Zdrastvooyte! In this episode, I’m focusing on NES Tetris with streamer and competition host Retro Game Brews aka the Beer Mage (@Retrogamebrews) and Tetris champion Mega Retro Man (@MegaRetroMan) asking what Tetris is, describing Tetris in one word, the puzzle that changes with your skill level, the comforting, relaxing nature of fitting the tetrominoes together, why Tetris isn’t an anachronism by now and what makes the game so appealing, the dopamine response and addiction to its gameplay, the pure balance of challenge with simplicity, kinder game design in modern Tetris, wading into the cultural discussion of games being too hard with the idea of practice, the hardest thing about playing Tetris (according to a pro competitor), DAS and the kill screen, having to think on your feet, the fascinating history of Tetris, the rare Tengen Tetris cart, comparing some different versions and how to ruin Tetris, tackling the question of whether Tetris is the perfect game or not, irreducible complexity, the World Championships, visiting the Soviet Union, and Tetris as an analogy for life.
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Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.
