0724: "Hell"

[Armadillo Al]

I was going to post "Defender. As it is", but this above post reminded me that Ghosts 'n Goblins is hellier than hell

This is where somebody might link to the TV Tropes article on Nintendo Hard, but that would be wrong.

Hell, I've already wasted two hours of my work day there, I have no problem with inflicting same on everyone else.

[AlejoHausner]

My favourite hell is "atheist hell". If you're an atheist and go to hell, you will spend eternity having to listen to faulty proofs of the existence of God.

Alejo

[Sheikh al-Majaneen]

This must be the opposite of hell.
http://www.tetris1d.org/

That's Sisyphus rolling a block uphill forever.

[chaoztheory1]

Mario + Tetris anyone? http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/522276

[fph]

Hello everyone, bastet author here. I've been reading xkcd since long ago, and occasionally lurking in the forum; it's fun to know that there are still people playing my creature.

After getting a couple of e-mails with similar requests, I have updated my web page with a short description of how the algorithm in bastet works. In case you are interested... It's nothing new if you know a little bit on algorithms for computer AI in games, but if you are new to the field it might be interesting. Plenty of wikipedia references are included, be careful or this can ruin your workday. :p

[phantom16]

If you're a tetris fan you should give this version a try:

http://www.ngworks.net/game/swf/tetoris.swf

took me 20 minutes just to get one line

[logixoul]

Puck's Peak on pogo.com is actually like this, at least in the higher levels.

To anyone else who was wondering, here's a screenshot:

[desetgled]

I just got 7 lines on Hateris, and it feels like a major accomplishment.

Thanks to everyone for posting all the great Tetris variations.

[thunder9092]

I wanna be the guy on imppossible difficulty. Take a normal platform game, except that one hit kills you, there is only one save in the entire game, which is only available for 1 frame (after trying to kill you), and everything is trying to kill you. EVERTYHING. including the apples/giant cherries/Delicious Fruit....That can fly upward.

[clanders]

Classic xkcd. Of course the alt text ruins it because Randy has something against unadulterated humor, but I've already repressed it so that the comic stands alone.

[GunJack]

I wanna be the guy on imppossible difficulty. Take a normal platform game, except that one hit kills you, there is only one save in the entire game, which is only available for 1 frame (after trying to kill you), and everything is trying to kill you. EVERTYHING. including the apples/giant cherries/Delicious Fruit....That can fly upward.

OMZ!!...have you ever played that?? did someone finish it? good friend show me that game and is harder than nintendo hard...

[Technical Ben]

C' mon, two pages of posts and no one remember tetrisphere?... that is tetris hell indeed

ps: don't know why but in my head appeared leonidas saying: "Tonight, we dine in tetris hell!"...WTF?

Am I the only one that actually liked that game to a small degree? It seems to just manage to work.

[Lerkistan]

Awesome comic. Doesn't matter that it's playable once you get through the lower third.

[GunJack]

C' mon, two pages of posts and no one remember tetrisphere?... that is tetris hell indeed

ps: don't know why but in my head appeared leonidas saying: "Tonight, we dine in tetris hell!"...WTF?

Am I the only one that actually liked that game to a small degree? It seems to just manage to work.

...yeah, probably you're not the only one, but I wouldn't try to find someone else...

[skeptical scientist]

I wanna be the guy on imppossible difficulty. Take a normal platform game, except that one hit kills you, there is only one save in the entire game, which is only available for 1 frame (after trying to kill you), and everything is trying to kill you. EVERTYHING. including the apples/giant cherries/Delicious Fruit....That can fly upward.

OMZ!!...have you ever played that?? did someone finish it? good friend show me that game and is harder than nintendo hard...

Apparently, yes.

['; DROP DATABASE;--]

You realize, of course, that if someone hasn't already built a version of Tetris like this, they will now.

I was going to say that the Japanese have probably not only already created this, but have active competitions in which all competitors do unhumanly well, and speedruns (tool-assisted or not) in which they overflow the score counter.

[ritvax]

No, this game is hell:
http://spongebob.nick.com/games/play/sp ... at-o-cross

Worst 8 minutes of my life.

[Nanotoobz]

I really wouldn't mind listening to Katamari music for the rest of eternity.

[readerofxkcd]

Has anyone played "Cave Story"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story

There actually is a level in it called "Hell." And it IS hell... I beat it once (FINALLY) and never again. Here's a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJIQteqNh7U

[TarMil]

In the chapter of intentionally horrible games, there's the inevitable Super Mario Cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRg3OFEmLTw

[Briareos]

My favourite hell is "atheist hell". If you're an atheist and go to hell, you will spend eternity having to listen to faulty proofs of the existence of God.

Alejo

My favorite hell is religion hell.

[GunJack]

I wanna be the guy on imppossible difficulty. Take a normal platform game, except that one hit kills you, there is only one save in the entire game, which is only available for 1 frame (after trying to kill you), and everything is trying to kill you. EVERTYHING. including the apples/giant cherries/Delicious Fruit....That can fly upward.

OMZ!!...have you ever played that?? did someone finish it? good friend show me that game and is harder than nintendo hard...

Apparently, yes.

ohhhhhhhh..... that guy is THE GUY!!!!!

[Ithinkabouttrees]

I think my personal hell would be a Sonic Level with water and no dash pads... and lots of steps.


That and a Donkey Kong level with no barrels.

[brook_88]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, someone has had a busy afternoon....

http://erif.org/code/Hell/

[Quake]

Hell ? Dead end ! CUL DE SAC !!
This certainly must be frustrating, if not even hurting.

However, we can easily handle this, using INTELLIGENT FALLING and Monte Carlo methods:

Release the pieces "two by twos" in variable, calculated, imaginary vacuum.

Finally, adjust the computed accuracy level (downwards, preferably) and VOILA ! We've got a top score !

[saraid]

You realize, of course, that if someone hasn't already built a version of Tetris like this, they will now.

http://community.livejournal.com/gamede ... 48143.html

[Muffinman42]

Megaman 1 but with no life bar (get hit and you die), 1 life,no weapons or upgrades and with really good AI.
any RPG that uses levels but where you can't level up.
dick tracy for the nes
scratch that,
nearly all video games reviewed by: http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesNintendoNerd

[The Scyphozoa]

TMHBITALOL!

Spoiler:

(throwing my head back in the air laughing out loud!)

I gotta write that down!

[Mencel]

It would be hell to play Ski Free, and for no reason a big robot comes out of nowhere and gobbles you up partway down the mountain.

Also two words: Water Temple

[DVC]

So the skill s in manoeuvring the pieces to get the most drops. Interesting.

[Mekmek]

Pokémon Hell: Instead of there being 495 pokémon, there's only one. And it's Bidoof.

The Hell Level of Pokemon: Endless stream of Zubats. Forever.

Wich god do I pray to, in order to avoid that?

If you're a tetris fan you should give this version a try:

http://www.ngworks.net/game/swf/tetoris.swf

took me 20 minutes just to get one line

Now imagine that one with the bastet or hatetris algorithm. Although the possible highscore should be higher, right?

[chocolate.razorblades]

On the subject of horrible versions of tetris:
http://www.firstpersontetris.com/

instead of the piece rotating and the background staying still, the background rotates and the piece stays still. The camera tracks the piece, and is not static

Hold down the spacebar! SO DIZZY!!!

[asofaihp]

AHH :O
that.... is truly hell.

[phlip]

If you're a tetris fan you should give this version a try:

http://www.ngworks.net/game/swf/tetoris.swf

took me 20 minutes just to get one line

Now imagine that one with the bastet or hatetris algorithm. Although the possible highscore should be higher, right?

Ow, my processor... just thinking about the numbercrunching needed to run the bastet algorithm on a pit that big...

I'm imagining: drop piece, wait a few minutes, get next piece.

[Splarka]

Takeshi's Challenge.

Also, a different kind of hell (for original NES Tetris): XVVOVLVV + XVVONLGK (1bee?e6:ea + 1bef?44:ea)

[robotman099]

If you're a tetris fan you should give this version a try:

http://www.ngworks.net/game/swf/tetoris.swf

took me 20 minutes just to get one line

Now imagine that one with the bastet or hatetris algorithm. Although the possible highscore should be higher, right?

Ow, my processor... just thinking about the numbercrunching needed to run the bastet algorithm on a pit that big...

I'm imagining: drop piece, wait a few minutes, get next piece.

Really plays havok with my comp
wonder who thought of that game

[mszegedy]

The "Star just out of reach" isn't really hell for Mario. I think hell would be a pit, near the end of a long, brutal level, that is just a tiny bit too far to jump. It doesn't make for the punchiest alt-text joke, but it would be maddeningly hilarious in practice--battling all that way to get to that point, only to die every time--and after 3 tries, you have to go back to level 1-1 and work your ass off just to get back to that point.

Nonono. Google "Item Abuse 1.4" and patch the IPS to a clean Super Mario World rom. Play it in a SNES emulator. You will find it so hellishly difficult that you will be begging for a Kaizo Mario World level, which are infamous for being scalp-tearingly hard.

Alternatively, watch this youtube video. You have to intentionally exploit glitches.

[cephalopod9]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, someone has had a busy afternoon....

http://erif.org/code/Hell/

I find myself wanting o-blocks, so there's some of the ironic punishment in there. Did you mean to have the game end when you hold down side arrow? Moving to the side past the point where it hits the wall causes the blocks crash into each other, and I lose.
The uncontrolled tumbling is in someways far crueler than the original premise.

Edit: The blocks piling up on the side is mistaken for blocks piling up after the screen is full. I guess there's not a good way to define defeat when the blocks can bounce.

[frikle]

For those who are interested I've got a "solution" whereby you can score some points even in this hellish version of tetris: http://anadder.com/a-tetris-nerds-mecca ... atest-xkcd

[Splarka]

For those who are interested I've got a "solution" whereby you can score some points even in this hellish version of tetris: http://anadder.com/a-tetris-nerds-mecca ... atest-xkcd

The problem is, if this is a physics-version of Tetris where pieces being freshly placed succumb to local terrain and gravity, some of those pieces in that solution probably would not stay where placed. The left lower L for example has 50% of its weight over the edge of the bottom piece. If it can be assumed that pieces "cement" after landing, then it could be compressed up against the right L, but I don't think the left T would stay on top of it.

Although it should still be possible, without violating those physics, pointing the Ls inside and building slower. Unless pieces don't cement....