History Trivia / TetrisTheGrandMaster

* FanNickname:
** [[{{Squick}} Mihara's sperm]]: The level 100-199 background in [=TGM1=].
** 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 '''''tori'''aezu '''kan'''suto'', or "[[{{Cap}} counter-stopped]] for the time being". More details can be found [[http://tetrisconcept.net/wiki/Torikan here]].
** "Awkward G": The gravity during levels 300 to 499, during which blocks are falling at a rate of at least 1 grid cell per frame, but still below the "20G" instant drop speed. The "awkward" part comes from the fact that it's hard to tell which moves are possible, as the high-speed-but-not-quite-instant gravity means that one cannot really tell if sliding a block across a gap or far enough into one's desired position will succeed.

* WildfireFranchise: ''The Grandmaster'' was, and still is by many, considered the gold standard in ''Tetris'' skill, and in its home country of Japan was very popular, gaining two sequels and some spinoffs. Unfortunately, the rise of The Tetris Company and their (at the time) strict stranglehold on how Tetris games were made lead to a failed Xbox 360 port and ultimately the death of the franchise, despite repeated attempts to produce a fourth game. Luckily, The Tetris Company has gotten more lenient with their guidelines as of the late 2010s, which has lead to {{Creator/Arika}} mentioning ports of the franchise and the possibility of a comeback if the ports succeed.

* WildfireFranchise: ''The Grandmaster'' was, and still is by many, considered the gold standard in ''Tetris'' skill, and in its home country of Japan was very popular, gaining two sequels and some spinoffs. Unfortunately, the rise of The Tetris Company and their (at the time) strict stranglehold on how Tetris games were made lead to a failed Xbox 360 port and ultimately the death of the franchise, despite repeated attempts to produce a fourth game. Luckily, The Tetris Company has gotten more lenient with their guidelines as of the late 2010s, which has lead to {{Creator/Arika}} mentioning ports of the franchise and the possibility of a comeback if the ports succeed.

** The series has had various home ports cancelled while in development, including ports of [=TGM1=] to the first UsefulNotes/PlayStation and of [=TGM2=] to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2. In 2020 Mihara [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3WlNOjyqEg posted some footage]] of the [=PS2=] port of [=TGM2=].

** The series has had various home ports cancelled while in development, including ports of [=TGM1=] to the first UsefulNotes/PlayStation and of [=TGM2=] to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2. In 2020 Mihara [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3WlNOjyqEg posted some footage]] of the PS2 port of [=TGM2=].

* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld: Arika has been unable to print or release ''TGM'' games since 2006; the last "proper" ''TGM'' game was ''Tetris: The Grand Master 3'' in 2005, with the 2006 ''Tetris: The Grand Master ACE'' being stripped of a lot of the iconic ''TGM'' mechanics due to The Tetris Company's growing control over the ''Tetris'' brand and guidelines dictating what a ''Tetris'' game must have, with ''TGM'' violating many of those guidelines. A fourth ''TGM'' game was to be released in 2010, suggesting that the TTC issues were somehow worked out but cancelled for reasons unknown, with the most common theories being that SEGA was to publish the game but they were already releasing ''Giant Tetris'' within the same year and they did not want to publish two arcade ''Tetris'' games within the same year, so they decided to just [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment nix]] ''[=TGM4=]''.

* NoPortForYou: An extremely sore point about the series is that none of the arcade games have ever been ported to consumer platforms. ''TGM ACE'' doesn't count, due to being so heavily tweaked to fit the Tetris Guideline that it is effectively a GaidenGame.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''TGM 1'' was going to have a US release, as hinted in DummiedOut English-language text and manual. For whatever reason, the game ended up never leaving Japan.

* 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 (not very cheap, especially when $100 for [=TGM1=] is considered ''fair''), 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.

* 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 (such as TGM2 at Victory Pointe in Pittsburgh, PA), 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, [[https://tetrisconcept.net/threads/tetrisconcept-no-longer-condones-tetris-clones.1628/page-8#post-39965 he replied that he's no better since he's not doing anything to stop piracy and cloning 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.'' 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, [[https://tetrisconcept.net/threads/tetrisconcept-no-longer-condones-tetris-clones.1628/page-8#post-39965 he replied that he's no better since he's not doing anything to stop piracy and cloning of his games.]]

* 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. Having the game be demonstrated by and explained by Westerners certainly helped a lot.

* FanworkBan: Arika declared that, effective January 1, 2019, [[https://youtu.be/9UrQHMj1DKI?t=297 they will start enforcing their TGM YouTube video guidelines and shooting down any non-compliant videos with DMCA takedowns]] (and 3 copyright strikes will result in a loss of the affected YT account). Their guidelines include, among other things, a ban on videos of ''TGM'' clones/simulators such as ''VideoGame/NullpoMino''.

* 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.

** For the same reason, Mihara has been unable to get a fourth ''TGM'' game published, as the TTC would probably look at it, notice its various Guideline violations, and say "no."

** ''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 downloadable content; as a result, proper ARS can only be unlocked if you have an XBL Gold account.

* VaporWare: In summer 2015, [[HopeSpot it looked as if the lack of international releases]] [[NoExportForYou that has plagued the series since the beginning]] would finally end with the announcement and location tests of remakes of [=TGM3=] and [=TGM4=] in the United States... except those limited location tests in very specific places were the ''only'' thing to ever come of them.

** For the same reason, Mihara has been unable to get a fourth ''TGM'' game published, as the TTC would probably look at it, notice its various Guideline variations, and say "no."

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

* 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 downloadable content; as a result, proper ARS can only be unlocked if you have an XBL Gold account.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: WordOfGod alleges that there is a way to surpass level 1300 in [=TGM3=]'s Shirase mode, but leaked data confirmed that [[LyingCreatorthose extra levels don't exist]].

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: WordOfGod alleges that there is a way to surpass level 1300 in [=TGM3=]'s Shirase mode, but since no one has been able to confirm this even today, it's now believed that they are [[LyingCreator pulling our leg]].
** It's now confirmed with the leaked data that those extra levels don't exist.

* 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 and cloning of his games.