Tetris: The Grand Master 3 – Terror-Instinct

This game in the Tetris: The Grand Master sub-series introduces several new
modes and gameplay adjustments. This game also introduces optional user
accounts, which allow players to track their high scores and personal
progress. Players who are logged in are assigned a “qualified class” based on
their performance in Master mode, and may be randomly assigned a Promotion or
Demotion exam that will determine whether they keep their current class or
receive a new one. The only way to achieve the Grand Master grade in this game
is through passing a Promotional Exam.

Easy mode is intended to introduce new players to the game. It goes up to
level 200, and the aim is to get as many fireworks to go off as possible.
Fireworks can be earned through line clears, and playing well will award the
player with higher numbers of fireworks per line cleared. Once the mode is
cleared, a playable credits sequence will start. The credits are the only
point in Easy mode in which tetrominoes fall at 20G.

Sakura mode contains the same gameplay as Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura:
Eternal Heart, in which the goal is to clear special jewel blocks as fast as
possible. This mode is a time attack with 27 stages that progressively
increase in difficulty. Some stages include obstacles, such as reversing the
control scheme or making non-jewel blocks invisible.

Master mode is very similar to its incarnation in Tetris the Absolute: The
Grand Master 2. Players may now elect to hold a single piece for use later,
and a preview of the next three pieces to fall is displayed at the top of the
screen. The speed of falling blocks no longer progesses at a set pace, and
instead increases based on the player’s performance; it is possible to reach
20G as early as level 300 if the player is doing well. This mode will end
prematurely if the player takes longer than seven minutes to reach level 500.

Similar to Master is Shirase mode, which has 1300 levels. This extremely fast
and punishing mode introduces garbage blocks which rise from the bottom of the
screen periodically. As an added challenge, from level 1000 onwards all blocks
are made up of monochrome brackets, making it harder to determine at a glance
which piece is being handled. Like in Master mode, there are failure
conditions if the player takes too long to reach certain level thresholds.