Who is Blue Scuti? 13-year-old YouTuber becomes the first person to "beat" NES Tetris

Willis Gibson, who goes by Blue Scuti on YouTube, has become the first person to ever "beat" the iconic NES Tetris. The 13-year-old content creator managed to do so almost 40 years after the title came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System. He posted a video of himself achieving the extraordinary feat on his channel.

The classic Tetris came out on the NES back in 1984, and fans will immediately know that it is unbeatable on paper because the limitless game mode goes on forever. However, for all intents and purposes, to "beat" the game, one has to get what is called a kill screen. Until Blue Scuti did it, it was thought impossible for a person to achieve it without the help of AI.

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How did 13-year-old Blue Scuti become the first person to beat NES Tetris?

Blue Scuti has been playing NES Tetris on his YouTube channel for quite some time. He has been competing with current Classic Tetris world champion Justin "Fractal" to get the game to crash in the last few weeks. The streamer also competed in the 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship, shocking the world by securing third place at the young age of 13.

Before going into his latest achievement, readers should know the parameters.

Unlike the traditional linear contemporary game that has an end-game screen letting players know when they have beaten it, the endless mode on NES Tetris lives up to its name and does not have a last level on paper. However, being a very old title, it has software limitations that can crash the application if the player progresses too far under certain conditions.

Without getting into the details, players have to be highly proficient in their skills to even try and get close to the theoretical game line, which is supposed to trigger a kill screen.

Before Blue Scuti managed it after 38 minutes of grueling gameplay, only AIs were thought to have the capability to do it. Back in 2021, StackRabbit, an AI program, caused the NES Tetris to crash.

Per findings from the community, the earliest line at which the game can be beaten (or crashed) is 1,489. During his historic run, Blue Scuti missed that opportunity. However, that didn't deter the YouTuber, who would go on to play superbly and trigger the much-awaited crash on line 1,511 on level 157, becoming the first person to beat NES Tetris without the help of any other software.