What if this "kill screen" were to happen at, say, level 30 due to bad code? Would it still be considered "beating the game"?
So, this was the first person to encounter the "bug" (hardware limitation). But, future players may try to hit that point faster, with a lower/higher score, or other combinations of game state to beat the game in a "better" (more interesting) way.
I think most "serious" Tetris players can get to 30 easily in a short amount of time, right? Like 15-20 minutes? It'd be hard to think of that as a legitimate "ending."
Whereas a run to level 100+ or whatever for this kill screen is a major achievement. Took people 30+ years to get there.
I don't know, though. It's all subjective. If you want to think of a hypothetical lvl 30 crash as a "kill screen" or "ending" then hey... go for it.