Donkey Kong Forum
General Donkey Kong Discussion => General Donkey Kong Discussion => Topic started by: dknetter on March 29, 2020, 04:50:09 pm
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Is it just me? Since things around me are in quarantine mode, this seems like a good time to try and play regularly and push toward a KS goal. I can regularly hit 200k, and hit a high of 373k a couple weeks back. These forums seem a bit slow, so just wondering how many other players are of a similar skill level and actively seeking to get to a KS.
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I was at 370k until march 1st when I put up a 631k. Most of my scores still fall between 200k and 400k though. I am determined to get the killscreen. My best game ended on 15-4.
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There's a few players in Aus scoring around that level going for KS at the moment.
shaunanigans88, lsb85, synthchemist.
Possibly some others I'm missing.
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My PB in November 2019 was 555,000. I'm skipping all the in-between shit and shooting straight for the killscreen.
My plan is to beat David there.... <Allen>
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My pb is 682k I got that a few weeks back. I usually score between 200-300k.
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Howdy,
Im another Aussie in that bracket, usually score somewhere between 200-300k. PB 485,200 I got after KOA3, I was playing a whole lot everyday going for a KS. Not played much at all in 2020 but plan to change that and go again also spurred on by the other Aussies climbing the ranks.
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I'm currently going for my first KS. My current PB is 714,500. Had a few 600k games recently, some 500k games and a hell of a lot of 300-400k games. I was streaming my attempts but I find that to be too stressful/distracting deeper in the game. I've also personally found the higher 550-600k games are draining after you die due to it feeling so much like "The KS Game". It's disheartening when you feel so close but then you die. I do wish to make the KS in the future but for my own sanity my official goal currently is to reach 600k as much as possible. My logic behind this is I find attempting to reach a score I've hit before more than once less mentally taxing then going for a PB/KS. Also odds are if you're hitting over 500-600k regularly then a KS is around the corner. My first tallied 600k game was on 26 March. I'm about to play a but load today so I think I'll get close to another 600k.
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My PB in November 2019 was 555,000. I'm skipping all the in-between shit and shooting straight for the killscreen.
My plan is to beat David there.... <Allen>
Gary, (you will have to imagine my accent as Marko from Tropoja) "Good luck."
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I'm glad to see there's a small group of folks in this skill/score range actively trying for the KS! I felt a little bit like a fraud asking about 200k-500k range players since I only had one score in the 300k range, so put together a game today that skipped the 400s all together for a PB of 539k and level 15-6. I had a great 1st man...getting all the way to 12-6, and could have survived that screen too after successfully doing the left jump by Kong's left foot to escape. But I was so shocked and flustered that I actually pulled off that move, having never done it before in game or practice, that I missed a chance to immediately go for the lower hammer when I could have.
The last few days I've been just focusing on barrel levels...simply replaying a 5+ barrel level again and again and again, trying to get my consistency higher. Even though it "feels" like I can pass the level consistently, if I play 100 times in a row while tracking my success, I'm actually only passing the level around 80ish percent of the time. After lots of replays, I'm feeling like I can recognize patterns and trouble spots a bit more now. Maybe today's game shows some progress there, as I had only one dumb barrel death that could have been avoided.
I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
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Well I just managed to skip the 400s again, scoring about 519k I think. I feel like I've worked out lots of the dumb death stuff, and could potentially spike a KS if I have a really good game.
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I'm currently going for my first KS. My current PB is 714,500. Had a few 600k games recently, some 500k games and a hell of a lot of 300-400k games. I was streaming my attempts but I find that to be too stressful/distracting deeper in the game. I've also personally found the higher 550-600k games are draining after you die due to it feeling so much like "The KS Game". It's disheartening when you feel so close but then you die. I do wish to make the KS in the future but for my own sanity my official goal currently is to reach 600k as much as possible. My logic behind this is I find attempting to reach a score I've hit before more than once less mentally taxing then going for a PB/KS. Also odds are if you're hitting over 500-600k regularly then a KS is around the corner. My first tallied 600k game was on 26 March. I'm about to play a but load today so I think I'll get close to another 600k.
Good logic on the score. The more you crave a KS, the less you'll get there. I was guilty of it, and when I slowed down, I made it. I'd also recommend skipping all prizes on the pies and elevators to minimize risk. Sometimes skipping that umbrella on pies allows you to beat a fireball dashing right.
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I'm currently going for my first KS. My current PB is 714,500. Had a few 600k games recently, some 500k games and a hell of a lot of 300-400k games. I was streaming my attempts but I find that to be too stressful/distracting deeper in the game. I've also personally found the higher 550-600k games are draining after you die due to it feeling so much like "The KS Game". It's disheartening when you feel so close but then you die. I do wish to make the KS in the future but for my own sanity my official goal currently is to reach 600k as much as possible. My logic behind this is I find attempting to reach a score I've hit before more than once less mentally taxing then going for a PB/KS. Also odds are if you're hitting over 500-600k regularly then a KS is around the corner. My first tallied 600k game was on 26 March. I'm about to play a but load today so I think I'll get close to another 600k.
Good logic on the score. The more you crave a KS, the less you'll get there. I was guilty of it, and when I slowed down, I made it. I'd also recommend skipping all prizes on the pies and elevators to minimize risk. Sometimes skipping that umbrella on pies allows you to beat a fireball dashing right.
Yeah, I'm also looking to skip that umbrella on pies if the fireball seems to be b-lining it for the right hand side. I'm currently just trying to work on being more consistent, primarily on barrel and pie levels. I'm always doing something dumb on pies when I don't get a free pass - like forgetting to look where Kong is for the sudden shift in direction on the conveyor, or getting too close to a fireball that suddenly drops or runs at me. On barrels, I feel like I can pass the level like 90+ percent of the time...the problem is, that's not nearly consistent enough! So if anyone has tips on just how to stay consistent during longer games, that'd be interesting to hear.
DonkeyShlong - shouldn't you have the L-22 badge now? Looks like your score is official...maybe someone forgot to hook you up with that?
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I'm currently going for my first KS. My current PB is 714,500. Had a few 600k games recently, some 500k games and a hell of a lot of 300-400k games. I was streaming my attempts but I find that to be too stressful/distracting deeper in the game. I've also personally found the higher 550-600k games are draining after you die due to it feeling so much like "The KS Game". It's disheartening when you feel so close but then you die. I do wish to make the KS in the future but for my own sanity my official goal currently is to reach 600k as much as possible. My logic behind this is I find attempting to reach a score I've hit before more than once less mentally taxing then going for a PB/KS. Also odds are if you're hitting over 500-600k regularly then a KS is around the corner. My first tallied 600k game was on 26 March. I'm about to play a but load today so I think I'll get close to another 600k.
Good logic on the score. The more you crave a KS, the less you'll get there. I was guilty of it, and when I slowed down, I made it. I'd also recommend skipping all prizes on the pies and elevators to minimize risk. Sometimes skipping that umbrella on pies allows you to beat a fireball dashing right.
Yeah, I'm also looking to skip that umbrella on pies if the fireball seems to be b-lining it for the right hand side. I'm currently just trying to work on being more consistent, primarily on barrel and pie levels. I'm always doing something dumb on pies when I don't get a free pass - like forgetting to look where Kong is for the sudden shift in direction on the conveyor, or getting too close to a fireball that suddenly drops or runs at me. On barrels, I feel like I can pass the level like 90+ percent of the time...the problem is, that's not nearly consistent enough! So if anyone has tips on just how to stay consistent during longer games, that'd be interesting to hear.
DonkeyShlong - shouldn't you have the L-22 badge now? Looks like your score is official...maybe someone forgot to hook you up with that?
To be honest I didn't notice but thanks for the shout. I'll drop him a pm when I get a sec. :)
Do you do any streaming? Happy to pop in and offer any help where I can.
As for not messing up in long games, for many, it's just nerves. I suggest covering your score with a bit of paper.
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The reason I notice the lack of the badge is because aside from home schooling the kids, earning it myself is about the only other sense of accomplishment I hope this zombie apocalypse makes possible during my temporary (hopefully) unemployment. I know that once achieved, I will have earned the respect of...well...almost nobody irl. My kids will think it's kind of cool though, and my wife will think it's cool that I don't feel the need to play DK as much after that.
I thought about trying to stream, but haven't done anything but open a twitch account yet. I'm wondering if, as someone else itt suggested, it might feel like to much pressure at that point. I definitely already struggle with distractions around the home too, and might be tempted to get distracted by any chatter going on. I thought after I hit a couple of 500k+ games, I'd be able to keep cranking those out once in a while until I hit the KS. I haven't even hit the 400s since though, and the 300k games since have been feeling pretty long!
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The reason I notice the lack of the badge is because aside from home schooling the kids, earning it myself is about the only other sense of accomplishment I hope this zombie apocalypse makes possible during my temporary (hopefully) unemployment. I know that once achieved, I will have earned the respect of...well...almost nobody irl. My kids will think it's kind of cool though, and my wife will think it's cool that I don't feel the need to play DK as much after that.
I thought about trying to stream, but haven't done anything but open a twitch account yet. I'm wondering if, as someone else itt suggested, it might feel like to much pressure at that point. I definitely already struggle with distractions around the home too, and might be tempted to get distracted by any chatter going on. I thought after I hit a couple of 500k+ games, I'd be able to keep cranking those out once in a while until I hit the KS. I haven't even hit the 400s since though, and the 300k games since have been feeling pretty long!
Keep at it dude. Have you tried watching a podcast when playing? Joe Rogans stuff always kept the time going fast for me as they're usually a few hours long. That way, if you fail a KS, it doesn't then feel like wasted time as you've been entertained at the same time.
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The reason I notice the lack of the badge is because aside from home schooling the kids, earning it myself is about the only other sense of accomplishment I hope this zombie apocalypse makes possible during my temporary (hopefully) unemployment. I know that once achieved, I will have earned the respect of...well...almost nobody irl. My kids will think it's kind of cool though, and my wife will think it's cool that I don't feel the need to play DK as much after that.
I thought about trying to stream, but haven't done anything but open a twitch account yet. I'm wondering if, as someone else itt suggested, it might feel like to much pressure at that point. I definitely already struggle with distractions around the home too, and might be tempted to get distracted by any chatter going on. I thought after I hit a couple of 500k+ games, I'd be able to keep cranking those out once in a while until I hit the KS. I haven't even hit the 400s since though, and the 300k games since have been feeling pretty long!
Keep at it dude. Have you tried watching a podcast when playing? Joe Rogans stuff always kept the time going fast for me as they're usually a few hours long. That way, if you fail a KS, it doesn't then feel like wasted time as you've been entertained at the same time.
Thanks for the thoughts man! I'm playing quite a bit every day since I'm stuck at home, and have been playing mildly interesting/entertaining podcasts as suggested. It does seem to make the games feel less long, and I just got to 12-6 and hit the 400s for the first time (3rd best game after the two times I've gotten into the 500s). I still managed a couple of silly deaths (leaving a foot on a ladder, missing an elevator jump), but hopefully can put together a game soon where I don't mess up too bad and the randomness likes me up until 22.
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The reason I notice the lack of the badge is because aside from home schooling the kids, earning it myself is about the only other sense of accomplishment I hope this zombie apocalypse makes possible during my temporary (hopefully) unemployment. I know that once achieved, I will have earned the respect of...well...almost nobody irl. My kids will think it's kind of cool though, and my wife will think it's cool that I don't feel the need to play DK as much after that.
I thought about trying to stream, but haven't done anything but open a twitch account yet. I'm wondering if, as someone else itt suggested, it might feel like to much pressure at that point. I definitely already struggle with distractions around the home too, and might be tempted to get distracted by any chatter going on. I thought after I hit a couple of 500k+ games, I'd be able to keep cranking those out once in a while until I hit the KS. I haven't even hit the 400s since though, and the 300k games since have been feeling pretty long!
Keep at it dude. Have you tried watching a podcast when playing? Joe Rogans stuff always kept the time going fast for me as they're usually a few hours long. That way, if you fail a KS, it doesn't then feel like wasted time as you've been entertained at the same time.
Thanks for the thoughts man! I'm playing quite a bit every day since I'm stuck at home, and have been playing mildly interesting/entertaining podcasts as suggested. It does seem to make the games feel less long, and I just got to 12-6 and hit the 400s for the first time (3rd best game after the two times I've gotten into the 500s). I still managed a couple of silly deaths (leaving a foot on a ladder, missing an elevator jump), but hopefully can put together a game soon where I don't mess up too bad and the randomness likes me up until 22.
Keep at it. I made a 396k first man last night, then jumped into a pie and lost the others shortly after on rivets. It should have been an easy KS but was over just shy of 600k. It happens with this game unfortunately.
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I'm glad to see there's a small group of folks in this skill/score range actively trying for the KS! I felt a little bit like a fraud asking about 200k-500k range players since I only had one score in the 300k range, so put together a game today that skipped the 400s all together for a PB of 539k and level 15-6. I had a great 1st man...getting all the way to 12-6, and could have survived that screen too after successfully doing the left jump by Kong's left foot to escape. But I was so shocked and flustered that I actually pulled off that move, having never done it before in game or practice, that I missed a chance to immediately go for the lower hammer when I could have.
The last few days I've been just focusing on barrel levels...simply replaying a 5+ barrel level again and again and again, trying to get my consistency higher. Even though it "feels" like I can pass the level consistently, if I play 100 times in a row while tracking my success, I'm actually only passing the level around 80ish percent of the time. After lots of replays, I'm feeling like I can recognize patterns and trouble spots a bit more now. Maybe today's game shows some progress there, as I had only one dumb barrel death that could have been avoided.
I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
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I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
Yeah, I found that vid extremely helpful. Even after watching it 2-3 times, I felt like just replaying a 5+ barrel level a few hundred times in a row helped to recognize various subtleties that you have to deal with. I think I'm pretty solid on barrels now, although I sometimes die when rushing the 4th girder and the transition to the 5th. Right now, dumb deaths on pies seem to be getting me quite a bit...I probably need to just replay that level 100x in a row. Otherwise, it's just the various random mistakes...getting a foot caught on a ladder, missing a jump, straight jumping when I mean to direction jump (or vice versa), etc.
I figure if I lose a life in levels 1-4 (which I don't always), then I need to pass about 6 levels with each of my remaining 3 lives to get a KS. But making it through 6 levels on average per life at this point is not typical for me at all. Right now, 2-3 levels (at levels 5+) per life is more typical. I'm not sure how to work on avoiding all those little mistakes aside from just continuing to put in play time to get the experience.
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I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
Yeah, I found that vid extremely helpful. Even after watching it 2-3 times, I felt like just replaying a 5+ barrel level a few hundred times in a row helped to recognize various subtleties that you have to deal with. I think I'm pretty solid on barrels now, although I sometimes die when rushing the 4th girder and the transition to the 5th. Right now, dumb deaths on pies seem to be getting me quite a bit...I probably need to just replay that level 100x in a row. Otherwise, it's just the various random mistakes...getting a foot caught on a ladder, missing a jump, straight jumping when I mean to direction jump (or vice versa), etc.
I figure if I lose a life in levels 1-4 (which I don't always), then I need to pass about 6 levels with each of my remaining 3 lives to get a KS. But making it through 6 levels on average per life at this point is not typical for me at all. Right now, 2-3 levels (at levels 5+) per life is more typical. I'm not sure how to work on avoiding all those little mistakes aside from just continuing to put in play time to get the experience.
If pies are your issue:
Are you straight jumping for the hammer?
Are you going back down to the bottom and standing still? In most cases they will go up and leave you alone. They aren't actually programmed to home in on you. Stay right also, you can outrun them going left.
If you see two freezers come down left, free pass up the right.
Are you paying for a split second at the top of the second to last ladder to see if a pie spawns?
Do all of the above and report back.
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I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
Yeah, I found that vid extremely helpful. Even after watching it 2-3 times, I felt like just replaying a 5+ barrel level a few hundred times in a row helped to recognize various subtleties that you have to deal with. I think I'm pretty solid on barrels now, although I sometimes die when rushing the 4th girder and the transition to the 5th. Right now, dumb deaths on pies seem to be getting me quite a bit...I probably need to just replay that level 100x in a row. Otherwise, it's just the various random mistakes...getting a foot caught on a ladder, missing a jump, straight jumping when I mean to direction jump (or vice versa), etc.
I figure if I lose a life in levels 1-4 (which I don't always), then I need to pass about 6 levels with each of my remaining 3 lives to get a KS. But making it through 6 levels on average per life at this point is not typical for me at all. Right now, 2-3 levels (at levels 5+) per life is more typical. I'm not sure how to work on avoiding all those little mistakes aside from just continuing to put in play time to get the experience.
If pies are your issue:
Are you straight jumping for the hammer?
Are you going back down to the bottom and standing still? In most cases they will go up and leave you alone. They aren't actually programmed to home in on you. Stay right also, you can outrun them going left.
If you see two freezers come down left, free pass up the right.
Are you paying for a split second at the top of the second to last ladder to see if a pie spawns?
Do all of the above and report back.
A piece of advice I remember seeing that really helped me with pies is that if you are only trying for a KS, most of your pie deaths should be time outs or very low time panic runs. If you are mostly killed by fireballs/pies with tons of bonus timer left, you could be less aggressive and probably survive some of those boards. Retreating to the very bottom of the board at the first sign of danger is what you want to be doing. The goal on pies is to get a very safe free pass and when that doesn't work out everything else is just safely buying time and hoping the fireballs go up top and get stuck. Once 2 are stuck up top, the board becomes much more manageable.
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I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
Yeah, I found that vid extremely helpful. Even after watching it 2-3 times, I felt like just replaying a 5+ barrel level a few hundred times in a row helped to recognize various subtleties that you have to deal with. I think I'm pretty solid on barrels now, although I sometimes die when rushing the 4th girder and the transition to the 5th. Right now, dumb deaths on pies seem to be getting me quite a bit...I probably need to just replay that level 100x in a row. Otherwise, it's just the various random mistakes...getting a foot caught on a ladder, missing a jump, straight jumping when I mean to direction jump (or vice versa), etc.
I figure if I lose a life in levels 1-4 (which I don't always), then I need to pass about 6 levels with each of my remaining 3 lives to get a KS. But making it through 6 levels on average per life at this point is not typical for me at all. Right now, 2-3 levels (at levels 5+) per life is more typical. I'm not sure how to work on avoiding all those little mistakes aside from just continuing to put in play time to get the experience.
If pies are your issue:
Are you straight jumping for the hammer?
Are you going back down to the bottom and standing still? In most cases they will go up and leave you alone. They aren't actually programmed to home in on you. Stay right also, you can outrun them going left.
If you see two freezers come down left, free pass up the right.
Are you paying for a split second at the top of the second to last ladder to see if a pie spawns?
Do all of the above and report back.
A piece of advice I remember seeing that really helped me with pies is that if you are only trying for a KS, most of your pie deaths should be time outs or very low time panic runs. If you are mostly killed by fireballs/pies with tons of bonus timer left, you could be less aggressive and probably survive some of those boards. Retreating to the very bottom of the board at the first sign of danger is what you want to be doing. The goal on pies is to get a very safe free pass and when that doesn't work out everything else is just safely buying time and hoping the fireballs go up top and get stuck. Once 2 are stuck up top, the board becomes much more manageable.
Not sure if this was already mentioned, but there's also a better chance going up the top left ladder when the fireballs are up top since they tend to gather on the right side of the screen. That's when you can't get a free pass anyway.
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I found an old TG thread where it seemed the thought was that after you break into the 500s a few times, a KS starts becoming a reasonable possibility. I'm hoping for that to be the case...after my first man, my confidence in actually being capable of doing it in the near future is much higher. I like the idea of just trying to hit a score/level vs thinking KS each game, and think there may be a psychological advantage to that approach.
Anyway, good luck to everyone ITT...maybe we can use this thread to update on our progress, share tips, etc.?
This seems on to me about the range. I had a few games in the 500 Ks then a breakout 700 K game (I ended that on a self death because I had to take my daughter to a birthday party). My next big game was a KS.
If you haven't seen this: it really breaks down a very safe and sound strategy for dealing with barrel boards. When I came across it, the barrels quickly went from okay to basically danger free.
Yeah, I found that vid extremely helpful. Even after watching it 2-3 times, I felt like just replaying a 5+ barrel level a few hundred times in a row helped to recognize various subtleties that you have to deal with. I think I'm pretty solid on barrels now, although I sometimes die when rushing the 4th girder and the transition to the 5th. Right now, dumb deaths on pies seem to be getting me quite a bit...I probably need to just replay that level 100x in a row. Otherwise, it's just the various random mistakes...getting a foot caught on a ladder, missing a jump, straight jumping when I mean to direction jump (or vice versa), etc.
I figure if I lose a life in levels 1-4 (which I don't always), then I need to pass about 6 levels with each of my remaining 3 lives to get a KS. But making it through 6 levels on average per life at this point is not typical for me at all. Right now, 2-3 levels (at levels 5+) per life is more typical. I'm not sure how to work on avoiding all those little mistakes aside from just continuing to put in play time to get the experience.
If pies are your issue:
Are you straight jumping for the hammer?
Are you going back down to the bottom and standing still? In most cases they will go up and leave you alone. They aren't actually programmed to home in on you. Stay right also, you can outrun them going left.
If you see two freezers come down left, free pass up the right.
Are you paying for a split second at the top of the second to last ladder to see if a pie spawns?
Do all of the above and report back.
A piece of advice I remember seeing that really helped me with pies is that if you are only trying for a KS, most of your pie deaths should be time outs or very low time panic runs. If you are mostly killed by fireballs/pies with tons of bonus timer left, you could be less aggressive and probably survive some of those boards. Retreating to the very bottom of the board at the first sign of danger is what you want to be doing. The goal on pies is to get a very safe free pass and when that doesn't work out everything else is just safely buying time and hoping the fireballs go up top and get stuck. Once 2 are stuck up top, the board becomes much more manageable.
Not sure if this was already mentioned, but there's also a better chance going up the top left ladder when the fireballs are up top since they tend to gather on the right side of the screen. That's when you can't get a free pass anyway.
I try for the immediate free pass, and sometimes get caught trying to hang out on the ladder up from the first conveyor hoping the approaching fires might turn around and let me sneak past.
After that I drop back to the conveyor and grab for the hammer...not straight jumping (and sometimes missing), so will start doing that.
If I can't get the first hammer because the fireballs are too close, or if they are sticking around after the hammer runs out, I try to get to the far right bottom ladder and hang out near the top of that. If fireballs come down to the very bottom and close in, I get up on the conveyor and keep an eye for an opening to go up...this is often where I goof up by not looking at Kong and getting caught in a direction change. If the fireballs close in on the conveyor, I drop to the very bottom and try evading the best I can.
I'd say most of my pie board deaths come between the time the initial free pass gets thwarted to whenever I can make my way back to the level above the first conveyor...during the evading, and trying to work back up. I'm probably do too much aggressive/nervous jumping around when I have lots of time left, but there are other times I am just barely getting to the top with a few tics left on the clock. I haven't had too much trouble once I get past the fires and near the top in terms of getting caught by pies there on the side, and I definitely look to go left since there's always seemingly a pausing fireball on the top right once the initial free pass is gone.
Do you guys generally try to grab the 2nd hammer if you can when there's a fire still in that area? Like to try and speed it up a bit and see if it'll go up? Or just wait it out and try to possible sneak up if it comes down toward the center?
I really appreciate all the advice from you guys, and will try to incorporate these ideas more into my game!
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I'm not in the 200-500k range but I am pushing for the KS. Hit my PB a the end of March with a 783,100 dying on L20 and so close I could taste it. Was having a lovely game yesterday, got to level 15 without losing a life, then the kids came downstairs, chaos followed and it was all over on L17 >:(
Soon!
(https://i.imgur.com/qsYsmyQ.png)
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I'm not in the 200-500k range but I am pushing for the KS. Hit my PB a the end of March with a 783,100 dying on L20 and so close I could taste it. Was having a lovely game yesterday, got to level 15 without losing a life, then the kids came downstairs, chaos followed and it was all over on L17 >:(
Soon!
Wow, great games - sounds like you are super close to getting it! I can relate on the kids/chaos distractions. I try to remind myself that I should be able to play through some of those distractions, just like Wiebe in the movie with the kids yelling "wipe my butt" in his high score recording.
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Pretty sure I have those same plushies, except mine are looking out the hatch of my car!
I'm not in the 200-500k range but I am pushing for the KS. Hit my PB a the end of March with a 783,100 dying on L20 and so close I could taste it. Was having a lovely game yesterday, got to level 15 without losing a life, then the kids came downstairs, chaos followed and it was all over on L17 >:(
Soon!
Wow, great games - sounds like you are super close to getting it! I can relate on the kids/chaos distractions. I try to remind myself that I should be able to play through some of those distractions, just like Wiebe in the movie with the kids yelling "wipe my butt" in his high score recording.
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I got sick of playing through levels 1-4, only to have my game always end before even reaching like the halfway point on level 12. So for the past week or so, I've just been starting from a MAME saved state at level 5-1 with all men left, and trying to get more consistent and reach the higher levels before even going back to attempt a true start at 1. I think it's helped to just focus on consistency at levels 5+, and I've had now had a decent number of games reaching levels 12 to 15. I maybe hit level 17 once, but I think I need to actually get even more consistent games that get to the 15+ range before going back to try for the KS from a level 1 start.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has used this approached, or what other tactics people might be using to improve?
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I got sick of playing through levels 1-4, only to have my game always end before even reaching like the halfway point on level 12. So for the past week or so, I've just been starting from a MAME saved state at level 5-1 with all men left, and trying to get more consistent and reach the higher levels before even going back to attempt a true start at 1. I think it's helped to just focus on consistency at levels 5+, and I've had now had a decent number of games reaching levels 12 to 15. I maybe hit level 17 once, but I think I need to actually get even more consistent games that get to the 15+ range before going back to try for the KS from a level 1 start.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has used this approached, or what other tactics people might be using to improve?
A wise move. I've been told by a few top players that many of them used MAME to expedite learning. It makes sense.
I'd just watch your own games back and learn where you die the most and work on that area. For me, I can get out of many situations where I thought impossible before.
Rivets used to do me over a lot, so I practised getting out of them rushing left. The best advice for this, is to abort star temporarily and run to the middle hammer but not collect it, wait it out. If they come up, get it, if not run left and hang off the bottom of the 2nd ladder in, and as soon as they go up top, jump across and down. One thing to be careful of here though, is don't jump straight for the hammer, wait to see if they immediately come back down. Hope that makes sense.
Only abort star if you REALLY have to, or timer is getting beyond 3k ish.
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So I just did it!!! Well, kind of...
I've been a little inconsistent with getting in play time for a couple of the past few weeks, but for some weeks now I've been mostly just practicing from a MAME 5-1 saved state with all men left. I don't think I ever made it past about level 15 or 16 or broke 600k, until just now. I actually just got to the kill screen with a 800k+ score! I've been pausing as needed throughout my saved state practices, sometimes pauses for phone calls and sometimes coming back to resume a game hours later depending on what's going on that day. I actually think that has made it a little tougher to get in a zone, and I'm not sure if I paused this game at all throughout (except on 22-1 to yell for the kids to come watch).
So this was kind of my "proof of concept." Now I know that I can actually do it, at least if I get to level 5-1 without dying. So I guess it's time to focus more on real attempts! I know it doesn't count, but it still feels pretty dang good to get there!
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Long time lurker here and I don't usually post, but I have a high score of 201k so yay I barely make this list. Getting back into and still practicing the basics springs and optimal paths not to die. As I'm not really that focused on point pressing unless I have a 0% chance of dying doing it such as taunting Kong on Rivets. Just seeing how far I can make it. I think it was level 7 that I finally ended up game overing in for my PB, but still at it and still learning new things.
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Long time lurker here and I don't usually post, but I have a high score of 201k so yay I barely make this list. Getting back into and still practicing the basics springs and optimal paths not to die. As I'm not really that focused on point pressing unless I have a 0% chance of dying doing it such as taunting Kong on Rivets. Just seeing how far I can make it. I think it was level 7 that I finally ended up game overing in for my PB, but still at it and still learning new things.
Welcome to the 200k+ club! Yeah, I really see no reason to point press at all until you've gotten good enough to reach the KS (I think someone like Xelnia points this out and discusses some reasoning in another thread on here somewhere). Just focus on getting through boards consistently, and the points will come along with that. I also don't even do stuff like taunt Kong on rivets. Since my game usually ends way before the KS anyway, I find it just adds up to a giant waste of time to try and do stuff like that.
My progress has been kind of like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Like I'll go long stretches without dying on springs, then have several deaths on them within a few games. It's just really mastering (i.e., becoming ultra consistent) on a lot of little things! Barrels has been a struggle in that way...I can pass the barrels at a high percent, but like 95% pass rate isn't good enough...pushing that to like 98% is the tough part! At this point I feel I'm finally super close...it's really just a matter of one good game now.
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Hey, so I?m hitting 400k usually, my best score is 617000, I would say I?m actively chasing a KS even though I?m on the bottom end of the spectrum. My PB had a final death at level 17 which is close enough for me to see it happening someday.
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Hey, so I?m hitting 400k usually, my best score is 617000, I would say I?m actively chasing a KS even though I?m on the bottom end of the spectrum. My PB had a final death at level 17 which is close enough for me to see it happening someday.
Sounds like about exactly where I'm at right now...hitting 400k relatively frequently, and PB 615k. But I'd say you are much closer than "happening someday" at those scores. Of course I haven't hit it quite yet, but I feel like it will just take one solid game with a little luck...which can be like any day now.
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For a minute I thought I was going to get to come back and post a KS game I started right after my previous post. I made it to 13 rivets before my first death, but only to 13 rivets before my last death. Argh.
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Hey, so I?m hitting 400k usually, my best score is 617000, I would say I?m actively chasing a KS even though I?m on the bottom end of the spectrum. My PB had a final death at level 17 which is close enough for me to see it happening someday.
Just hit 666k...so close. Are you making attempts pretty regularly for the KS?
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Made it to level 20 the other day with a score of 783,100. Got two weeks off work now, so will hopefully get some runs in.
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Made it to level 20 the other day with a score of 783,100. Got two weeks off work now, so will hopefully get some runs in.
Yeah, I missed my goal of hitting it before my work started picking up again. I'm still trying to get in 1 or 2 decent games per day, just to keep up the skill level if nothing else. Get some solid games in each day these next couple weeks and keep us posted how it's going. Good luck!
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How many games do you all play a day? I'm in the 200k-500k range and would love to dedicate some time to getting better.
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How many games do you all play a day? I'm in the 200k-500k range and would love to dedicate some time to getting better.
For myself, I've just tried to be consistent in devoting some time each day as my schedule allows. For the most part, I haven't measured that in games. I've spent lots of time just replaying levels from a saved state on mame. It's been about 7 months now I've been semi seriously trying to get better. At the beginning I was playing games from start, then transitioned to practice from saved states, and now like the past month back to full games again. Even the past month I struggle through periods of restarts due to dumb deaths on levels 1 to 4, but lately have been much more consistent at getting to 5 with no or one death. After that, 1 or 2 games can easily last an hour or two which is maxing the time I generally can figure to spend a day at this point.
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Made it to level 20 the other day with a score of 783,100. Got two weeks off work now, so will hopefully get some runs in.
How did the 2 weeks off from work go? Have any close games? I'm thinking of making a new thread:
Who's scoring in the 500k-600k range and not yet hitting a KS?
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Made it to level 20 the other day with a score of 783,100. Got two weeks off work now, so will hopefully get some runs in.
How did the 2 weeks off from work go? Have any close games? I'm thinking of making a new thread:
Who's scoring in the 500k-600k range and not yet hitting a KS?
No need for a new thread now - finally hit it!
820,700
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Hey, so I?m hitting 400k usually, my best score is 617000, I would say I?m actively chasing a KS even though I?m on the bottom end of the spectrum. My PB had a final death at level 17 which is close enough for me to see it happening someday.
Just hit 666k...so close. Are you making attempts pretty regularly for the KS?
Hey, sorry for the late reply! I usually play a couple times a week.. About 2 months ago I bought a arcade machine to really knuckle down so I?m hoping I can get the job done quite soon. I see you got yours so a big congratulations. Did you see yourself getting better before it happened or did it just click on that game? It?s just freeing up the time to get the 2 hour games going.
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Hey, so I?m hitting 400k usually, my best score is 617000, I would say I?m actively chasing a KS even though I?m on the bottom end of the spectrum. My PB had a final death at level 17 which is close enough for me to see it happening someday.
Just hit 666k...so close. Are you making attempts pretty regularly for the KS?
Hey, sorry for the late reply! I usually play a couple times a week.. About 2 months ago I bought a arcade machine to really knuckle down so I?m hoping I can get the job done quite soon. I see you got yours so a big congratulations. Did you see yourself getting better before it happened or did it just click on that game? It?s just freeing up the time to get the 2 hour games going.
Yeah, planning for a 2 hour game was definitely a limiting factor given work/family stuff. In the weeks before hitting it, I basically decided to just try and play one solid game every day so my skill didn't have the chance to regress. My goal for those games was just making it past 12-2 (halfway), and I started hitting that goal semi-regularly. But many of those games were only like 45-60 minutes. I did feel like my game got really solid and consistent in weeks before I hit it. The avoidable dumb deaths were still happening once in a while, but seemed much less frequent. More and more it felt like just getting lucky on the rivets was all I needed. Then I'd have a real good man once in a while too where I'd go for like 8 to 12 levels, so I knew if I could just string a couple of those together I could get there. That's what happened in the KS game, as I think I made it from like L13 to the end on my last man. Keep at it and good luck!
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Late to the party but this thread describes me.
Regularly over 200K with a high score of 325K and really wanting to put in the work to get a KS.
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And I finally did it!
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Awesome man! Grats! What a great Xmas gift!
My PB is 476k and end of top 5 is probably 280k. I really want to own a cab and have recently saved up the money to get one. I think once I do I'll be more motivated to really work on my score but I feel really comfortable playing and think a breakout game is around the corner as long as I put some time into it which I haven't been doing of late. Hopefully this upcoming year I'll get a cab and start seriously and consistently working for a ks.
Merry Xmas all!
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I used to play every chance I could as a kid back in the 80s. I could score 200k occasionally as a 13 yr old. I would simply run boards to quickly and safely get the bonus. I had no idea that the game actually had an end.
As an adult, I rediscovered it in mame, and playing this way got into the 500's.
After watching the techniques used to get to a record score, I realized that I was essentially playing a different game and started playing much more aggressively. Now I'm suddenly a terrible player. I'll have a great pace, but I'm lucky to make it to 200K, and I can't seem to make myself play more conservatively. Seems like everyone else goes for the killscreen first, then works on point pressing. I'm getting discouraged.
Also, endurance is an issue for me. I recently got an arcade machine. Boy, I miss that pause button on MAME. My phone rings way more than I realized.
Thank you for the free therapy session.
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I've been trying to get a KS for 3 or so years my problem is I'll play a ton and then take big layoffs. I scored my PB (682k) march 2020 but stopped playing. I just recently started up again and I am having trouble even getting to 300k. Stamina seems to be the big issue plus some obvious rust.
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Some of the best advice I've been given by the greats <Tim> (Gilly, Tecchio, Justin, others not mentioned..... but not David) has been don't worry about points and pace. At my skill I'm going for a Killscreen, not a WR. The points will come the deeper in your game you get. I've seen this shit happen.
FUNDAMENTALS! NUTS AND BOLTS HOCKEY! BACK TO THE BASICS! MIRACLE ON ICE! ......shit, wrong sport.
Focusing on smart play and not worrying about extra smashes/leaches/grouping has made my game more consistent, and made me more confident when I get in a sticky situation. No panicking anymore, just laser-like focus...unless of course Carl is in the chat, then my game is ruined.
This community is pretty damn great, so listen when these guys who are good players give us advice. They've been mediocre hacks like us before, and look at them now! They have all the women <Roy>, all the Bitcoins <Allen>, and unlimited booze <Walter> .......well, maybe they don't have those things, but they have stuff.
If David get's a Killscreen before me, I make a solemn vow to name my next child after him.
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They have all the women <Roy>, all the Bitcoins <Allen>, and unlimited booze <Walter> .......well, maybe they don't have those things, but they have stuff.
iirc, the things that helped me the most--
find and use a reliable (and efficient) system, like Justin says, whatever you find that works, and stick to it, stick to your own rules. this system and rules are there for whatever your goal is, in this case your only concern is to avoid deaths. do everything you can to avoid deaths. learn from deaths, figure out how you could've avoided them, as much as possible. zoning out and surviving for several hundred thousand is a very good thing, though of course you simultaneously need enough focus to do it right. being in practice is good. simultaneously caring and not caring too much about a single game is good. enjoying the game is good. being mentally tough & optimistic despite bad circumstances is good, don't give up when the timer's running out--always take your best shot at it, it's surprising how many times you can pull one out of the fire. recover mentally from a death as soon as possible, taking advantage when you still have a good game going.
i came up with a survival philosophy for rivets & pies that seems to work for killscreen hunting. when things get hairy, i retreat & make the fires come & kill me. i refuse to panic when surrounded, when panicking would probly lead to killing myself by running into one of them, i'm always retreating, re-evaluating & looking for the safest spot. on pies, this sometimes means staying on the 1st girder until traffic clears, but when they're making the bottom dangerous, i look for a way through, still making them get me as much as possible, not getting myself, while taking my best shot through when it's necessary.
unlimited booze, you say, Gary? maybe that should be Kreygasm
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I recorded a score of 252,100 yesterday, and that's my first time reaching 200K. I came unstuck with several stupid mistakes on the barrel stage. Still reasonably happy though. My confidence is on the up because the elevators did not trouble me on that run.
I made it to level 8 so a killscreen is miles away for me yet. I'll keep plugging away.
Oh and hi, I'm Jon. First time poster and huge DK fan.
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The advice I wish I had been given when I hit 200K and thought "let's work for a kill screen":
(https://i.imgur.com/ROn0u1x.gif)
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Yes, recently I made a point of watching YouTube videos and trying to find out how to progress my game to the next level- I had got to 250,000 on several occasions. So after watching some and asking questions like how to avoid the wild barrel Kong drops at point blank range on you when jumping for the top hammer on the fifth girder on the barrels levels- my game has improved a lot. I know level 5 onwards is the same difficulty and just keeps repeating with the odd random aspect thrown in. So my game is now up to 339,900 and got to L10-4. I thought I had the springs nailed- but I have now put MAME2015 in my scratchbuild cabinet and for some reason the springs are foxing me. Maybe I need to readjust to their timings again. So apparently I am 41% to ks- and want to keep progressing.
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I got my first KS on the May 14, 855,500. I'd been playing on and off for three years. It feels like a boulder has lifted off my shoulders.
For anyone persuing a KS, stop before insanity prevails...
In all seriousness, I found having someone who knows the game and has reached the KS a few times watch my games and give feed back to be invaluable. The community is pretty friendly in that regard.