Cynicaster

Guys--I goofed up. I was trying to enter my Bosconian score but I accidentally entered it under 1942, and I couldn't see any obvious way to delete it. I already went ahead and entered that same score under Bosconian where it belongs. Please delete my score of 311,790 that I entered under 1942. Also, I'd appreciate a confirmation when this gets done so I know. Thanks, and sorry for the mishap!

No, not really. There are lots of “tactics” and “guidelines” that will help you succeed at Donkey Kong, but there are no fixed patterns that guarantee survival like there are in, say, Pac-Man. Donkey Kong cannot be won on memorization alone, which is one of the things that makes it such a great competitive high-score title. Simply learning what the tricks are is a good start, but they’re not going to do much for you without adequate practice in putting them to work. Here's a quick crash course... Barrel stage - You have to be a very good DK player to use the bottom hammer and consistently survive. Until you’re an expert, just skip it, and focus on getting further into the game - The barrels can be controlled somewhat. This topic would require a fairly lengthy explanation to cover thoroughly, so try Googling it. The gist of it is, a barrel is much more likely to go down a given ladder if your joystick is pressed in the direction of that ladder (i.e., left or right with respect to Mario’s current position) at the moment the barrel passes it. This applies to all barrels on all levels ABOVE Mario, but not on the same level or below Mario. Note, Mario does not have to be moving for this to work. You can pause on a ladder and hit left or right to control barrels on levels above you. - There is a tune that plays when you grab the hammer—learn to recognize the “end” of that tune to know exactly when the hammer will disappear to avoid frustrating deaths where the hammer vanishes just before you whack a barrel, causing you to needlessly die - When using the hammer, if you just walk left and right with it, the barrels moving toward you can (and will) still hit you. Stop in your tracks just as the barrel is within range to make sure this doesn’t happen. As long as you’re standing still and facing the right way, you’ll get the barrel every time. - Don’t hang out directly beneath DK any longer than you need to, because you’re extra vulnerable to “wild barrels” there. Rivet stage - There are a few well-known patterns for this stage—hit up YouTube. Note, they are more “guidelines” than “patterns” because, due to the randomness of the game, your desired route may get screwed up and you’ll have to improvise. Bottom line, there is no sure fire pattern that will work 100% of the time, and you WILL have to think on your feet. - The movements of the firefoxes are random. You cannot coax them down ladders like the barrels. You might think you’re influencing them, but you’re not. - Firefoxes on the same level as Mario will never go down ladders—but they may decide to go up. More generally, they will never seek a vertical position below Mario. - When you hit a firefox with the hammer, it will respawn on the LEFT side of the screen if Mario is RIGHT of the screen centerline, and vice versa. This is very important to know, as it helps you “set up” the screen for an easier victory. Elevator stage - I’d recommend starting by focusing on just learning how to get past this stage—don’t worry about point pressing until you become more of an advanced player. - The only really challenging aspect is dodging the springs at the top level. Learn the tricks of this on YouTube or through Google. - The top level springs are easy on level 2, slightly more difficult on level 3 (but still pretty easy), and most difficult at level 4 and beyond. It never gets any more difficult than level 4. Pie factory - This stage can either be the most difficult or the easiest of them all, and it all comes down to the hand you’re dealt with the random movement of the fireballs - The fireballs will “spawn” out of the fire can on the same side as Mario. Stay on the left of center long enough for all fireballs to hop out, and you may get lucky and have the entire right side of the screen to yourself. If that happens, it’s an easy climb to the top. - If the above trick doesn’t help you and you find yourself in a frantic run for your life, the left side might be the safer choice, because the fireballs move more quickly left-to-right than they do right-to-left, which makes them less deadly on the upper conveyors. - You’ll notice that DK slides back and forth on a conveyor across the top of the screen. The bottom-most conveyor switches directions every time DK hits the left side of the screen. This is vital information to know when you’re on that bottom conveyor, because if you don’t see the direction change coming, you’re likely to walk right into a fireball or pie.

Going by Matt is just fine with me. I got another score, on the day after that last one. This time it was quite the opposite progression: I started with what seemed like a pretty mediocre game, with a few early blunders, but I got hot at the end. I think I got over 70k on my last life. 220,700

Thanks! I had a great game going, reaching about 120k without dying, then I totally choked.

186,200

76,420

Yeah... I mean, I think they're great games, but sometimes they kind of feel like that song on the radio that may be good, but you've heard it 600,000 times, and just want to hear something else.

416,875

73,060

690,230 My cabinet saves high scores, and the high score you see in the photo actually belongs to M.O. I don't see that title falling any time soon... unless he comes over and does it.

I just thought of something... in the voting process for determining the games, have you ever considered implementing an "anti-vote" or "vote down" feature? Let me explain... I think there tends to be certain games that are pretty much guaranteed to make the cut, which makes the vote-counting just a formality. In this tournament, for example, rather than make it 12 top-voted games, you might as well just cut to the chase and say "Ok, Donkey Kong and Galaga are in, now everybody vote on the 10 others." There might be, say, 10 people who would vote for DK without even thinking about it. With thousands of games available in MAME, 10 votes for a single title is a lot. At the same time, there may be 30 people hoping against hope that DK doesn't make it. A "down vote" would give those players a chance to vote against certain games they're tired of seeing or don't want to see, thereby allowing other games to bubble up to the surface and be part of the competition. One way this could be implemented would be to give each player 5 votes total, with each up-vote or down-vote counting against that 5. So, in theory, a player who favors more obscure games could use all 5 of their votes to vote against games they don't like, rather than wasting their votes on games that nobody else is going to vote for because the games are too unknown. I'll be totally happy if we go with the rules as they're written, but this occurred to me, so I thought I'd put it out there for consideration. (PS--for the record, I enjoy DK. But, I can imagine there have to be lots of gamers out there who are sick to death of it and have no chance at it because they don't have hundreds of hours of practice invested before the tourney even starts).

Sounds great, Wolf! Should be a hoot!

373,890

These tournaments are awesome. The scope, organization, level of participation, and talent in the two tourneys I've played in so far (shoot-em-up, IGBOTY) are unlike anything I've ever been a part of in this hobby. Looking forward to see future competitions, and keeping retro gaming alive and well. My vote here is for another IGBOTY-style thing. My problem with something like the missions is that nothing I achieve there has any importance (to me) outside of that tournament. On the other hand, if I work really hard on a specific game that is in the tournament, any score I achieve can be recorded and kept for my own list of personal bests.

You've got to be kidding me... 300 points short of M.O. 263,525 I can confirm that I used the difficulty 5 settings for this run. For most shooter-type games, I find I only watch my character out of the corner of my eye while I constantly scan the playfield for targets and points. The "position" of my character goes more on instinct and "feel". That style doesn't work with Robotron, I find. My scores started to improve when I switched it up and started focusing my eyes on my character, and aiming out of the corner of my eye. The game field is so cluttered and claustrophobic that you have to make very fine maneuvers in order to survive. For me, it's just not possible to achieve the required level of precision unless I focus directly on my guy.

Do! Run Run - 136,720 Magic Sword - 132,386 Moon Patrol - 70,030

Bomb Jack - 220,900 Pepper II - 235,200 Bank Panics - 225,900

Frogger - 15,410 Bubbles - 112,900 Anteater - 34,210 Splatterhouse - 39,900 Sonic Wings - 214,000 19xx - 672,100 Kung Fu Master - 155,770 Donkey Kong - 115,600 (this is crap, I can do better; but so many games to play, so little time... )

The similarity between Robotron and Smash TV is no coincidence, as Eugene Jarvis is behind both games.

196,275 Man, this game is freakin' impossible!

562,270 This is a fun game. Thing is, you really have to learn how the scoring system works. If you just play strictly for survival, you're never going to get anywhere on score.

Count me in for the GameEx Goons! I don't have much spare time this summer at all, but as mentioned, it sounds like the design of this tournament is such that contributions can be made based on availability. I will say, there is no way in heck I'll be able to really dig into several different titles per week. But hopefully a few titles will pop up that I already have practice with and can make a contribution on those. I think most of us have games where we have enough practice invested to be "much better than the average bear". Maybe we should all start sending in lists of such games to throw into a pool.

232,450

62,770

10,949,310 Sorry about the bad picture; I didn't realize it was so crappy until it was too late. You can read it if you zoom in.