Flash Point

Flash Point
Flash Point arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release	July 1989
Gameplay info
Next pieces	1
Playfield size	10 × 20
Hold piece	No
Hard drop	No
Rotation system	Sega Rotation

Flash Point is a game developed and published by Sega for Japanese arcades. The goal of the game is to clear all the flashing blocks from the field in a series of stages.

A Mega Drive version was planned, but was canceled after being blocked for trying to release Tetris for Mega Drive. It was added to Sega Ages Tetris Collection, along with the aforementioned Mega Drive Tetris. The Mega Drive version of Flash Point has a doubles mode, allowing two players to work together to clear extra wide stages.

Gameplay

Flash Point gameplay screenshot

• Soft drop: 1G¹
• Lock delay: 30 frames
• ARE: 30 frames
• Line clear delay: 40 frames
• DAS: 12 frames

¹: The DAS also applies to holding down in this game: Just tapping down moves the piece down exactly one block, but holding down for longer than 12 frames results in the piece soft dropping as usual.

The aim of Flash Point is to clear all the flashing blocks from the screen on each stage.

Speed Levels

Level	Easy	Normal	Hard	Hardest
0	24	16	12	12
1	20	14	10	10
2	18	12	8	8
3	16	10	6	6
4	14	8	5	5
5	12	6	4	4
6	10	4	3	3
7	8	3	2	2
8	6	2	1	1
9	4	1	1	1
10	12	10	8	8
11	10	8	6	6
12	8	6	4	4
13	6	4	2	2
14	4	2	1	1
15+	1	1	1	1

While the speed curve is the same as in Tetris (Sega), whenever you clear a stage, your level will be decreased by 1, until 12 minutes of playtime have past. Thefore, clearign stages rapidly and with a minimum of line clears makes it easier.

Enabling 2 cell move mode in the DIP switches causes blocks to fall two lines per frame once 25 minutes have been played on the same credit, acting as a killscreen mechanism. The level caps at 99.

Scoring

Scoring is surprisingly different compared to more regular Tetris games. Line clears give no points at all, regardless of what level or stage you are playing on. Instead, your main way of getting points is by clearing the stages as fast as possible. This Bonus starts at 1000 and increases every 4 Stage numbers:

Stages	"Bonus" points
001-004	1000
005-008	2000
009-012	3000
013-016	4000
017-020	5000
021-024	6000
025-028	7000
029-032	8000
033-036	9000
037-040	10000
041-044	11000
045-048	12000
049-052	13000
053-056	14000
057-060	15000
061-064	16000
065-068	17000
069-072	18000
073-076	19000
077-080	20000
081-084	21000
085-088	22000
089-092	23000
093-096	24000
097-100	25000

The Bonus points decrease over time, depending on your current level. They do not decrease during ARE and Line Clear animations.

If you set a new fastest time for clearing a stage on the machine, you will get the full amount of the Bonus points of the stage alongside your normal Bonus points. Therefore, some people playing on their own copy of the game like to wipe the save data of the game with each new run, so they can maximize the amount of points they get, as the best times will be deleted and you can play as slowly as you'd like to still get this extra bonus.

Stages

There are a total of 100 Stages in Flash Point, 90 of which can be selected from the start. The last 10 stages are "Bonus" stages which you can play if you beat previous stages.

Gems are denoted with a circle.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 8

Stage 9

Stage 10

Stage 11

Stage 12

Stage 13

Stage 14

Stage 15

Stage 16

Stage 17

Stage 18

Stage 19

Stage 20

Stage 21

Stage 22

Stage 23

Stage 24

Stage 25

Stage 26

Stage 27

Stage 28

Stage 29

Stage 30

Stage 31

Stage 32

Stage 33

Stage 34

Stage 35

Stage 36

Stage 37

Stage 38

Stage 39

Stage 40

Stage 41

Stage 42

Stage 43

Stage 44

Stage 45

Stage 46

Stage 47

Stage 48

Stage 49

Stage 50

Stage 51

Stage 52

Stage 53

Stage 54

Stage 55

Stage 56

Stage 57

Stage 58

Stage 59

Stage 60

Stage 61

Stage 62

Stage 63

Stage 64

Stage 65

Stage 66

Stage 67

Stage 68

Stage 69

Stage 70

Stage 71

Stage 72

Stage 73

Stage 74

Stage 75

Stage 76

Stage 77

Stage 78

Stage 79

Stage 80

Stage 81

Stage 82

Stage 83

Stage 84

Stage 85

Stage 86

Stage 87

Stage 88

Stage 89

Stage 90

Stage 91

Stage 92

Stage 93

Stage 94

Stage 95

Stage 96

Stage 97

Stage 98

Stage 99

Stage 100

Trivia

• The preview image for stage 99 is wrong. The preview shows a neutral face while the actual stage is a smiling face. It's possible that the neutral face was a real stage in an earlier prototype version of the game.

See also

• Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura Eternal Heart - This game has some puzzles based on Flash Point
• Tetris The Grand Master 3 Terror-Instinct - Sakura mode has some puzzles based on Flash Point
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.28 Tetris Collection - This collection featured a port of Flash Point as one of its playable titles.