Donkey Kong

[hansolo77]

Wow nice job! Put you onto the Top 10 board, and even got you in 8th place! I'm jealous!

Updated OP, DB, RSS

[Cynicaster]

I regret that I was unable to participate in the Halloween tournament, but I did manage to get a new high on DK the other night.

228,600

[hansolo77]

You just keep adding those hard to reach scores Cynicaster!

I didn't really get to play either. I've been so busy with work, and then on my days off I've been struggling with my new Raspberry Pi toy.

Updated OP, DB, RSS

[GimmeClassics]

I regret that I was unable to participate in the Halloween tournament, but I did manage to get a new high on DK the other night.

228,600

Our hi-score members seem to like themed seasonal comps...so we might do them more often

It's always nice to beat your personal best on such a classic as Donkey Kong. Nice score Cynicaster !

I'm still trying to beat 200K....one day....

Updated LB

[Mame Offender]

Nice one Matt! 228k is an accomplishment in DK.

[smario]

I've been playing DK a lot lately - managed to get to level 6 with a score of 112,400.

Also, I found this guide which helped me a lot understanding that game. Especially the "barrel steering technique" (also mentioned by Cynicaster earlier in the thread) goes a long way in reducing the randomness in the barrel stages. There's really more than meets the eye in that game!

[hansolo77]

Nice one! I definitely need to read that guide then, because it is completely random to me!

Updated OP, DB, RSS

[Mame Offender]

I agree. Donkey Kong is a definite masterpiece that can be truly mastered by very few people in this world. It's fun for sure.

[smario]

Minor improvement - no spot up on the leaderboard though.

Still haven't mastered the 3rd+ elevator stages yet - I understand the "retreat on second long spring" technique but boy are they fast....

117,400

[hansolo77]

Thanks for submitting another score! I appreciate the efforts to keep these old games fresh.

Updated OP, DB, RSS

[Mame Offender]

Good score, Mario.

Shoot for 150k now. That is attainable once you get those pesky 3+ elevator stages.

[Cynicaster]

Another minor improvement

230,400

[hansolo77]

Not bad, keep it up!

- Updated OP, DB, RSS

[GimmeClassics]

Minor improvement - no spot up on the leaderboard though.

Still haven't mastered the 3rd+ elevator stages yet - I understand the "retreat on second long spring" technique but boy are they fast....

117,400

It's always special to beat the 100K barrier on such a classic game ! Nice job smario ! Now try to aim for 150K

Another minor improvement

230,400

The DK master of GX I hope I'll be able to beat 200K one day

Updated Leaderboard

[smario]

Major improvement - 159,600! (level 6-4)

At this point I'm able to

- steer my way through the barrel stages fairly consistently but still can't always cope with multi-barrel situtions when steering fails (let alone escape wild barrels)

- wait patiently for a free pass in the conveyor stages and avoid dumb mistakes with the pies

- make my way through the elevator stages more often than not by choosing a pixel-perfect starting point for the final run; I still haven't found out how to do the "retreat on second long spring" stunt though

- show some patience when the rivet stages don't work out as expected

This game's really got me! On this run I lost 2 lives for not being able to retreat in (elevator) stages 5-4 and 6-4 so that's what I'm trying to figure out next. Oh, and a top 3 spot would be nice

[hansolo77]

I hate you guys and your awesome score posts. I suck at this game. I tried to read through that faq guide with the steering instructions but it's just much to take in. >sigh< maybe some day.

Updated OP, DB, RSS

[Cynicaster]

Major improvement - 159,600! (level 6-4)

At this point I'm able to

- steer my way through the barrel stages fairly consistently but still can't always cope with multi-barrel situtions when steering fails (let alone escape wild barrels)

- wait patiently for a free pass in the conveyor stages and avoid dumb mistakes with the pies

- make my way through the elevator stages more often than not by choosing a pixel-perfect starting point for the final run; I still haven't found out how to do the "retreat on second long spring" stunt though

- show some patience when the rivet stages don't work out as expected

This game's really got me! On this run I lost 2 lives for not being able to retreat in (elevator) stages 5-4 and 6-4 so that's what I'm trying to figure out next. Oh, and a top 3 spot would be nice

I'm afraid you're going to steal my crown soon...

Regarding the Level 4+ springs, yeah, they're still a b*tch. Learning "what to do" is the easy part, actually executing it takes practice, practice, practice.

I find the only way I'm able to do it is to keep my eyes on the first bounce of the spring after I make a run for it, to make sure it's not a long spring. Problem is, I can't look in two places at once so that means I have to run "blind" towards and up the ladder. If I misjudge the point at which I have to start pressing "up" on the stick, that often ends in death (although sometimes I'm able to recover and try again).

I figure I'm probably good for a 70-75% success rate on the springs now. Some days, I breeze through it with complete confidence. Others, I can't buy my way through it without dying at least once... it's weird.

The cool thing is, if I'm having a "good day" then the elevator stage is pretty much a freebie because the only real challenge is that last bit.

[Mame Offender]

I'm back folks!  The Yolympics2016 was insane, there was a tie for first place this year between Better Off Fred and Verizontal!  My team was fifteen shy of the top spot.  

I woke up this morning with stark determination on getting a better score on the Ol classic DK.  Well, MO was on fire today as his first five levels were cleared without the loss of a life.  Things kind of fell apart after that, but I tell ya, I felt like a champion when I looked up at the score and saw me getting ever so much closer to 200k!!  I fell short of my goal, but am very happy to sneak into second behind my brother.

 

 

197,800

[hansolo77]

No MO!  This score doesn't count!  Look at the very bottom of your 2nd screenshot.    Looks like you probably had 25 credits stored.  That's not allowed per our rules.  We've let it slide some times, but you've been with us long enough to know by now.  Shame!  I really wanted to take this score and add it too.  I hate to turn you away for this too.  WHY!?!

Tell ya what, GimmeClassics and DazzleHP can overrule me.  If they get on here and see it and vote in your favor, I'm all for letting it slide.  But until they do, let's just call this an unofficial entry.  I know you're cool, but fair's fair, and I can't show favoritism.  Sorry man!

[Mame Offender]

Rules are rules, but this rule makes absolutely no sense.  If there is 1 or if there is 99 credits in reserve, this shouldn't matter when it's a game like Donkey Kong that doesn't even have continues!  It should only apply to games that actually have continues.  I would hope the mods would agree with me wholeheartedly here.  With the lower levels of partipation lately, I think we should make an addendum to this rule.  

 

It is a habit I have when I'm gaming at home on the X.  I will pump it with credits.  I will try to break that habit asap.

 

We haven't seen or heard from GC and DHP for quite some time, so I will be patient on the decision to accept my run today.  

 

M.O.

 

 

[hansolo77]

I agree too, completely.  There are a few games in our collection that have continues (some of which will actually reset your score to 0 if you use them).  But to be honest, this rule was agreed upon by GC and me when we first created the subforum.  We had hoped to make it mirror the official ruleset from Twin Galaxies.  Looking back on it, we're just a small group of kindred hobbyists, not world-class record achievers (although some of you guys are unbelievably close!).  We felt keeping a similar set of rules would make moderating the submissions easier.  If it were completely up to me alone, I'd let it go.  But GC really was the leading factor in initiating this whole subforum, and I really feel like if we're to keep the competition fair going forward, we shouldn't start changing our rules now.

Thanks for understanding and being patient though.  We'll figure something out. 

[GimmeClassics]

@ MO / Han: I'm at work right now but I'll post a comment this weekend.

[Cynicaster]

I looked at the rules as-written, and the only rule I see that deals with credits is rule #2 that reads as follows:

“Only use 1 credit per game || Continues are NOT allowed”

I think in a court of law, the jury would find that MO technically followed the rule of “only using 1 credit per game” because it would be easy to demonstrate beyond all doubt that it is not possible to use more than 1 credit to generate any kind of score advantage in Donkey Kong.  This fact holds true regardless of dipswitch settings, and regardless of what value sits at the memory location corresponding to credits.  In keeping with the court of law analogy, this is as airtight an alibi as one could hope for. 

Photos are specified as the standard of proof in this forum, which strikes a good balance between convenience and evidence (which I like, by the way).  I think we all know that there are ways to cheat in MAME that would not be caught by photo verification (cheat.dat, save states, etc.).  If one were inclined to cheat, I think they would use one of these methods, and not a method that manifests itself in the photo evidence.  This point is rather moot though, because as already mentioned, there is no way to use 2, 5, 10, or 25 credits to cheat a score in Donkey Kong US Set 1—the game program just doesn’t allow it. 

I didn’t witness the score take place in person, but if it’s worth anything, I’ve known the guy my whole life and I would bet the farm that the score is legit, even though I stand to lose the top spot if it gets much higher.

I recall some time ago I had a submission denied because my photo only showed the top score stored in the game, and the initials “CYN” were not visible in the photo.  I eventually followed up with an additional photo that contained the required proof, and the score was entered.  I doubt anybody here thought I was cheating, but I played loosey-goosey with the evidence and it made complete sense to deny the submission because it was “technically possible” that I could have been running a scam.  But this is different, because there is no such hole in the provided evidence.  

I know rules are rules, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the spirit of those rules.   Are the rules there to provide a general-purpose baseline of conduct to promote fairness across all possible games?  Or are they there to be enforced come hell or high water, even if it can be proven that a minor “infraction on a technicality” provides absolutely no unfair scoring advantage? 

[millerbrad]

I'm all for allowing MO's score, as extra credits don't get you anything in Donkey Kong. 

By coincidence, I happened to notice that the score posted most recently before the one I posted tonight for Joust had 99 Credits in the screenshot, so it wouldn't be the first time we let it fly.

[hansolo77]

Like I said, I'm good with letting it slide.  I just noticed it, and knowing how we've been strict to our rules in the past, I wanted to give the leader of the (high score) mods a chance to weigh in his vote.  I don't play these games enough to know which games allow continuing scores on continues, so it's just a good rule of thumb to just block scores that have multiple credits showing because there's no clear way to know (unless you're familiar with the game and know that having multiple credits has no affect on possibly adding to your score after you die).  Since Cynicaster put it so delicately, I can with ease allow the score since it's known that the game won't let you continue your scores.  But since this IS a group effort, I'll still wait and let GC have his say before going forward.  I don't want to step on any toes.