Apotris GBA

apotris
General
Author	akouzoukos
Type	Puzzle
Version	3.4.6
License	GPL-3.0
Last Updated	2023/07/24
Links
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Support Author

Apotris is a block stacking game for the Gameboy Advance, with an emphasis on providing a smooth and enjoyable experience. It follows established guidelines to ensure that all in-game actions such as spins, kicks and setups function as intended. The game also focuses on delivering satisfying visual effects.

There are 11 game-modes to explore, with various options to keep yourself entertained (or challenged). You can even battle your friends using the Gameboy Advance Link Cable in 2-Player Battle.

More information can be found on its wiki page.

User guide

Game Modes

• Marathon - Try to get the best score as the game gets faster and faster.
• Sprint - Clear lines as fast as you can.
• Dig - Dig through lines of garbage.
• Ultra - Get the best score in a limited time.
• Blitz - Similar to Ultra but the game gets faster while also boosting your scores.
• Combo - Aim for the most consecutive clears in a 4-wide well.
• Survival - Surivive as long as possible while garbage rises from below.
• Classic - Like Marathon but with old school stacking mechanics.
• Master - Also like Marathon, but with increased difficulty and a grading system.
• 2P Battle - Send garbage to your opponent through a Link Cable by clearing lines.
• Training - Try out new strategies or improve your playing using the included Finesse Trainer.

Controls

Left/Right - Move falling piece

A - Rotate Clockwise

B - Rotate Counter-Clockwise

Down - Soft drop

Up - Hard drop

L/R - Hold piece

Start - Pause

You can rebind any of these controls in the settings.

Screenshots

Compatibility

Works on actual hardware and emulators. For more details see What's the best way to play?.

Changelog

v3.4.6

• Fixed Master Mode bug that caused the game to crash if your grade was too high.
• Fixed Master Mode issue that made getting cools easier than intended.
• Fixed Initial System Type B not allowing IRS and IHS at the same time.
• Fixed rumble not stopping when pausing the game.
• Fixed training mode saves menu issues.
• Fixed training mode saves bugs.
• Fixed issue that made it possible to top out during zone.
• Fixed bug that caused the next piece in the queue to get skipped when ending zone.
• Fixed being able to pause during the zone start animation.
• Fixed background showing when returning from sleep during zone.
• Fixed 180 spin being enabled in Classic Mode.
• Fixed Classic Mode level selector display bug.
• Fixed issue that made it impossible change the Playback audio setting.
• Fixed being able to bind more than 2 keys to the same action.
• Fixed t-spin detection for niche t-spins.
• Fixed Big Mode spawn height inconsistencies.
• Fixed Big Mode zoned lines display text.
• Fixed a few 2P Battle bugs.
• Fixed perfect clear attack scoring (combo lines now get added and multi-line perfect clears award correct values).
• Partially fixed background issue for gbarunner2 users that caused a line to show up on the top of the screen (this is a gbarunner2 accuracy issue so it can't really be 100% fixed on my side).
• Added "off" option to L+R quick reset setting.
• Added ability to buffer actions and charge DAS during game start.
• Added airless(?) kick stall prevention (for kicks that allow you to gain height without bottom of the piece touching anything and thus circumventing lock delay).
• Improved zone meter display accuracy (n/4 values are now actually accurate).
• Hard drop now only buffers if held instead of on press during entry delay (only affects Master Mode).
• Changed IRS behavior. It now behaves closer to other games (making higher zone clears possible).
• Gravity now applies to every movement of ARR (affects V.FAST and INSTANT).
• Training mode saves now reset when exiting the current game.

v3.4.5

• Added initial hold/rotation type. Type A activates if the button is held while a new piece spawns. Type B activates if the button was newly pressed during the previous clear/entry delay.
• Saving now works on Analogue Pocket openFPGA.
• Fixed spawn position for held pieces. Pieces that spawn after holding now have the same spawn logic as other pieces.
• Fixed initial hold issue where that caused the first hold to happen twice.
• Fixed initial rotation not working in Master Mode with Normal rules.
• Fixed save conversion issues that caused crashes during highscore screen.
• Fixed clear text showing in Training Mode Load/Save menu.
• Fixed bug that caused the game to freeze in Survival Mode after a Perfect Clear.
• Disable diagonals no longer affects Classic Mode.

v3.4.4

• Added Initial Hold & Initial Rotation toggles in handling settings.
• Fixed various UI Bugs.
• Fixed bug where pieces would have wrong spawn rotations after pausing.

v3.4.3

• Fixed IHS getting stuck to on position.

v3.4.2

• IRS and IHS now only work on button hold, and behave more like their TGM counter parts in Master Mode.
• Disable Diagonals is now always set to SOFT when playing Master Mode with Normal rules.
• Fixed Disable Diagonals soft option not working when rebinding keys.
• Fixed in-game score display bug (would show the score modulo 2^16).
• Fixed save conversion from versions 3.2 and before.
• Fixed lines not getting cleared if saving during clear delay in Training Mode.
• Fixed zone meter animation getting stuck if zone gets activated while it's happening.

v3.4.1

• Fixed Master Mode tuning issue on high speed level.
• Fixed palette not resetting after zone if player tops out while breaking a record and closing the game.

v3.4.0

• Added Master Mode (based on TGM3) available with Normal handling and SRS or classic handling with ARS (secret-grade and promotion exams to be added in the future).
• Added a marathon sub-mode called Zone where clearing lines fills the zone meter, which you can then spend to activate Zone. During zone, lines don't get cleared right away and instead get cleared all at once when zone ends.
• Handling changes:
  • You can now set DAS to an exact number of frames (keep pressing left on the Auto Repeat Delay setting to set this).
  • Added "Instant" options to ARR and Soft Drop Speed.
  • "Delay Soft Drop" option to toggle the delay before soft drop starts when holding down.
  • Disable Diagonals now has 3 options: OFF/SOFT/STRICT. (Strict ignores the second press entirely while soft only ignores it while the first button is held down).
• Added connected skins (3 for now, but I will add more in the future).
• Added Gradient Backgrounds graphics option. If you want to disable this, set it to 0 0 0.
• Renamed previous Background option to "Grid" which describes the setting better.
• Pressing Select in Graphics Settings resets them to default.
• Added Pro Mode. Enable it by holding L or R while starting a game. With Pro Mode a PPS counter and a correct finesse streak counter get enabled. Also clear delay gets reduced to 0.
• Improvements to Training Mode:
  • Added a level selector to Training Mode so you can practice at speed.
  • If you top out, the board just resets instead of leading to a game over.
  • Pressing pause opens the "Saves" section if the last time you paused you had "Saves" open.
• Added several stats to the post-game stats, including "IGT" or In-Game Time which is a timer that doesn't count during clear delay, so that you can compare your times with other games that don't have it.
• Pause menu now hides the board and previews to prevent cheating by pausing to think.
• Added the post-game stats and mode text to the pause menu, so you can see all of them while in-game.
• Fixed a few UI bugs.

v3.3.0

• Added Classic Mode (based on NES, has both A-type and B-type).
• Added sub-modes for sprint and dig (sprint attack and dig efficiency).
• Added the Skin Editor where you can create your own skins.
• Added 2 new skins and a new palette.
• Reordered the graphics settings.
• You can now see your total playtime in the settings screen (starts tracking from this update onward).
• It is now possible to reset a scoreboard by pressing L + R + Select while viewing it.
• Improved DAS/ARR making it more consistent, though DAS might feel a bit faster.
• Improved the "disable diagonals" option. Now the second key-press causing the diagonal is pressed when the first key is released, instead of ignored completely. This makes "rolling" the d-pad possible.
• You can now input hold or rotate the next piece while in the line clear animation.

v3.2.1

• Added a sound effect when big mode gets enabled.
• Fixed bug with rumble and added more adjust-ability.
• Fixed small place effect issues.
• Fixed NES palette bugs.

v3.2.0

• Added Gameboy and NES skins and palettes.
• Added Big Mode (5x10 mode, input the konami code in the title screen to enable).
• Added Rumble support.
• Added a new effect when placing pieces (Place Effect in Graphics Settings).
• Select button can now be bound in Controls.
• Added mode name and more stats in the post-game screen.
• Announcer is now more excited for Quads.
• Fixed incorrect 180 spin kicks.
• Fixed other small bugs.

v3.1.0

• Combo "walls" now go up all the way to the top.
• Placing a piece in combo mode before starting a combo no longer leads to Game Over.
• Post-Game stats now keep showing state until reboot.
• Fixed Rotate Left/Right labels in Controls settings being.
• Fixed bug that caused early top-outs.
• Saving on cartridges with both flash and SRAM/FRAM should now be handled correctly.

v3.0.1

• Fixed bug in survival mode.

v3.0.0

• Added 4 Wide Combo Mode.
• Added tetr.io style Blitz Mode (scoring should be the same).
• Added Survival Mode.
• Added tetresse style Finesse training option to Training Mode.
• Added 180 spins (not assigned to any buttons by default).
• Added even more customization options including skins, backgrounds, remappable inputs and a lot more.
• Added stats in after-game screen.
• Improved menus (hopefully).
• Changed four line clear text and sound effects to "Quad".
• Held piece gets grayed out when holding is not allowed.
• Next preview pieces now visible during Ready-Go.
• Quick resetting now works during Ready-Go.
• Dig garbage "holes" are now always 1 square deep.
• Flash saving should now work for some bootleg cartridges (using lesserkuma's goombacolor code).
• Fixed a few bugs, including a couple that affected piece locking.
• The game is now open source.
• More that I'm probably forgetting.

v2.1.1

• Fixed a bug that caused the game lock up on the name input screen.

v2.1

• Added white frame color.
• Added new skin.
• Added quick restart shortcut (hold L+R).
• Fixed ultra scoreboard bug.

v2.0

• Added Ultra Mode.
• Added Training Mode.
• Added 2 Player Battle Mode.
• Added 4 more Music Tracks.
• Added a lot of customization options, including a Light Mode for non-backlit GBAs.

Credits

Link Cable Library.

Menu:

• Track 1 by supernao.
• Track 2 by substance.

In-Game:

• Track 1 by Nikku4211.
• Track 2 by kb-zip.
• Track 3 by curt cool.
• Track 4 by Basq.

External links

• Official website - https://akouzoukos.com/apotris
• GitHub - https://github.com/akouzoukos/apotris/wiki/
• Gitea - https://gitea.com/akouzoukos/apotris