Phantom Mania
Phantom Mania is a game mode exclusive to fanmade Tetris engines that involves placing pieces that turn invisible as soon as they lock down onto the board.
History
In 2009, Zircean created a modpack for Nullpomino known as the Nullpomino Unofficial Expansion, a parody of the Heboris Unofficial Expansion. As part of the mod, a mode known as Phantom Mania was created, which was meant to be a version of Speed Mania (i.e. T.A. Death) that turned the pieces invisible. The mode was first released on September 4, 2009.
In 2017, Joe Zeng created the Cambridge game engine to act as a successor to Nullpomino, which had stagnated in development for a long time by then. The first release was on May 23, 2019, and included a mode titled Phantom Mania 2, which was intended as a successor to the original Phantom Mania that took Speed Mania 2 (i.e. Shirase) and made it invisible in mostly the same way. Because Cambridge uses a different system to name game modes based on other games (e.g. Speed Mania is known as "Survival A2"), the use of "Phantom Mania" in the title of the new game mode affirmed it as the name of a game mode in its own right.
Speed curve
The speed curve of Phantom Mania is exactly the same as in Death. Gravity is instant (20G) the entire game, and the delays are set as follows:
| Speed level | ARE (frames) |
Line ARE (frames) |
DAS (frames) |
Lock (frames) |
Line clear (frames) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 99 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 30 | 12 |
| 100 - 199 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 26 | 6 |
| 200 - 299 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 22 | 6 |
| 300 - 399 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 18 | 6 |
| 400 - 499 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 5 |
| 500 - 999 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 4 |
The speed curve of Phantom Mania 2 is very similar to Shirase, except that the lock delay does not decrease in the bone-block phase. Instead, the next queue starts disappearing alongside the pieces on the field.
| Level | ARE (frames) |
Line ARE (frames) |
DAS (frames) |
Lock (frames) |
Line clear (frames) |
Next queue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 99 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 6 | normal |
| 100 - 199 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 18 | 5 | |
| 200 - 299 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 4 | |
| 300 - 499 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 15 | 4 | |
| 500 - 599 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 3 | |
| 600 - 999 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 3 | |
| 1000 - 1099 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 3 | hold turns invisible |
| 1100 - 1199 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 1st next piece turns invisible |
| 1200 - 1299 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 2nd next piece turns invisible |
Torikans
While the original Speed Mania had a single torikan at 3:25, Phantom Mania introduced a bunch of new torikans to prevent people from stalling to lock down pieces in rulesets that had move reset.
| Level | Time limit |
|---|---|
| 300 | 2:28.00 |
| 500 | 3:38.00 |
| 800 | 5:23.00 |
In Cambridge, if you hit a torikan, the board suddenly turns visible and you will play a credit roll for 30 seconds where you can see the blocks. If you clear the bottom line in the well during the roll, you receive an orange line. If you simply survive the roll, you receive a green line.
Phantom Mania 2 introduced similar torikans:
| Level | Time limit |
|---|---|
| 300 | 2:02.00 |
| 500 | 3:03.00 |
| 800 | 4:45.00 |
| 1000 | 5:38.00 |
Grading
Phantom Mania
In Phantom Mania, grading is only based on the level you reach. However, if you are stopped by a torikan, you do not get the grade for reaching that level credited to you. (For example, if you clear level 500 in 3:41, your grade is Master and not MasterK.)
| Level | Grade received |
|---|---|
| 300 | Master |
| 500 | MasterK |
| 600 | MasterV |
| 700 | MasterO |
| 800 | MasterM |
| 999 | Grand Master |
In Nullpomino, in order to receive the Grand Master rank, you must also clear at least 31 four-line clears during your game, including two in each of the first nine sections, and one in the last one. Otherwise, you will reach level 999 with a grade of only MasterM.
Phantom Mania 2
In Phantom Mania 2, grades are awarded on a Section COOL/REGRET basis, somewhat in line with the way Shirase awards grades. The table of times per section is as follows:
| Level | Section COOL | Section REGRET |
|---|---|---|
| 000-499 | 36.00 | 50.00 |
| 500-1299 | 30.00 | 42.00 |
- If you clear a section with a section COOL, you advance two grades.
- If you clear a section with neither a section COOL nor REGRET, you advance one grade.
- If you clear a section with a section REGRET, your grade stays the same.
Your grade starts at 1, then advances to S1 through S9, then m1 onwards. If you make it to the credit roll at level 1300, you are awarded a grades for clearing lines according to this table:
| Lines cleared | Grades awarded |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.1 |
| 2 | 0.2 |
| 3 | 1.0 |
| 4 | 2.0 |
The maximum grade it is possible to achieve before the roll starts is m17, by getting a section COOL in each of the 13 sections. However, there is no maximum grade overall as long as you are able to clear lines within the time limit of the roll.