Incredible tetris game!!! Thanks for the awesome job, dev. It's just the way a tetris game should be, reminds some web tetris that i've played on PC but missed on my anbernic rg35xx.
It's wild how good this is, considering the GBA didn't have a good version of block stacking game this one is so fully featured it's genuinely one of the best versions out there.
Still playing this a lot, the skin editor is such a charming addition! I love going back to older games and checking out the design of the pieces, and try copying them with the skin editor, or making my own designs. Being able to switch between different palettes is also fantastic, I'm loving the lighter 2 palette a lot. It really increases the feeling of having your own personalized Tetris game!
Just bought this and played it the entire evening - this might just be my new favorite handheld Tetris!
Runs beautifully on my Anbernic, I love that the height of the playing field covers the entire screen, the extra modes are super fun and varied, the mechanics are spot on and I love the minimal, but very professional aesthetics.
But most of all I´m loving the skins! Gameboy, TGM, minimal, monochrome, even the TGM "bone" sprites are available. customizing the background color is so enjoyable. I also really like the TGM-style outline around the pieces.
The way highscores are displayed are also very convenient - the menus in general are super snappy and intuitive.
If I could ask for just one feature - do you plan to maybe include the option to play on a narrower width playing field (similar to, say, big block mode or the surivial mode in Tetris Axis) and / or a lower height field (like in Tetris DX)? I always enjoyed these modes a lot!
Anyways, I´m super impressed with your game, it´s honestly exactly what I want from a "complete" Tetris game. I can tell that you love Tetris, because it shows in all the small details. Very excited to see what´s coming!
Thank you, love to hear that you like the game so much! As for your suggestion, try inputting the konami code (with start at the end) in the title screen for a surprise ;) . I haven't considered lower height field yet, but I'll test it and see how it feels as a mode (or ruleset perhaps)!
Hey, I love this game, and it's a great way to play Tetris on GBA and DS. However I've noticed a major bug which has made it a bit difficult to play.
For some reason the game seems to softlock on the Game Over screen when using GBARunner2 on DS. I can't enter a name or anything as there doesn't seem to be a cursor. I do remember that on an older version it would softlock if you put in too many characters into a name, but if you didn't you could press start to not input a full name.
Do you think you could fix this? it makes it really annoying to play sometimes.
Hey, I'm sorry you're having issues. It looks like there's a bug in save conversion from versions older than <3.2. I'll fix this issue in the next release, but until then you have 2 options:
If you've kept a backup of your save before converting to v3.4, first open it using v3.3 (found here) and the bug should no longer happen
Do you have a copy of the cart label available? I made my own cart because it was sold out (using Inside gadgets flasher and a cloned Pokemon cart), and I'd love to add a label. Wonderful work on this ROM! Thanks!
The cart order page says it is still continuously being developed. If I get a cart, does it come with the means to do a software update? (I assume via a DS homebrew program)
The cart comes by itself, so you would need some means to write updates to it. You can do it with a DS (that has a gba slot) using homebrew software like you said or get some other cartridge flasher like the one insideGadgets sells / the epilogue operator.
Awesome! That was the biggest thing keeping me from purchasing it. I love adding physical homebrew gba games to my collection, but I was worried that by the time I got it, it would be out of date.
Remember that guy that had trouble with the 3DS? Yeah, it's me!
But this time, I won't talk about problems, but I will talk about how I love this game and what it turned out to be since its release.
I still remember when this game was a little project to make a good and modern GBA Tetris. It had some customization and one or two music options, but it stood out as unique and fun, considering the GBA limitations!
It's great to see how it evolved from a simple concept to a full-fledged, physically released game! With tons of content, like new backgrounds, fancy effects, skins, and modes!
With all that, I don't know why it isn't on a "Tetris fangame" list on a wiki because it may be one of the best!
Wall of text aside, I wish you the best of luck and success in your career! Keep up the fantastic work!
First off thank you very much for this brilliant version of Tetris. I've been in a fan since the first versions and played it vividly on many platforms!
While pretty minor. Could you readd the 'Tetris' sound instead of the 'Quad' sound.
Also the game somehow doesn't save via the OpenFPGA core on the Analogue Pocket, while other games do save, so there must be something that's different to normal gba games.
I changed 4 line clears to quads out of necessity, I hope you understand...
About saving on OpenFPGA, I had a look around but the GBA core is closed source and has no documentation so I don't know how to help you. You should probably ask around is some community that focuses on the Analogue Pocket... The game supports both SRAM and Flash saving, but I've seen some emulators that detect the save type using an official game database and otherwise disable saving. I would try copying a savefile from another game and renaming it to apotris.srm or whatever you named the rom, just in case this helps it detect the save type (don't worry about the save being different, if is read it should be hopefully detected and reformatted by my code).
I fully understand and guessed as much that this was the reason for removing it.
I tried your tip to copy another save, but sadly that didn't work either. But the save state feature solves that problem, other than not getting the rumble feature as that requires a restart and I wanted to try it through the GBA core with a rumble pack inserted.
Have you tried rumble without rebooting? It will probably work! Rebooting is only required for anything that uses the gamecube's GameBoy Player rumble, but I show the message in all cases since I can't detect hardware. Let me know how it goes!
Saving was fixed for Analogue Pocket using the OpenFPGA core in v3.4.5!
Also I was informed that you can make the DS rumble pack work by changing the game's header to be the same as a game that does work (e.g. Drill Dozer).
Great job on the update and supporting the Analogue! Can confirm saving works great. Don't know how to patch the header though, maybe you could point me in the right direction.
Totally missed the physical cartridge sale. Do you know if there will be a re-run through insidegadgets?
Hmm I don't know how comfortable you are with things like this, but this should be the easiest way to do this. Using a hex editor, copy the first 192 bytes from a rom that supports rumble (Drill Dozer probably) onto the first 192 bytes of the Apotris rom. This should be the area you're replacing (up to and including the B0 row):
Though I'm pretty sure this would work, I can't test it myself so I can't be certain.
As for the cartridge, insideGadgets will definitely have more stock some time in the future! Seems like there's a part shortage unfortunately. You can also give your email to the store to be notified when more stock is available.
Hey it’s me again. Love all the little additions especially the skin editor! Just commenting to let you know about a weird glitch where if you pause the game while holding a direction and unpause it messes up the controls.
I've been playing this for a few days and it's a very good Tetris version. Thank you for making it available!
There is one thing that bothers me about the handling. The "auto repeat delay" setting seems to also affect the soft drop which makes it a bit unintuitive. I don't think there should be any delay on the soft drop.
Thank you! You're 100% right, soft drop is affected by DAS and that isn't the standard way of handling soft drop. As luck would have it I've actually already added an option to disable this in the next version! Please stay tuned for the next update!
I really love what you have done with the game! I have been playing V3.2.1 for a couple of days now and I love it, it has come a long way since a couple of versions ago! It's becoming my favorite way to play Tetris, and it is something special with all the options that you have added. I can't believe that it works so well on GBA. Great work!
I do have some suggestions, based on my experience with the game and other versions of Tetris:
I think this game is missing a bit of delay when clearing a line. All the Tetris games have it and on greater speeds it gives you a couple of moments to think ahead. Tetris DX has it, Tetris DS has it (although it gives you a bit less time, but still, it's there) and the fact that Apotris doesn't have it really messes up the flow on bigger speeds. The next piece comes way too fast after clearing a line, compared to the other Tetris versions. In some cases I still press a direction for the piece that cleared a line but the next one is already half way down and moving. I don't have this problem on any other Tetris version, so I'm sure this is happening because of the lack of a bit of delay after clearing a line.
This coupled with the fact that the piece is locking weird when still rotating it, makes it strange to play or rather unplayable past speed level 11-12. I think on a game this fast, line clear delay and locking the piece after a greater number of rotations would make the game better.
As for the suggestions, I think the line clear delay is pretty good as is. It strikes a good balance of encouraging multi-line clears while still not punishing you too much time-wise for single line clears. Most other popular unofficial Tetris games omit line clear delay entirely for the sake of speed, but I mostly put it in the game because it adds a lot of character to the visuals.
Speed wise, the game has the guideline values, so it's exactly as fast as Tetris DS. But Apotris lets you change DAS and ARR, making moving pieces to the edges of the board much easier. I don't think adding infinity (no step reset limit) makes much sense, it would make the game way too easy. Try changing Auto Repeat Delay (DAS) and Auto Repeat Rate (ARR) in the handling settings, and see if that helps.
I checked many times if there are any more bugs with piece locking, but I couldn't notice any. I think it might be that you're too used to infinity... Also from the tetris wiki: "Most games since 2007 have a limit of 15 move resets before the piece locks."
Lastly, while the game might be "difficult", it's way more important that it's fair. That way, you can practice and become better!
I know this is a dumb request, but can you add an option to bring back the four line clear text and sound effects to "Tetris". I found it really amusing hearing "Tyetris" in that robotic voice :D . I wouldn't mind if it was just the voice, though.
Hmm seems like it broke saving on the flash cart I was using. Is that possibly because of the bootleg flashcart save changes? My cartridge just uses normal 32KB FRAM and v2 it worked perfectly fine. Does it try to use the bootleg save feature automatically? The save works perfectly in mGBA still and on v2.1.1
Edit: what's weird is it does auto fill my name and stuff out of my old high scores list.
Edit edit: So I've done some testing. On my flash cart it seems to be writing the save back to the ROM and not seeing that there's 32KB of FRAM on board. Is there a way to get a version that doesn't do that lol I don't currently have devkitarm setup on my WSL but I guess I can try messing around with the source if it's not something you want to look at.
final edit: It's definitely an issue with the save to ROM chip code. I think it just assumes if the ROM chip responds to the flash commands that it needs to write to the ROM chip. Which doesn't work in situations like mine where the ROM chip is flashable, but also it has FRAM. It ends up just ignoring the FRAM and writing to the ROM chip anyways. I was able to clone the repository and get the build running on my WSL Ubuntu installation. And just changing the def.h file to:
#define ENABLE_FLASH_SAVE 0
And after that it just works as expected. Hopefully it doesn't introduce any other issues since I'm building it on my machine rather than yours which is untested thus far. I'm unsure how much work it would take to add some logic to the save to flash code for this scenario or if it's just easier to build with that def changed as an option.
Anyways thanks a lot for the great homebrew title! I love it.
Ah I'm sorry for the trouble, I tested on a few devices and I had no problems with the code, so I decided to leave flash detection on... Didn't think about bootlegs with FRAM. I could always just have 2 builds available, but I will try to fix the code!
Props for finding the issue yourself and building the game, hope it wasn't too much hassle.
I've got a couple of ideas on how to fix the bug, but unfortunately I have no way to test them. I'd really appreciate your help testing, if you have the time!
If you want to help, DM me on twitter or tell me where I can DM you!
Hey just saw your message. I'm happy to help test out the changes I'll send you a message on Twitter.
Edit: says I can't message you. I just made a new Twitter account, I'm @SmellyGhosty if you can DM, not sure if it's permissions or a security setting.
Hello! So I'm curious when we can expect a new version with the lock-delay bug fixed and other stuff (diagonal disabled, etc) and whatever you have in mind next. I've been opening this every day for the last 2 months :))
Amazing work, a perfect game for my Miyoo Mini! After playing a bit I went back and donated some money because you definitely deserve it. My minor suggestion would be to show the leaderboard for the game mode after you finish your game/input your name.
Downloaded this a few days ago and have not put it down for more than a few hours since. Absolutely addictive!
I think my only critiques would be on each “stage select” as it were ( dig, marathon, sprint, etc ) could you put that at the top of the screen above “Lines” ( or time for Ultra ) that way if I snap a photo of a new score, it’s easy to identify what I was playing.
I saw you left a comment recently about an option to limit the next piece preview, which is awesome! Or changing their size too, which would work for sure. My other suggestion is to maybe make an option for them to be in the same style as the shadow displayed in the playfield? Same for the held piece, that is actually my biggest hurdle is I keep mistaking the held piece for the next up, but that is on me!
Regardless, this is by far and away the best block stacking game for the GBA, and a super close second for the Game Boy entirely, though that might be just because DX has more nostalgia for me.
Who should I call if I can't stop playing it? ;) Some suggestions:
- I can see that people are asking about new tracks. Maybe you could make a tool for adding additional songs to Apotris (in MOD format, for instance)
- rumble feature for flashcarts that support it
- any interesting ideas for new content? Some kind of challenges, bonus blocks (could be especially nice in multi), alternative pentomino shapes?
- have you ever considered creating a package of interesting block puzzle games for GBA in the future? With Apotris working so well... That would have been awesome for sure. Personally, I have great memories of playing Block Out for DOS as a kid, check it out:
I did think about adding rumble, maybe in the patch after the next one!
About other puzzle games, I've certainly considered it! Especially a tetris attack/ panel de pon style game since I've already made a crappy clone in the past (though that one already has a pretty good port on GBA).
Right now I'm focusing on adding all the "regular" tetris modes. When I run out of stuff to add, I'll definitely expand to new types of content!
My Game Boy Advance was aching for a decent Tetris version, and you made that dream possible. Amazing work! And just in time for me trying to get into Tetris again.
For now, I've gone for the direct download, but I'll buy the next update for sure. Your work is incredible!
This is fantastic, can't thank you enough for finally bringing a good Tetris version playable on the gameboy micro! This has all the best parts of the modern titles, and the soundtrack is beautifully "GBA". Even going the extra mile for 2P via link cable, I love it! You did an awesome job :)
One request: I would love to see a game track remixed from the original Tetris Theme, (or maybe remixed from the Russian folk song Kalinka to avoid any ip issues?) There's nothing like stacking blocks to the classic tune.
I get you, I'd honestly love to put a Korobeiniki remix in the game. But right now I both worry that it's poking the bear a bit too much, and I haven't found a good remix that would make it worth it anyway... I might try my hand at making my own rendition in the future, but that's a bit outside my area of expertise lol
Just bought it, well done! The only option I would love to see is being able to select only one "Next" piece to show (coming from Tetris DX, I often get mixed up with all the "next" pieces in the corner of my eye). Also, I think I got a bug when after finishing all lines in Marathon mode after the completed screen the game hung on the title screen with strange sounds playing: video
Thanks! I can definitely add an option to limit previews to only 1 piece. I'll probably make the next piece be bigger too, which might help.
I've encountered that problem too on my EZFlash... It has something to do with the way it saves since I haven't had the same problem on other devices, but it's kinda hard to reproduce to know for sure. If I'm correct about this, it should be fixed in the next version (hopefully).
After playing for a few days (mostly Marathon) I can say I really like it and it plays very smooth. Also the tracks you've selected are great. I have three more (minor) points of feedback:
1. It seems that for Marathon, a random track (from the selected tracks) is played in a loop. I think it would be cool if the selected tracks were shuffled since I'd like to hear different tracks during a longer session.
2. I'm getting accidental hard drops on high speeds regularly when wanting to move sideways. This probably has to do with my wonky GBA D-Pad, but I read someone else mention disabling diagonal press so maybe that option would fix it.
3. I can't say I fully understand "Training" mode yet. I guess it's for practicing optimal button presses? In that case, shouldn't the finesse counter increase for every "unnecessary" button press? Because when I rotate a piece 5 times before dropping the finesse counter still only increases by one.
1. You're right! I wanted to add this at the start, but at some point I forgot :P. I'll definitely let you choose if you want to loop through all songs or just one in the settings.
2. I've already added this option in the next update, hopefully it will fix your issue!
3. The main point of training mode is no speed-up and the "save states". I added it because I wanted to practice complicated openers and perfect clear solutions. It also functions as a "free-play" mode. The finesse counter counts "wrong drops" and not movements, though I will probably change that to movements since I am quite unsatisfied with it right now (it also only works for hard-drops since I couldn't find good data on how to score soft-drops). I'm thinking about adding a Tetresse -style trainer option too.
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damn no more apotris 😔
It still exists, just elsewhere :) Google!
Oh yeah, I found it. Thanks!
to be honest, is the best Tetris clone, it is completed and also wish to see more preinstaled skins and also a vs CPU mode can be fine too
You're in luck, I'm already working on a CPU for versus :) More skins will be added for sure too
The best Tetris ever, IMHO.
Incredible tetris game!!! Thanks for the awesome job, dev. It's just the way a tetris game should be, reminds some web tetris that i've played on PC but missed on my anbernic rg35xx.
this is so sick ty for this
It's wild how good this is, considering the GBA didn't have a good version of block stacking game this one is so fully featured it's genuinely one of the best versions out there.
Tetris Advance, Tetris Worlds isn’t bad either
No! Emulation in general is legal (though arguable), obtaining ROMs is the iffy part. Apotris is free though!
Awesome Tetris version !
Definitely the best tetris game I've played, rg351p works very well and stable :)
Still playing this a lot, the skin editor is such a charming addition! I love going back to older games and checking out the design of the pieces, and try copying them with the skin editor, or making my own designs. Being able to switch between different palettes is also fantastic, I'm loving the lighter 2 palette a lot. It really increases the feeling of having your own personalized Tetris game!
muy bueno para poder jugar en el celu en el bondi
Absolutely amazing on Analogue Pocket! Thank you!
Just bought this and played it the entire evening - this might just be my new favorite handheld Tetris!
Runs beautifully on my Anbernic, I love that the height of the playing field covers the entire screen, the extra modes are super fun and varied, the mechanics are spot on and I love the minimal, but very professional aesthetics.
But most of all I´m loving the skins! Gameboy, TGM, minimal, monochrome, even the TGM "bone" sprites are available. customizing the background color is so enjoyable. I also really like the TGM-style outline around the pieces.
The way highscores are displayed are also very convenient - the menus in general are super snappy and intuitive.
If I could ask for just one feature - do you plan to maybe include the option to play on a narrower width playing field (similar to, say, big block mode or the surivial mode in Tetris Axis) and / or a lower height field (like in Tetris DX)? I always enjoyed these modes a lot!
Anyways, I´m super impressed with your game, it´s honestly exactly what I want from a "complete" Tetris game. I can tell that you love Tetris, because it shows in all the small details. Very excited to see what´s coming!
Thank you, love to hear that you like the game so much! As for your suggestion, try inputting the konami code (with start at the end) in the title screen for a surprise ;) . I haven't considered lower height field yet, but I'll test it and see how it feels as a mode (or ruleset perhaps)!
Just tried it! Haha, that´s such an awesome gimmick :D Thank you!
Hey, I love this game, and it's a great way to play Tetris on GBA and DS. However I've noticed a major bug which has made it a bit difficult to play.
For some reason the game seems to softlock on the Game Over screen when using GBARunner2 on DS. I can't enter a name or anything as there doesn't seem to be a cursor. I do remember that on an older version it would softlock if you put in too many characters into a name, but if you didn't you could press start to not input a full name.
Do you think you could fix this? it makes it really annoying to play sometimes.
Hey, I'm sorry you're having issues. It looks like there's a bug in save conversion from versions older than <3.2.
I'll fix this issue in the next release, but until then you have 2 options:
Thanks for reporting this to me.
Fixed in v3.4.5!
made some box-art! hope you enjoy it!
looking great!
Do you have a copy of the cart label available? I made my own cart because it was sold out (using Inside gadgets flasher and a cloned Pokemon cart), and I'd love to add a label. Wonderful work on this ROM! Thanks!
Here you go!
Thank you!
The cart order page says it is still continuously being developed. If I get a cart, does it come with the means to do a software update? (I assume via a DS homebrew program)
The cart comes by itself, so you would need some means to write updates to it. You can do it with a DS (that has a gba slot) using homebrew software like you said or get some other cartridge flasher like the one insideGadgets sells / the epilogue operator.
Awesome! That was the biggest thing keeping me from purchasing it. I love adding physical homebrew gba games to my collection, but I was worried that by the time I got it, it would be out of date.
Doh! Out of stock.
Gah, unlucky. There should be more stock in a couple of weeks!
Still out of stock :(
Remember that guy that had trouble with the 3DS? Yeah, it's me!
But this time, I won't talk about problems, but I will talk about how I love this game and what it turned out to be since its release.
I still remember when this game was a little project to make a good and modern GBA Tetris. It had some customization and one or two music options, but it stood out as unique and fun, considering the GBA limitations!
It's great to see how it evolved from a simple concept to a full-fledged, physically released game! With tons of content, like new backgrounds, fancy effects, skins, and modes!
With all that, I don't know why it isn't on a "Tetris fangame" list on a wiki because it may be one of the best!
Wall of text aside, I wish you the best of luck and success in your career!
Keep up the fantastic work!
First off thank you very much for this brilliant version of Tetris. I've been in a fan since the first versions and played it vividly on many platforms!
While pretty minor. Could you readd the 'Tetris' sound instead of the 'Quad' sound.
Also the game somehow doesn't save via the OpenFPGA core on the Analogue Pocket, while other games do save, so there must be something that's different to normal gba games.
Thanks!
I changed 4 line clears to quads out of necessity, I hope you understand...
About saving on OpenFPGA, I had a look around but the GBA core is closed source and has no documentation so I don't know how to help you. You should probably ask around is some community that focuses on the Analogue Pocket... The game supports both SRAM and Flash saving, but I've seen some emulators that detect the save type using an official game database and otherwise disable saving. I would try copying a savefile from another game and renaming it to apotris.srm or whatever you named the rom, just in case this helps it detect the save type (don't worry about the save being different, if is read it should be hopefully detected and reformatted by my code).
I fully understand and guessed as much that this was the reason for removing it.
I tried your tip to copy another save, but sadly that didn't work either. But the save state feature solves that problem, other than not getting the rumble feature as that requires a restart and I wanted to try it through the GBA core with a rumble pack inserted.
Ah that's a shame.
Have you tried rumble without rebooting? It will probably work! Rebooting is only required for anything that uses the gamecube's GameBoy Player rumble, but I show the message in all cases since I can't detect hardware. Let me know how it goes!
Sadly it's not working with the official DS rumble pack.
Ahh too bad. The reboot is probably required then :/
Saving was fixed for Analogue Pocket using the OpenFPGA core in v3.4.5!
Also I was informed that you can make the DS rumble pack work by changing the game's header to be the same as a game that does work (e.g. Drill Dozer).
Great job on the update and supporting the Analogue! Can confirm saving works great. Don't know how to patch the header though, maybe you could point me in the right direction.
Totally missed the physical cartridge sale. Do you know if there will be a re-run through insidegadgets?
Hmm I don't know how comfortable you are with things like this, but this should be the easiest way to do this. Using a hex editor, copy the first 192 bytes from a rom that supports rumble (Drill Dozer probably) onto the first 192 bytes of the Apotris rom. This should be the area you're replacing (up to and including the B0 row):
Though I'm pretty sure this would work, I can't test it myself so I can't be certain.
As for the cartridge, insideGadgets will definitely have more stock some time in the future! Seems like there's a part shortage unfortunately. You can also give your email to the store to be notified when more stock is available.
It works like a charm! Thank you! It certainly feels a bit gimmicky though, but it's still a nice addition to have.
I just registered at insidegadgets. Can't wait!
Glad it works! Yeah haha it's certainly a gimmick.
Hey it’s me again. Love all the little additions especially the skin editor! Just commenting to let you know about a weird glitch where if you pause the game while holding a direction and unpause it messes up the controls.
Keep up the great work!
Hey and thank you! I've already fixed the bug in the new version. The release will be in the next 1 or 2 days!!
I've been playing this for a few days and it's a very good Tetris version. Thank you for making it available!
There is one thing that bothers me about the handling. The "auto repeat delay" setting seems to also affect the soft drop which makes it a bit unintuitive. I don't think there should be any delay on the soft drop.
Thank you! You're 100% right, soft drop is affected by DAS and that isn't the standard way of handling soft drop. As luck would have it I've actually already added an option to disable this in the next version! Please stay tuned for the next update!
HelloI
I'm here to let you know how much i love this game! It's definitely my favorite way to play Tetris on my Miyoo mini!
Thank you so much for your amazing work!
Aww, thank you!!
Hello,
I really love what you have done with the game! I have been playing V3.2.1 for a couple of days now and I love it, it has come a long way since a couple of versions ago! It's becoming my favorite way to play Tetris, and it is something special with all the options that you have added. I can't believe that it works so well on GBA. Great work!
I do have some suggestions, based on my experience with the game and other versions of Tetris:
I think this game is missing a bit of delay when clearing a line. All the Tetris games have it and on greater speeds it gives you a couple of moments to think ahead. Tetris DX has it, Tetris DS has it (although it gives you a bit less time, but still, it's there) and the fact that Apotris doesn't have it really messes up the flow on bigger speeds. The next piece comes way too fast after clearing a line, compared to the other Tetris versions. In some cases I still press a direction for the piece that cleared a line but the next one is already half way down and moving. I don't have this problem on any other Tetris version, so I'm sure this is happening because of the lack of a bit of delay after clearing a line.
This coupled with the fact that the piece is locking weird when still rotating it, makes it strange to play or rather unplayable past speed level 11-12. I think on a game this fast, line clear delay and locking the piece after a greater number of rotations would make the game better.
Any plans on working on those things?
Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying the update!
As for the suggestions, I think the line clear delay is pretty good as is. It strikes a good balance of encouraging multi-line clears while still not punishing you too much time-wise for single line clears. Most other popular unofficial Tetris games omit line clear delay entirely for the sake of speed, but I mostly put it in the game because it adds a lot of character to the visuals.
Speed wise, the game has the guideline values, so it's exactly as fast as Tetris DS. But Apotris lets you change DAS and ARR, making moving pieces to the edges of the board much easier. I don't think adding infinity (no step reset limit) makes much sense, it would make the game way too easy. Try changing Auto Repeat Delay (DAS) and Auto Repeat Rate (ARR) in the handling settings, and see if that helps.
I checked many times if there are any more bugs with piece locking, but I couldn't notice any. I think it might be that you're too used to infinity... Also from the tetris wiki: "Most games since 2007 have a limit of 15 move resets before the piece locks."
Lastly, while the game might be "difficult", it's way more important that it's fair. That way, you can practice and become better!
slick and responsive, very nicely designed and customizable version of tetris
really fun to play!
I think Chinese players will be very happy. I would be honored if I could help out in Chinese if needed.
你好，我是来自中国的俄罗斯方块爱好者，我很喜欢你的游戏，我已经向很多中国俄罗斯方块爱好者推荐了你的游戏，我不知道我是否有幸获得了你的中文游戏ROM，我们'不胜感激，我画了一张我画不好的封面送给你们的玩家，期待你们的中文游戏ROM！
Hello!
Thank you for your support, and recommending my game to your friends!
I will try to add Chinese language support (among other languages) in the next major update! Though it might take a while.
Also, thank you for the art!!
I know this is a dumb request, but can you add an option to bring back the four line clear text and sound effects to "Tetris". I found it really amusing hearing "Tyetris" in that robotic voice :D . I wouldn't mind if it was just the voice, though.
Keep up the good work!
I prefer "tetris" too but I changed it to be a bit safer with copyright stuff... So it will have to stay unfortunately :/
Ah, I see. That's understandable.
Have a good one!
Sooooo good!!!
That's a good looking GBA :D
Also damn it! I forgot to add the game mode title in the end screen, it's not easy to tell what you were playing like this...
Hmm seems like it broke saving on the flash cart I was using. Is that possibly because of the bootleg flashcart save changes? My cartridge just uses normal 32KB FRAM and v2 it worked perfectly fine. Does it try to use the bootleg save feature automatically? The save works perfectly in mGBA still and on v2.1.1
Edit: what's weird is it does auto fill my name and stuff out of my old high scores list.
Edit edit: So I've done some testing. On my flash cart it seems to be writing the save back to the ROM and not seeing that there's 32KB of FRAM on board. Is there a way to get a version that doesn't do that lol I don't currently have devkitarm setup on my WSL but I guess I can try messing around with the source if it's not something you want to look at.
final edit: It's definitely an issue with the save to ROM chip code. I think it just assumes if the ROM chip responds to the flash commands that it needs to write to the ROM chip. Which doesn't work in situations like mine where the ROM chip is flashable, but also it has FRAM. It ends up just ignoring the FRAM and writing to the ROM chip anyways. I was able to clone the repository and get the build running on my WSL Ubuntu installation. And just changing the def.h file to:
And after that it just works as expected. Hopefully it doesn't introduce any other issues since I'm building it on my machine rather than yours which is untested thus far. I'm unsure how much work it would take to add some logic to the save to flash code for this scenario or if it's just easier to build with that def changed as an option.
Anyways thanks a lot for the great homebrew title! I love it.
This is my cart for reference:
Ah I'm sorry for the trouble, I tested on a few devices and I had no problems with the code, so I decided to leave flash detection on... Didn't think about bootlegs with FRAM. I could always just have 2 builds available, but I will try to fix the code!
Props for finding the issue yourself and building the game, hope it wasn't too much hassle.
I've got a couple of ideas on how to fix the bug, but unfortunately I have no way to test them. I'd really appreciate your help testing, if you have the time!
If you want to help, DM me on twitter or tell me where I can DM you!
Hey just saw your message. I'm happy to help test out the changes I'll send you a message on Twitter.
Edit: says I can't message you. I just made a new Twitter account, I'm @SmellyGhosty if you can DM, not sure if it's permissions or a security setting.
Ah I thought I had DMs turned on, my bad!
Hey I love your Tetris game so much. It's extremely high quality and is basically the GBA ROM version of Nullpomino because it has so many modes!
Hello! So I'm curious when we can expect a new version with the lock-delay bug fixed and other stuff (diagonal disabled, etc) and whatever you have in mind next. I've been opening this every day for the last 2 months :))
I'm almost done with the update, I've just been having a bit of a summer vacation :)
I'll try to finish everything in the next few days!
Amazing work, a perfect game for my Miyoo Mini!
After playing a bit I went back and donated some money because you definitely deserve it.
My minor suggestion would be to show the leaderboard for the game mode after you finish your game/input your name.
Downloaded this a few days ago and have not put it down for more than a few hours since. Absolutely addictive!
I think my only critiques would be on each “stage select” as it were ( dig, marathon, sprint, etc ) could you put that at the top of the screen above “Lines” ( or time for Ultra ) that way if I snap a photo of a new score, it’s easy to identify what I was playing.
I saw you left a comment recently about an option to limit the next piece preview, which is awesome! Or changing their size too, which would work for sure. My other suggestion is to maybe make an option for them to be in the same style as the shadow displayed in the playfield?
Same for the held piece, that is actually my biggest hurdle is I keep mistaking the held piece for the next up, but that is on me!
Regardless, this is by far and away the best block stacking game for the GBA, and a super close second for the Game Boy entirely, though that might be just because DX has more nostalgia for me.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll add the names of the modes in stage select for sure!
Who should I call if I can't stop playing it? ;) Some suggestions:
- I can see that people are asking about new tracks. Maybe you could make a tool for adding additional songs to Apotris (in MOD format, for instance)
- rumble feature for flashcarts that support it
- any interesting ideas for new content? Some kind of challenges, bonus blocks (could be especially nice in multi), alternative pentomino shapes?
- have you ever considered creating a package of interesting block puzzle games for GBA in the future? With Apotris working so well... That would have been awesome for sure. Personally, I have great memories of playing Block Out for DOS as a kid, check it out:
And here's an arcade version:
BTW, is there a GitHub page for your project?
Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
I did think about adding rumble, maybe in the patch after the next one!
About other puzzle games, I've certainly considered it! Especially a tetris attack/ panel de pon style game since I've already made a crappy clone in the past (though that one already has a pretty good port on GBA).
Right now I'm focusing on adding all the "regular" tetris modes. When I run out of stuff to add, I'll definitely expand to new types of content!
My Game Boy Advance was aching for a decent Tetris version, and you made that dream possible. Amazing work! And just in time for me trying to get into Tetris again.
For now, I've gone for the direct download, but I'll buy the next update for sure. Your work is incredible!
This is fantastic, can't thank you enough for finally bringing a good Tetris version playable on the gameboy micro! This has all the best parts of the modern titles, and the soundtrack is beautifully "GBA". Even going the extra mile for 2P via link cable, I love it! You did an awesome job :)
One request: I would love to see a game track remixed from the original Tetris Theme, (or maybe remixed from the Russian folk song Kalinka to avoid any ip issues?) There's nothing like stacking blocks to the classic tune.
Glad you're enjoying the game!
I get you, I'd honestly love to put a Korobeiniki remix in the game. But right now I both worry that it's poking the bear a bit too much, and I haven't found a good remix that would make it worth it anyway... I might try my hand at making my own rendition in the future, but that's a bit outside my area of expertise lol
Just bought it, well done! The only option I would love to see is being able to select only one "Next" piece to show (coming from Tetris DX, I often get mixed up with all the "next" pieces in the corner of my eye). Also, I think I got a bug when after finishing all lines in Marathon mode after the completed screen the game hung on the title screen with strange sounds playing: video
I'm playing on an EZFlash Omega DE, btw.
Thanks! I can definitely add an option to limit previews to only 1 piece. I'll probably make the next piece be bigger too, which might help.
I've encountered that problem too on my EZFlash... It has something to do with the way it saves since I haven't had the same problem on other devices, but it's kinda hard to reproduce to know for sure. If I'm correct about this, it should be fixed in the next version (hopefully).
Thanks for answering, sounds good!
After playing for a few days (mostly Marathon) I can say I really like it and it plays very smooth. Also the tracks you've selected are great. I have three more (minor) points of feedback:
1. It seems that for Marathon, a random track (from the selected tracks) is played in a loop. I think it would be cool if the selected tracks were shuffled since I'd like to hear different tracks during a longer session.
2. I'm getting accidental hard drops on high speeds regularly when wanting to move sideways. This probably has to do with my wonky GBA D-Pad, but I read someone else mention disabling diagonal press so maybe that option would fix it.
3. I can't say I fully understand "Training" mode yet. I guess it's for practicing optimal button presses? In that case, shouldn't the finesse counter increase for every "unnecessary" button press? Because when I rotate a piece 5 times before dropping the finesse counter still only increases by one.
I appreciate the feedback!
1. You're right! I wanted to add this at the start, but at some point I forgot :P. I'll definitely let you choose if you want to loop through all songs or just one in the settings.
2. I've already added this option in the next update, hopefully it will fix your issue!
3. The main point of training mode is no speed-up and the "save states". I added it because I wanted to practice complicated openers and perfect clear solutions. It also functions as a "free-play" mode.
The finesse counter counts "wrong drops" and not movements, though I will probably change that to movements since I am quite unsatisfied with it right now (it also only works for hard-drops since I couldn't find good data on how to score soft-drops). I'm thinking about adding a Tetresse -style trainer option too.
This rocks.
This is easily the best version of Tetris I've played yet!
The responsiveness, the animations and effects, the customization.
Its really quite fantastic.
Immediately after trying it out in an emulator I dug up my old cfw 3ds so I could play it properly, and I have been playing it non-stop since!
If I had one gripe, it would be that I miss Korobeiniki, but even so, the music included is still wonderful.
I am really looking forward to what future updates might hold.