting a Nega Field is 250 times rarer. As the bag gets emptied of heavily weighted items, rare items become more probable. Most matches will open with relatively benign items, ramping up slowly with defense items more common in the mid game, and with the most overpowered items only making an appearance near the end of the 200 levels if at all.

TAP Item Summary

Item Name	Type	Counterable?	Weight	Initial Probability
Color Block	Attack		250	12.7%
Laser	Attack		250	12.7%
Transform	Attack	Yes	250	12.7%
↑ Del Field	Defense		250	12.7%
Del Even	Defense		150	7.6%
Mirror Block	Attack	Yes	150	7.6%
Roll Roll	Attack		150	7.6%
X-Ray	Attack		150	7.6%
180° Field	Attack	Yes	100	5.1%
↓ Del Field	Defense		100	5.1%
Death Block	Attack		50	2.5%
Hard Block	Attack		50	2.5%
→ Mov Field	Defense		50	2.5%
Dark Block	Attack		5	0.3%
Shotgun!	Attack		5	0.3%
Exchg Field	Neutral	Yes	3	0.2%
Freefall	Neutral		3	0.2%
← Mov Field	Defense		3	0.2%
Nega Field	Attack		1	<0.1%

If you neglect to activate an item for 20 pieces so that the meter fills again and another item spawns, it is possible to have more than one item block on your screen. However the moment you activate an item all other item blocks on your screen will turn into regular blocks. This includes items blocks that which appear in your next piece preview but which have not yet spawned. Therefore, if you want to spike item activations, you should activate the first item when the meter is 19/20 pieces full. Note that since the item meter does not charge while an attack item is active, you will place several pieces before you can complete the last charge of the meter.

In TGM3, there is another way to lose an item: when you Hold an item block, it will turn into an ordinary piece.

Attack Items

Attack items have several universal effects in addition to their individual item gimmicks. When you activate an item, it destroys your opponent's active piece (assuming they are not in the middle of ARE). This is especially useful if you tactically snipe an important piece from your opponent. Attack items also show a cut-in animation on your opponent's side, delaying them for a moment. This is particularly valuable in high speed matches like T.A. Death where it buys you a few pieces of time free from attacks from your opponent. These properties turn even the weakest attack item into something which is useful.

There is one drawback to activating an item: while your attack is active, your item meter will not charge (though your opponent's meter will). The duration of this active time is something that varies on an item by item basis. It is always at least as long as the cut-in animation, but it can be longer. For example, with Transform, Roll Roll, and Mirror Block you do not charge meter until your opponent has placed all 3 pieces. Inconsistently, with Death Block and Hard Block your meter will be able to charge the moment the cut-in animation ends.

If a player clears a defense item or neutral item block while an attack item is active on them, these items will not activate until after the attack is complete. This attack item "active time" is the same as for the item meter blocking effect.

Color Block

Color Block

This item will shimmer your opponent's stack different colors briefly. Even beginners are not intimidated by this item, so it is unlikely to slow your opponent down beyond the cut-in animation's effects. To maximize this item's impact, it is best to deliberately snipe an important piece, otherwise it essentially does nothing.

Laser

Laser

The Laser is unique among attack items for not really having an a true cut-in animation. Instead, a pulsating target will appear at the top of a column. After a brief delay, the targeted column will be completely cleared. If the player's stack is high on the screen it can be particularly devastating.

Watch out for your opponent getting items such as Mov Field which will undo the Laser damage. In this case, it is better to activate Laser after the Mov Field has been activated.

The damage may be amplified by making sure your opponent's stack is as high as possible. This means converting your existing screen material, particularly a tetris or triple, to garbage before activating the Laser. Likewise, if the receiving player has some line clears set up you will benefit from activating the Laser before they have a chance to clear them.

Another possibly devastating amplification is use the Laser to snipe the I piece, with the Laser hole creating a dependency on the I piece while it is in the randomizer's piece history and unlikely to appear for at least 4 pieces. Note that you can force the Laser to target the middle of the screen with excellent timing, as explained below, by making sure to snipe a piece right as it spawns.

These amplifications should be used with caution if your opponent is screen watching, as it gives them extra time to prepare (also explained below).

While the Laser is notorious among beginners as an item that will kill them quickly and unfairly, the defending player actually has a huge amount of control over it. The initially targeted column is deterministic. It is the leftmost column of the piece that was sniped, or else the leftmost column of the most recently placed piece. It is therefore really important for defenders to screenwatch their opponent, and to align their piece over a favorable column.

This player, oblivious to an incoming Laser, tries to stack left. They are punished, and the Laser hole will likely be their death.

This player has reacted to the incoming Laser, and moved the piece over their highest hole. The Laser opens up this hole, and they are in a reasonable position to survive.

As an attacker, if your opponent is advanced enough to screenwatch you and react, counterplays become possible.

This player has reacted to the incoming Laser, and moved the piece over their highest hole. However, the attacker saw this, and held off activating the Laser. Instead, they timed it to snipe the following piece before it could be moved, causing devastating damage to the stack.

Once the column has been targeted, the Laser can be further influenced. There is an 80 frame window where you can mash left or right to nudge the Laser horizontally. For every 3 taps in a certain direction, the laser will move 1 column in that direction. To successfully tap, there must be an "off" frame to distinguish the separate presses, so ~30Hz would be the maximum theoretical rate. A practiced player should be able to move the Laser 1-2 columns without trouble, or 3 if they are very good. Perhaps Takahashi Meijin would be able to move it 6 columns.

This player has just done a T-spin, and a Laser was activated during their ARE. Instead of taking the Laser in column 3, they mashed left 6+ times which nudged it over to column 1, creating a much more favorable position.

There is a final way in which the Laser can be manipulated. During the 80 frame period, the defending player can mash the A, B and C buttons to widen the Laser to 2 or more columns. For every 10 presses, the Laser will widen by 1 column. Note that this button mashing is possible at ~60Hz since you can alternate buttons. The easiest technique is to piano roll CBA in a tight loop. The center of the Laser does not change, but it will grow outwards alternating right-left-right-left. During this same time, the attacking player can mash CBA as well, and for every 15 presses, they will prevent one unit of widening of the Laser. In practice, fighting with the defending player over the Laser width is probably not worth it because placing 2 pieces during the 80 frames would be better.

This player has just done a T-spin, and a Laser was activated during their ARE. Instead of taking the Laser in column 3, they mashed CBA 7-9 times widening the Laser over columns 2-4 and creating a much more favorable position.

Note that it is possible to simultaneously move and widen the Laser if you are dexterous enough to mash directions and rotations at the same time.

Screen Reading

Harassment

If you screen read your opponent and notice they have stacked a particular column too high, you can harass them.

Player 1 has stacked high in column 1, whereas Player 2 has kept a flat stack to keep options open.

Player 2 can screen read and harass them by clearing lines in column 1.

Player 1 is now seriously overstacking their garbage and it will take a while to downstack though it.

Counters

If you see your opponent building up to a line clear, especially something telegraphed well in advance like a Tetris, then you can anticipate where your garbage will come from. By leaving those columns accessible, you can immediately send the garbage back to them. This is especially true if you are playing slightly slower than your opponent. Since both players receive the same piece sequence, you will literally get the I piece immediately after your opponent clears a Tetris.

Player 2 is waiting to see what Player 1 is up to before committing to a placement.

Looks like Player 1 will send lines on the right. Player 2 decides to stack for a double while leaving columns 9 and 10 otherwise open.

Still 2 pieces behind, Player 2 is ready to send a double while Player 1 is sending a Tetris.

2 pieces later, Player 2 is poised to send the Tetris right back to Player 1.

Player 2 is now at a superior advantage despite playing slower. They have the option to continue pressing with Tetrises or a laser item would already be particularly devastating.

Baiting

If your opponent is good enough to screen read, you can mess with them by defying their expectations. For example, you can choreograph a buildup to a Tetris hole on the right, only to plug it and clear a double elsewhere on your screen.

Player 1 sees a Tetris or possibly some skim doubles coming, and has left a 2-wide open on the right to counter.

Player 2 goes out of their way to mix up to the center columns.

Player 1 was not expecting the center garbage.

Baited, outsmarted, and outplayed, Player 1's double sends impotent garbage that Player 2 is already well positioned to handle.