Donkey Kong just KEEPS kicking my a$$!!!

LeeB99

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Even when I think that I am getting better, and keep identifying new do's and don'ts, I STILL have a hard time getting very far. I USED to play to strictly get past levels, but now I am obsessed with seeing how many points I can get per board. In theory, my scores SHOULD be higher, since that is the focus, but I'm not sure that the scores are any better than when I was just getting further into the game by just trying to complete the levels within the minimum amount of time. Anybody else going through this as well?

Lee
 
It helps to take a break, sometimes a week or two off help a lot.

I was adjusting my control panel this morning and started to play a test game on my knees, I ended up playing really well to my surprise!
I used to try and play at least one game a day, all playing helps but I think the mental part is what suffers from playing too much.
 
"Donkey Kong just KEEPS kicking my a$$!!! "

That's why I sold mine. I kept getting stuck on the 3rd elevator stage. Fortunately, I managed to clear it once and break the 100K barrier before the guy picked it up.
 
Don't point press the first few barrel boards. The little amount of points gained are negated by the extra risk. I've found there's way more points in clearing boards especially when that bonus timer keeps increasing.
 
Seems like all my games lately have gone the same way...
1) Start out great, approach 100k on first guy! I'm going to break my high score of 270k today!
2) Die right around 100k, get pissed. Rationalize that it's ok because if I get 100k per death, I'll be at 400k. Bear down!
3) Die again at 115k. Get really pissed!!
4) Give up and play sloppily, score 50k more points. Get excited that maybe I'm back on track. Start trying again. Die. Get pissed.
5) Die at 175k. Turn off machine and sulk upstairs. Pissed.

I know how to play decently, I just can't put it all together for a good score.
 
You will probably score higher not trying to point press until you can finish the game. I think you can get to the mid 800k range without point pressing. It is just so much easier to die when point pressing. If you are not experienced enough to finish the game running straight through, I have a feeling that you will not be able to put up a great score by pressing.

If there are any barrel combinations that give you problems, or if you are still surprised by wild barrels, it is probably not worth point pressing. Those skills should be second nature before trying to maximize points. I can score up to 280k not point pressing, but I can't get past 150k when trying to point press. I am just not good enough to do it yet.
 
Very interesting advice on point pressing. Ever since I saw how to make 8K points or so on the first board, i have been obsessed with trying to get about 16k points by the end of the second board. I probably should just be more cautious and go for finishing the levels rather than point pressing. Time to go play and try it out!
 
I've been told by a very good DK player that you should try to get as far as you can rather than point press. It helps build your skills. That being said, I find myself paying too much attention to my score even when that's not my goal. I've considered covering the score with tape while I play to see if that helps. - Barry
 
I've been told by a very good DK player that you should try to get as far as you can rather than point press. It helps build your skills. That being said, I find myself paying too much attention to my score even when that's not my goal. I've considered covering the score with tape while I play to see if that helps. - Barry

This really is the best advice ^, If you can't get to a kill screen yet why on earth are you trying to point press?
Funny as a kid playing this all I ever wanted to do was finish levels the score would come along with it, If I ever get good enough to get near a kill screen maybe then I'll consider point pressing...other than the early rivet stages because that is to easy and mostly without too much risk.:D
 
If you don'nt learn too adding your point pressing moves into your gameplay you will die more often trying these moves.

With DK you have too learn when too point press and when not too.

If i played DKJR without trying too get most points per score I would have not gotten over 800k.

Same can be said for DK3 Over a Million points.

Just use upper level hammers on levels 2 though 5 on Barrel Screens.
 
Ok, so get this... I went and played some more, making a special effort to NOT point press. Guess what? I had my best game ever. I ALMOST got 100,000 but the 3rd elevator took me down to my last remaining man before i could get past it. I was SO CLOSE to breaking 100,000 but just couldn't quite do it.

After playing a bunch more, i found that i was able go get a lot smarter about when to press. Obviously, the barrels stage is the most dangerous when you try to rack up a bunch of points with the lower hammer, but there doesn't appear to be a LOT of risk using the upper hammer just about every time. That is, except for when a wild barrel hits you from directly above without ANY warning. I honestly don't know how the pros are able to keep from dying when such a barrel hits you from out of the blue.

I am finding that point pressing on the rivets stage causes me to get "too close" to DK and die a number of times that i should not, as this is really an un-necessary risk that i keep choosing to take. I just cant resist doing it when i get all of the fireballs trapped on the left hand side of the screen with 3,000+ bonus points left in the countdown. You can REALLY rack up at least 5,500 points in those cases. I have noticed that some people point press just above the highest right hand side ladder, a good ways away from DK. I have NEVER been able to find a spot away from DK that will give points. Is there a method for doing this???

Lee
 
You shouldn't have to be that close to him, and also press the joystick to the right when jumping so not to accidentally jump into him.
It's another practice type of thing, just going to have to put a little time in to get it perfect.
 
Heres a little tip i learned from watching the Kong off players .. Hiting the jump button when having the hammer on the Rivit stages makes the fireballs think your jumping? They come up or down the latters and get wacked with the hammers.

Another thing i learn is if there is fireballs around the upper hammer? Keep kinda going up and down on the ladder really fast they will clear out of the way .
 
There are two ways to get those extra points in Kong's cage ("Jumping on Kong's Foot").

1. Get REALLY close to him and all you have to do is hit the jump button. DON'T DO THIS. You'll get a pixel too close and die.

2. DO THIS: Be halfway into his cage but hit the joystick to the right immediately after hitting the jump button. Very safe and this same "jump & joystick right" technique is important to learn. On the barrel levels, you won't keep losing points by clearing them with too much margin on standing jumps. It's a must when point pressing the first dropped blue barrel on the first level. Also, you can get points for fireballs coming down ladders. Sometimes you can even get the 300 pts. for a two-barrel jump when one is on the ladder and the other one on the girder.

It takes time to make this action automatic. At first, you'll occasionally screw up and hit the joystick to the right BEFORE hitting the jump button. It also takes time to get the timing right when jumping on Kong's foot--Jumpman's arms must come down before you execute the next jump or you'll just wind up running right.

Controlling barrels and watching Kong are the keys to me for consistently clearing barrel levels. You need to take in the big picture. You must not linger in dangerous areas when Kong is reaching to get another barrel; it's during this time that wild barrels can come your way. If you're not doing this and you do get through a number of barrel levels you're in danger of developing a false sense that you're getting better when you're really just being lucky.

Learning point pressing skills helps improve you as a player, but when you're wanting a better score, stick with the basics. One life will probably get you many tens of thousands of points (or 100's of thousands) whereas point pressing levels gets you only a few thousand. Point pressing is required for guys like Wiebe and Chien because they've been bumping the world's record score by just a few thousand at a time. That's just a hundred here and a hundred there and they can often play the entire game on one life anyway. Even Hank Chien stated that, to get a WR score, a top player must now have a lot of luck along the way as well as skill.

Others may have additional info to add...
 
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Also, jumping next to Kong's foot is only lucrative on the first 3 levels. After that, the timer counts down too fast, and if you didn't leave the rivet next to you for last, you might as well forget about it. Even in that case, the best you'll gain is about 800-1000 points if you cleared the rest of the board quickly.
 
Thanks for all the tips. I had been going right up against DK, just one pixel away. Doing that, you don't have to push the joystick in order to get the bonus. But, as noted, you will sometimes bump the joystick too far and die from "touching" him. I suppose that pushing the joystick either left or right mid-jump is a habit that you have to learn so that it becomes "automatic".

Also, thanks a BUNCH for the tip regarding pushing the jump button to trick the fireballs. I had noticed that Chien was doing this on the barrel boards, but couldn't figure out why. He would push the button repeatedly as the hammer was striking a barrel. When i tried this, the point value for ALL of the busted barrels never went over 300. I suppose he was doing this out of habit from the rivets boards?
 
Thanks for all the tips. I had been going right up against DK, just one pixel away. Doing that, you don't have to push the joystick in order to get the bonus. But, as noted, you will sometimes bump the joystick too far and die from "touching" him. I suppose that pushing the joystick either left or right mid-jump is a habit that you have to learn so that it becomes "automatic".

Also, thanks a BUNCH for the tip regarding pushing the jump button to trick the fireballs. I had noticed that Chien was doing this on the barrel boards, but couldn't figure out why. He would push the button repeatedly as the hammer was striking a barrel. When i tried this, the point value for ALL of the busted barrels never went over 300. I suppose he was doing this out of habit from the rivets boards?

You will want to practice to make that automatic anyway. When you push the stick left or right, the range that you score points in increases from one mario width to 3. If you have jumped a barrel and not received points, it is probably because the stick was stationary, and you were just out of range of the one width limit before it scored.
 
I usually point-press on the first level because if you die you can just start over. I tend to get between 16-18k for the first level. After that I play it safe on the point pressing. I do some point pressing on level 2 springs, level 2 rivets, and level 3 springs. Once you get to level 3 rivets the Kong taunting jumps don't work as well but you can still gain points safely there so I'll tend to point press there on level 3 and beyond if the circumstances are right. But the only place a really point press is level one and from there on out I point press less and less until I reach level 4 and then I only point press on the rivets. Its sort of a 50/50 strategy.
 
Also, thanks a BUNCH for the tip regarding pushing the jump button to trick the fireballs. I had noticed that Chien was doing this on the barrel boards, but couldn't figure out why. He would push the button repeatedly as the hammer was striking a barrel. When i tried this, the point value for ALL of the busted barrels never went over 300. I suppose he was doing this out of habit from the rivets boards?

One of the guys I was watching play Crazy Kong at Richie's did the same thing...I figured it was just a quirk of his ;) Anyway, you won't get more than 300 for regular barrels. It's not programmed to. The blue barrels are the only ones that'll give you 300, 500 or 800, like a fireball or pie.
 
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