Tetris: The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye-

Prerelease Info

Unused Textures#

Arcade Leftovers#

There are a few textures that are leftovers from when TGM4 was an arcade-only title.

Interestingly, these textures use a different font to what was used at the previous location tests.

Bonus Game#

Likely text that would have been used when TGM4 was an arcade-only title to give an extra play for one credit.

Versus Mode Leftovers#

Similar to the unused Arcade texts, there appears to be a leftover texture for the Versus Items. Versus in TGM4 is guideline Versus, which does not use the items that the TGM series has used for its Versus mode.

Diamond Grades#

Several of the Grade textures have a Diamond color variation, presumably for some extra requirement done after achieving the Gold grades (obtained with both Standard Rule and TGM Rule). These unused variants are still in the game as of 2.1.0, and have even been updated for the new fonts.

Unused Badges#

Badges were used in the 2009 and 2015 playtests for TGM4 as part of every mode just as TGM2 and TGM3 have done before, but are not used in the final release. Like TGM3, the RE (recovery) and RO (rotation) badges are not in the game.

Level Intervals#

Likely leftover textures from the 2009 and 2015 playtests for TGM4 when MASTER mode contained torikans for the level intervals 700, 800, and 900.

Unused Modes#

Daily Modifier#

Byte $0x30 in the replay files controls modifiers (20G, Big Mode, Easy...). Setting the second bit to 1 (for instance setting the byte to 0x40) highlights an unused "DAILY" modifier.

Kamui Leftover#

Returning from TGM3's unused content, the mode once poised to release in TGM4's cancelled arcade release appears anew.

In order to play it, you have to head to the replay list and choose a replay but not play it. Open the corresponding replay in a hex editor while the replay list screen is loaded and modify the byte $0x24 to 02 then launch the replay using the "practice in same conditions" option.

The mode's frame is blue colored and the right attributes mimic Master mode's despite the lack of gimmicks (and soundtrack). Like TGM3's mode it is a time trial of 5 minutes. The seed however is fixed as it'll simply follow the original replay you modified.

In older versions of TGM4, the frame was golden colored and the game crashed after the game over (see image down below).

Konoha Easter Egg#

Taking the first mora of the 37 first characters in the Konoha gallery reveals the following message:

すべての働く女性お無事に集められたかな. すごく難しいかもしれな

I wonder if you successfully gathered all the working women. It may be very difficult.

Placeholder Konoha Girl#

An unused "dummy" image depicting Mihara with Kita can be found with the rest of the Konoha girls, presumably used as a placeholder before the real ones were finalized.

Platform Differences#

Nintendo Switch#

• Both Master and Shiranui have slightly lowered difficulty on the Switch version compared to the PC version.
  • Master's "Cyclone" effect that causes the next Tetrimino to spawn in a randomly rotated position is disabled after level 1300, compared to the PC version which keeps this effect enabled from level 1000 to the end of the game.²
• Master and Shiranui's rankings (e.g. Grand-Master, Shiranui-Master) have "ns" applied to them in the Switch version, likely due to their lowered difficulties compared to the PC version.³

PC/Windows	Nintendo Switch

• A 16mb limit for replay storage was added, along with adding the ability to delete replays within the game.⁴
  • A message has been added to warn players when they have reached the replay limit.
• Shiranui Level "0" (a special mode where the player can battle an AI trained on their gameplay) has been removed from the Switch version due to "AI learning policy guidelines".

Revisional Differences#

Game Fonts#

Due to contract issues with the original font provider, all fonts were replaced in Version 2.1.0.⁵

To do: A picture of one of the grades like GM as another comparison for fonts

Title Screen#

Original	Version 2.1.0

Main Menu#

Original	Version 2.1.0

Gameplay#

Original	Version 2.1.0

BGM#

Marathon BGM changes#

Initially, the BGM that played during Marathon was one of two arrangements of Katyusha from Tetris: The Grand Master Ace; this was replaced with an arrangement of Korobeiniki from the same source, due to the classic matter of Guideline conflicts in Version 1.4.1.⁶ However, Version 1.4.2⁷ overhauled the BGM structure of Marathon to play three tracks in sequence, with a new arrangement of Korobeiniki in place of the arrangement from TGM Ace; the Katyusha arrangement that was used before Version 1.4.1 returned as the 2nd track, while the Korobeiniki arrangement that was used prior to Version 1.4.2 was made the 3rd and final track.

Legacy BGM Tracks#

The classic in-game and ending BGM tracks from the previous three Tetris: The Grand Master games were added in an update.

References#