What Took You So Long?

[marinomitch13]

Haha, Scott, I can't believe you actually tried to replicate it! Not only have I only ever tried that maneuver once, I've only ever had one opportunity to even need to use it. I remember doing in one of my last serious mame games I ever did, and I think during the time I was quite into dodging fireballs by standing as much over an edge as I could and simply jumping when they approached (I often trapped myself on the side conveyor platforms, you see... ). I'm not sure what percentage of the time the ledge-avoidance-technique (LAT, another acronym???) works, but I think it may be better than simply trying to jump the fireball. We'll have to see what Dean thinks, since he seems to have a deeper knowledge than I do about the distances that fireballs need to travel before they turn around. As far as that specific example on the rivets, you may be right in that it takes 'PPP'.

Chris, kind off topic, but talking about the Rivet screen: I think I've realized a 'how to proceed with things if the star pattern fails' situation that I've seen a lot of people do incorrectly. This might start a debate, but, in the rare case that a fireball blocks you off from getting the very bottom left rivet, I think it is actually best to just skip it and continue on and get the top left two rivets. I've seen several people try to dance around and get delayed trying to get this rivet, only to then get delayed further trying to get the top two rivets or even the hammer on the way back down. The main reason I think it is generally best to just continue on, is because the bottom left rivet is significantly easier to just grab later than, say, if you were to skip any of the other 3 left-rivets: simply draw all the fireballs up to the top (later, when they are trapped on the left), then outrun them to the bottom. What do people think?

[stella_blue]

There were several things in both DK and D2K that made me facepalm when I finally got around to noticing them.

This thread is about those things.

Hey Chris, I had actually been planning to initiate a similar topic, something along the lines of "DK strategies and techniques that you acquired by watching other players, or by reading it somewhere" versus "Stuff that you figured out entirely on your own".  I would have posted it already, but there were a couple of stumbling blocks:

• Separating the totality of my DK knowledge into one of those categories (it's a short list, so that's the easier part)
• Condensing the subject line into a more concise description that still gets the message across (a bit more tricky)

You've addressed the second issue for me.  As soon as I take care of the first item, I'll attach the results somewhere in this thread (with your approval).   

[hchien]

It took me about a month of playing before I realized you had to retreat on elevators.  I actually got all the way up to 640K without ever retreating and not a single elevator death in that game (I still have that .inp and reviewed it).  Obviously it was very lucky.

My breakthrough moment--  I was (re)watching King of Kong and heard Wiebe say:

"And the secret to the third elevators is knowing which spring to go on, and then knowing which spring to move up the ladder on, and recognizing when you must retreat."

Lightbulbs went off in my head.  Somehow I had missed the retreat part the first 9 times I watched KoK.

[TheSunshineFund]

It took me about a month of playing before I realized you had to retreat on elevators.  I actually got all the way up to 640K without ever retreating and not a single elevator death in that game (I still have that .inp and reviewed it).  Obviously it was very lucky.

My breakthrough moment--  I was (re)watching King of Kong and heard Wiebe say:

"And the secret to the third elevators is knowing which spring to go on, and then knowing which spring to move up the ladder on, and recognizing when you must retreat."

Lightbulbs went off in my head.  Somehow I had missed the retreat part the first 9 times I watched KoK.

When my brother and I were playing DK every weekend in the 80's, we only knew that when a spring came out as what appeared to be moving faster it was usually bad.  We both managed to get 500k in the same 2p game once back in 1989 or 1990 certainly without the DK knowledge of springs that we know now.  Very lucky as well. 

[Xermon54]

It took me 9 months (from when I started playing to when I reached my first kill screen) to start taking the bottom hammer on the conveyer.

On my first two kill screen games, I NEVER took the bottom hammer. Back in the day, I thought it was less risky, to stay on the first platform (when a lot of fireballs were chasing you), and wait for them to go away to finish the level (instead of taking the bottom hammer, smash them, and climb up). In fact, obviously, in term of points, it's by far better to take the bottom hammer when you don't have a free path (and when you have the time to take the bottom hammer). But in term of survival, waiting on the first platform for the fireballs to go away wasn't that much riskier than taking the bottom hammer, in my opinion! But I often ended with 3k points on conveyer.

And it took Phil Tudose 1 year and a half to realize that there are more than one level in the game. Must've been a shock for him.

[Jeffw]

When I got my first killscreen I didn't even know that you could get triple 100 pts from the same barrel on the same platform.

[Xermon54]

When I got my first killscreen I didn't even know that you could get triple 100 pts from the same barrel on the same platform.

How the hell did you manage to reach a kill screen without even knowing that?! You were lucky!... haha.

[Bliss1083]

Going back to the rivets the thing I'm trying to perfect is unplugging a rivet by walking halfway on it then turning 180 without going tothe other side. Why would you need this some will ask. Well I use it incase I have only a split second to get the rivet before the firefox is there and running completely over then jumping back over isn't an option. It has saved my butt a few times but I've also miss judged it and run too far and turn back into an empty rivet and die. I hope people k ow what I'm talking about. Lol.

[Bliss1083]

Oh and the turning under a ladder as a barrel is coming down on you  as you turn the hammer goes to the top swing. I thought that was cool for the barrel stage.

[marinomitch13]

Bliss, removing the rivet without going all the way across it is actually also a very advanced strategy for gaining more points on the rivet screen. If you can do this while wielding the top hammer, it can significantly decrease the risk of getting blocked off from the last top-right rivet by any fireballs that spawn on the right if you choose to go even more all-out at hammering fireballs on the left side. It is only really aptly usable in a small subset of situations though, I imagine.

[John73]

a video that features a few tricks that some may still not know about.  I put this together back in 2008 so it's a bit outdated.  There are a million more tricks and tactics to feature so maybe someday I will throw together "Goofing About #2".

That was awesome, thanks for sharing that.  I'll be sure not to try anything I just saw this weekend lol

[stella_blue]

Oh and the turning under a ladder as a barrel is coming down on you  as you turn the hammer goes to the top swing. I thought that was cool for the barrel stage.

I'm sure I've missed out on a few hammer smashes by not executing that move when I've had the opportunity.  To be honest, although I've done it successfully many times, it still frightens me.

[Bliss1083]

Me too Stella. When donkey kong drops a bomb on me I use it too. It's a timing thing with that.

[stella_blue]

Me too Stella. When donkey kong drops a bomb on me I use it too. It's a timing thing with that.

When he drops the bomb, please tell me you're on the 5th girder, and not the 2nd.

Performing an overhead smash on a bomb with the bottom hammer would be very impressive!

[Xermon54]

I'm sure I've missed out on a few hammer smashes by not executing that move when I've had the opportunity.  To be honest, although I've done it successfully many times, it still frightens me.

Doing that move can be risky if you go under the ladder, can't smash the barrel and don't have enough time to get away from the barrel before it hits you!

Personally, each time I smash a barrel going down a ladder, I assure myself that I will have the time to get away from the ladder if I'm not able to smash it while in midair. 25% of the time, I fail at smashing it, so I just move away from the ladder, then turn back and smash it when the barrel reaches the platform.

When you go directly under the barrel when the barrel is slightly over your head and you miss to smash it, then good chances are you will die!