This article was originally featured on The Conversation.
Willis Gibson was only 13 years old when he achieved something that no other human had before – he beat the original Nintendo version of Tetris. What makes his achievement even more special is that he dedicated his win to his father, who tragically passed away in December 2023.
The Oklahoma teen set a new standard by defeating level after level of Tetris until he reached the “kill screen” – a point where the Tetris artificial intelligence stops play due to its exhaustion. Not even the game designers had written the code for advancement past this point. Before Gibson, only another AI had managed to outplay the game’s AI.
Gibson’s victory over the “cruel geometry” of Tetris is a compelling testament to the determination and dedication of gamers. It shows that despite stereotypes, most gamers are anything but lazy and mindless.
Gibson’s inspiring achievement is just one example of how top players in the gaming world are reminders of the best in us, with memorable achievements that range from the heroic to the inscrutably weird.
The amazing world of “Speedrunning”
Speedrunning has become a popular gaming subculture that involves players meticulously optimizing routes and exploiting glitches to complete, in a matter of minutes, games that would normally take hours to finish. These games range from tightly constrained, run-and-gun action games like Cuphead to sprawling role-playing epics like Baldur’s Gate 3.
In top-level competition, speedrunners strive to match the time of what’s referred to as a “TAS,” or “tool-assisted speed run.” The pursuit of this perfection requires punishing precision, flawless execution, and years of training.
The major speedrunning milestones are marked by mere fractions of a second, reminiscent of Olympic races. This urge to speedrun likely sprouts from an innate human longing for perfection and a uniquely 21st century compulsion to outdo the robots.
One individual who has come closest to achieving androidlike perfection is a Twitch streamer who goes by the username Niftski. His 4-minute, 54.631-second world-record speedrun of Super Mario Bros. is just 0.35 seconds shy of a flawless TAS.
Watching Niftski’s now-famous run is a dissonant experience. While the goofy, retro, 8-bit Mario jumps over obstacles with the iconic, cheerful “boink” sound, Niftski’s anxiety builds with his heart rate, tracked on screen during his livestream, peaking at 188 beats per minute. When he finally achieves his goal, the emotions overflow, and seem to overwhelm him with exhaustion and joy.
The largest world and its longest pig ride
This list couldn’t be complete without an achievement from Minecraft,