A Deeper Dive into the New Rolling Technique in NES Tetris (with Tips from Rob Scallon!) 

Originally filmed this 2 weeks ago, a few days after Rob Scallon's response went up...and then, over the past 2 weeks, a lot of people have started to get good at rolling very quickly! A lot of additional stuff got added. Be sure to check out the links in the description for some of the significant rolling-related videos in the community. If you want to learn rolling, check out the pinned messages in the #rolling-realm channel on the Classic Tetris Monthly discord server for a collection of a bunch of how-to vids and tutorials, and don't be afraid to ask questions! Direct link to the channel: discord.gg/2DBQhmuwbP

I developed my rolling speed on bass before Track and Field existed.

NES players then: they see me hypertapping NES players now: they see me rollin

Rob Scallon giving legit NES Tetris advice through his bass guitar skills, I have now seen it all

This is so surreal to me. Rob's vid with Jonas is how I found out about ctwc and now it's changing how the game is played

My only regret about all this is that Chez didn't keep it a secret, busted Rolling out during the Tetris World Championship, and then play with a pair of sunglasses on as people gawk in awe and horror at him sweeping the field.

As an old man who has been playing DAS Tetris for years, I tried rolling after your last video came out. I was terrible at it but I can see the potential of it. After several months/years of practice, it might be a viable alternative for me to finally get a max out

NES commentators then: He do be hypertapping NEW comentators now: *He do be rollin*

Pure class leaving in Rob's RIP for Jonas at the end. This channel has quickly become my favorite on RU-vid. Thanks for all your hard work aGameScout.

Man, CTWC is gonna be something else this year. We're gonna need to rename the killscreen to 'second transition' soon!

No disrespect, Jonas would've been a monster with rolling as he arguably has the best stacking ability even today and definitely among the old gens, at least top 5.

These last two rolling videos have SO many layers. Past, present, future. Jonas from the grave STILL making an impact, Rob Scallon and his infinite brilliance, Chez showing off his versatility and drive to constantly learn more about this 30 year old game, and Scout's giddy enthusiasm to uncover new nuggets for the community. What a time to be a player and a fan!

rick astley's favorite technique

I love how even 30 years after the game was released people are still discovering new and exciting ways to play. I look forward to seeing where the next 30 years takes us!

Yooooooo I'm in another scout video 😲

I wish to see Jonas’ reaction on the rolling method... I truly do. Hope he’s doing well in the other world.

This new clicking method is basically like finding a shortcut in speedrunning that is very optimized

"Practice Tetris with a metronome" isn´t something i ever expected Rob to say. Rob really knows how to bring in some fun to Tetris.

Just a quick thought: those missing vieo responses from the good old YT days are actually what made TikTok such a big success :D

I just bought an NES and Tetris yesterday due in part to your videos. Thank you for inspiring me.

I love the NES Tetris community and you are a really big part of that! Love the videos!

I thought it was a joke at 0:09 when it said 1.2M views but it’s legitimately blown up wtf it’s got more views than the world championships 2021😂

I've been grinding rolling and watching abunch, its been a big help post ks so I've finally gotten a 800k ✌

4:20 me, with tiny hands: "I don’t know where I’m going on this path. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life."

Hopefully this blows up like the last video! A great update on rolling this is, Scout.

making the controller flipped isn't impossible for the people who wants to use goofyfoot grip. Personally it didn't take much time for me to learn the grip so it probably is to other people as well :)

I don't know how I came across this specific video but that's a heartwarming community, everyone coming together and showing their own technique, very neat

I wouldn't consider rolling to be the equivalent to butterfly clicking in Minecraft. I think a more ample comparison is drag clicking, where a person is able to create an immense amount of friction with the mouse to make one click motion turn into many clicks. It's similar with rolling since here, it's essentially one rolling motion that generates at most 5 taps in incredibly quick succession. Oh yeah, and both are game breaking lol

these videos make me feel so excited to see what people think of next and the improvements that can be made on this

Hey it’s me in that video 1:20

There's actually a similar technique in cubing called "finger trick" where if you want to do two or more turnes on the cube, you can roll your two fingers to get faster turnes. Great video by the way!!!😁❤

Oh dang, I never saw the response vid, that's awesome! And also very awesome to see the community come together on that

Rob Scallon's tip for using your fingers in a "claw" shape applies to other instruments too, such as the French Horn, which I play. Pressing the valve switches in that form is more efficient.

Joseph: I'm a hypertapper! Rob: Hold my guitar pick

Man I didn't realize Rob did the pogobat intro for Dan Brown. That's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Thanks for the video. Always make the day better!

I'm new to watching the nes tetris stuff but I've been a fan of robs for years and didn't expect to see him. So awesome to see him here.

12:03 Nice! I was actually trying this grip not even knowing he did it too after you mentioned the one-handed grip!

it's amazing that Rob has actually added some GOOD advice here! Jonas would be proud!

It's always a good day for a scout video on tetris 👌

Awesome stuff as usual Scout!!

Great work!

Greatvideo as always Scout!

Classic Tetris players gonna start watching Billy Sheehan tutorials. And possibly going to become sick bassists.

As always, excellent work.

Great vid as always mr Scout

Here because of summoning salts video. This is like a piece of history. You documented it. Called it. You said it was gonna be huge and it was crazier than anyone could ever imagine.

lets go cheez!

We used to do something very similar to the two finger technique when we we were playing _Track & Field II_ back in the day. Had a little round plastic bit that we swiped across the A or B button at high speed.

Such a cool colab lol 🤣 my favorite things thank you

this technique looks a lot like 'plinking' in fighting games to get 1 frame links consistently. And a liitle bit of 'piano-ing' as well for multiple shots at a frame sensitive input.

this definitely reminds me of flamenco rasgueados (spanish guitrar strumming technique). even the discussion on which fingers to use and the order reminds me of reading discussions in method books

I miss Jonas, I think he has a part in this revolution too by bringing tetris to a broader audience and his kind listening to outside ideas. What would he say? Would he attempt to learn it?

This is really freaking cool and weird cause I remember thinking while watching these videos that using plucking techniques that'd you use on bass tremolo parts to hyper trap and now that exact idea is coming to fruition

Didn't understand a thing, but I know two things: It works, and this community is awesome

0:07 Last week is when that video came out? Haha, nope.

Idk why im so interested in these videos. I played Tetris effect for like 30 hs and that's it. But i love watching people play it.

i'm so hyped about this technique

This actually might help with so many other games when speedrunning

this is insane very good video

I made a post about this in a clicker game, Adventure Capitalist for when you need to spam clicks on 2x timed modifiers etc. You hold the mouse with one hand and use 2-3 fingers on the other hands and roll them / split the work onto the left mouse button. Players in Streetfighter also call this 'Pianoing' where when you need to get a move out with the right frame timing, you piano roll the same button with multiple fingers, or if it can be any punch strength for example, a quick succesion of LP,MP,HP on an arcade stick.

Great video!

Just watched Cheez get a level 40. Absolutely insane

Rob scallion was the last RU-vidr I was expecting to see related to tetris

The clone hero rake tap reference makes sense. HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT AS A CLONE HERO PLAYER! also along with rake tapping, I feel like slide tapping is similar in clone hero terms of the motion of your hand.

2:43 Him: Cheers for getting a line also him: MISSES A PERFECT CLEAR

Super interesting!

Might be a thing for other Speedruns that use a lot of mashing. Mashing in early levels is big like in Contra NES , you want o mash extremely fast and in a rhythm over the entire game to get the spread-shot-pattern. Could be really big.

i need to learn this

Now Rob is going to practice real hard with the technique he's satisfied with :) Jonas would be proud

Saw how somebody connected this to butterfly clicking from Minecraft although I would say it seems like a fusion of butterfly and drag clicking because of the positioning of the thumb.

Love it!!

i love how big this has gotten,, i know so much about Tetris now KEBWJW

I saw the last video and it made me wanna try Tetris competitively

another great vid Scout! let's make tetris viral again 🙂

As a guitarist with limited knowledge of classic Tetris-- I wonder if it's possible to use a technique similar to rasgueado for rolling. Rasgueado is a flamenco guitar technique for rapid strumming that is more like a rapid series of flicks with the fingernail, as opposed to Cheez's technique, tapping with the fingertips more like bass. It's totally possible to get a 5-input roll with something similar to rasgueado, as I bet it's possible to incorporate the thumb in the finger-flick motion if you incorporate your wrist; that would unfortunately leave your thumb unable to do anything else, so you'd have to brace the controller and perform all the other inputs with one hand. I also suspect that most rollers will roll faster if the hand doing the tapping is the non-dominant hand; the dominant arm generally has more muscle mass in the forearm that slightly slows down rapid finger movement due to more friction on the tendons, or at least it feels that way to me and many others I know. Best of luck to all those learning rolling.

Attach (tape/glue?) something to the bottom of your controller that extends it out, on the dpad side, you’ll need less force per tap to trigger an input. Just like how tapping closer to the center requires more force.

The rolling technique is really similar to a DJ scratch technique on the crossfader called 'the crab'

it seems like rolling also makes it easier to do a skill stop because you can control how many of your fingers contact easier than hold duration with DAS or hypertaps.

Isn't it more likely to register a button press if you roll harder and just hold your thumb on the button? The flicking of the side probably also shortens the time the button is pressed making it possible to hit quicker. I don't know how hard you have to press the button though because i don't own a controller myself.

11:46 that's some next level pipa technique

This is actually the second revolution of tetris.

@aGameScout seeing you so excited with this new technique I'm gonna have a bold predictions that you are going to be in main bracket of this years CTWC

This is so cool

Has anyone tried flipping the controller upside down and rolling their left fingers downwards? You’d use your right pinky to anchor the dpad and your right thumb would anchor the other side in the middle.

Steve de Luca is going to have to assemble a lot of goofy foots (is it actually goofy feet? :-D) after this video.

The bass playing techniques working for rolling line up with a comment I saw a long time ago from CTWC on Rob’s original video. Something about how there’s a direct correlation between being good at music and being good at Tetris? Side note: I also wonder if there’s a rolling method similar to “walking the trigger” on a Paintball marker. Some of those players can hit 12-15 “taps” per second consistently with only two fingers. I don’t think it’s the most efficient way to divide the work up between muscles, but there would be less moving parts in the long run which could be more consistent for tournament play? I don’t know lol

On the face of it rolling sounds like a shortcut technique too good to be true but the masters of it really do make it work. Revolutionary.

i wish jonas was here to explore this with us

I think CTWC should have a two thumbs tournament where you can only use your thumbs to press buttons.

I’m curious on you’re thoughts: rolling seems very difficult for me, and because you have a 3rd party controller (I have a knockoff for emulator use) I was curious if third parties and knockoff controllers would be more difficult or if I just need more practice 🤔

Funny to see the last Method. Its the same method used for "Hovering" in Zelda: A Link to the past Speedrunning for many years. I bet if gaming communities combine their knowledge everything would improove :D

The example of taking at 1:15 is actually an alt tap because he’s alternating between the fingers on the controller. A rake tap only uses one hand and is extremely similar to the rolling method used on the nes for breaking records on the athletic games.

Ebic content as usual

Cool how old games still get new strategies.

I play the riqq, a type of Arabic tambourine. We percusively do these exact rolls and then use the middle finger in the opposite hand, it is quite efficient

The way Rob mentions it it’s like how I played as a trumpet player, make a C but kinda upside down so maybe try to talk to some trumpet players and see if that helps?(unsure as i said it’s basically upside down) or maybe woodwind players since they go around a tube

This might be late and i dont know if this is gonna help but you know like those evil mad scientist villains wherr the tap their table, like they tap their fingers from the pinky to the index finger thing.

Pogobat is a throwback.

When I saw hypertapping I was like "isn't that just jitterclicking on a smaller scale"