History Trivia / TetrisTheGrandMaster

** This may finally be averted [[http://tetrisconcept.net/threads/potential-new-tgm-codename-tgm3o.2551/ with the announcement of "Tetris The Grandmaster 3 Omega" for North America.]]

* NoExportForYou: The entire series, pretty much. Most players outside of Japan use clones or emulators to play, and a few are lucky enough to live near an actual TGM machine, and even fewer are able to find and afford to ''own the actual hardware.'' Mihara, the director of the series, openly hating Western players for pirating the game so heavily (never mind that they have literally no other options to play it), doesn't help. When an American player got GM grade on a legitimate TGM1 board and showed it off on Twitter, he replied that he's no better since he's not doing anything to stop piracy of his games.

* NoExportForYou: The entire series, pretty much. Most players outside of Japan use clones or emulators to play, and a few are lucky enough to live near an actual TGM machine, and even fewer are able to find and afford to ''own the actual hardware.''

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and having no rereleases or consumer ports, thereby [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes making playing the series in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as mass-produced as consumer games]]. This seems to have changed in 2014, with Arika holding a location test of ''[=TGM2015=]'' in the United States ''before doing the same in Japan''; Mihara has since changed his mind and would be fine with bringing ''TGM'' to the West, but can't due to ExecutiveMeddling on The Tetris Company's part.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and having no rereleases or consumer ports, thereby [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes making playing the series in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as mass-produced as consumer games]]. This seems to have changed in 2014, with Mihara announcing a location test of ''Tetris: The Grand Master 3 Ω'' in the United States.

* DevelopmentHell: ''[=TGM4=]''. It's been over a year and [[strike:there's been very little word of its release in months.]] it ended with announcement of cancellation.

* ViralMarketing: Beginning in 2015, Arika vice president Ichiro Mihara launched the [[https://twitter.com/tgm_series official TGM account]], and encouraged players to show their support for the series using the #tgm_series hashtag whenever discussing ''TGM'' and posting their accomplishments. Although it's nowhere near a trending topic in any region, it has seen regular use, with Mihara periodically retweeting tweets (especially accomplishments) that fall under the tag.

* ViralMarketing: Beginning in 2015, Arika vice president Ichiro Mihara launched the [[https://twitter.com/tgm_series official TGM account]], and encouraged players to show their support for the series using the #tgm_series hashtag whenever discussing ''TGM'' and posting their accomplishments.

** Torikan: The time-based checkpoints that trigger a NonStandardGameOver if their requirements are not met (for example, 3'25" in ''TAP''[='=]s T.A. Death mode at level 500 and 7'00" in ''Ti''[='=]s Master mode at level 500). The term comes from ''toriaezu kansuto'', or "[[{{Cap}} counter-stopped]] for the time being". More details can be found [[http://tetrisconcept.net/wiki/Torikan here]].

** Torikan: The time-based checkpoints that trigger a NonStandardGameOver if their requirements are not met (for example, 3'25" in ''TAP''[='=]s T.A. Death mode and 7'00" in ''Ti''[='=]s Master mode). The term comes from ''toriaezu kansuto'', or "[[{{Cap}} counter-stopped]] for the time being". More details can be found [[http://tetrisconcept.net/wiki/Torikan here]].

** [[{{Squick}} Mihara's sperm]]: The level 100-199 background in [=TGM1=], which suffers from a case of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything.
** [[FunWithAcronyms The MOve Reset]]: [=TGM4=]:TMOR, for Arika's decision to make ARS an easier, "move reset" rotation system.

** It's now confirmed with the leaked data that those extra levels don't exist.

* RevivalByCommercialization: Although the memetically popular "Invisible Tetris" video and the like have been floating around since 2006, the series hit a second popularity spike amongst Westerners when it was streamed on WebVideo/AwesomeGamesDoneQuick in 2015.

** Arika has, on two occasions, had videos of TGM clones (such as ''Heboris'' and ''Texmaster'') removed from Website/YouTube. In the case of the second wave of removals, Arika denied doing so of their own volition, claiming that The Tetris Company made them do it, which leads to some UnfortunateImplications about TTC's possible intentions. Since then, most, if not all, videos of TGM clones have been put back up, with no further action from Arika or TTC.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and having no rereleases or consumer ports, thereby [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes making playing the series in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as mass-produced as consumer games]]. This seems to have changed in 2014, with Mihara announcing a location test of [=TGM3Ω=] in the United States.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and having no rereleases or consumer ports, thereby [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes making playing the series in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as mass-produced as consumer games]].

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: It's widely speculated that [=TGM4=] was cancelled because it was to be released alongside ''Tetris Giant'' and SEGA, the publisher, didn't want to release two ''Tetris'' games in one year.

* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Tetris: The Grand Master ACE''. The Tetris Guideline, a series of rules that games carrying the "Tetris" name must abide by, forced significant changes to the gameplay mechanics. On top of that, Microsoft wanted Arika to hurry the game to make it a launch title for the {{Xbox 360}} and incorporate downloadble content; as a result, proper ARS can only be unlocked if you have an XBL Gold account.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes having no rereleases or consumer ports]], thereby making playing the game in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as mass-produced as consumer games.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]]. This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes having no rereleases or consumer ports]], thereby making playing the game in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as necessarily mass-produced as consumer games.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Ichiro Mihara, the designer of the series, hates the Western TGM community for using emulators and clones rather than legitimate hardware, and is [[https://twitter.com/miharasan/statuses/460852633209561088 very vocal about it]].
This is despite the series being [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes having no rereleases or consumer ports]], thereby making playing the game in a form that doesn't violate copyright nearly impossible without spending copious amounts of cash on hardware that is not as necessarily mass-produced as consumer games.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Good luck trying to get any of the games legitimately. None of the TGM games have had console ports, forcing players to resort to purchasing arcade boards, visit an arcade with TGM (extremely rare outside of Japan; there is exactly one arcade in the entire United States with a TGM cabinet), or pirate. ''TGM ACE'' is more of a Guideline-compliant spinoff of ''TGM'' than a proper ''TGM'' game.

** [=TGM4=] was allegedly canceled due to difficulty with "cleaning up foreign clones". [[NoExportForYou Excuse me?]]

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Good luck trying to get any of the games legitimately. None of the TGM games have had console ports, forcing players to resort to purchasing arcade boards, visit an arcade with TGM (extremely rare outside of Japan; there is exactly one arcade in the entire United States with a TGM cabinet), or pirate. ''TGM ACE'' is more of a Guideline-compliant spinoff of ''TGM'' than a proper ''TGM'' game.

** [[FunWithAcronyms The MOve Reset]]: [=TGM4=]:TMOR, for Arika's decision to make ARS an easier, "move reset" rotation system.

** Arika has, on two occasions, had videos of TGM clones (such as ''Heboris'' and ''Texmaster'') removed from {{YouTube}}. In the case of the second wave of removals, Arika denied doing so of their own volition, claiming that The Tetris Company made them do it, which leads to some UnfortunateImplications about TTC's possible intentions. Since then, most, if not all, videos of TGM clones have been put back up, with no further action from Arika or TTC.

** [[FunWithAcronyms The MOve Reset]]: [=TGM4=]:TMOR, for Arika's decision to make ARS an easier, "move reset" rotation system.