Highest single hammer score

[Bliss1083]

Looking for the best top hammer score only. I had a great top hammer score at 50k level pace and a 112k start. Has anyone ever hit a million on a single top hammer game. Seems improbable but not impossible. I'm thinking with excellent deaths using all up on 21-5 a million could happen.

[f_symbols]

Ross would be my guess, he slays in competition.  "Top Hammer only" isn't necessarily going to kill your scoring rate; you can group under kong and probably keep barrel averages at 11K or more.  I'd imagine "over-pressing" could take the averages up even higher.

[marky_d]

Yeah, Ross scored 972k in WCR #1 taking top hammers primarily. He may have taken some bottom hammers early, or defensively, I'm not sure. He is certainly capable of a top hammer only 1 million.

[stella_blue]

Ross would be my guess, he slays in competition.  "Top Hammer only" isn't necessarily going to kill your scoring rate; you can group under kong and probably keep barrel averages at 11K or more.  I'd imagine "over-pressing" could take the averages up even higher.

Over-Pressing should be added to the Donkey Kong Terms/Acronyms master list.

Yeah, Ross scored 972k in WCR #1 taking top hammers primarily. He may have taken some bottom hammers early, or defensively, I'm not sure. He is certainly capable of a top hammer only 1 million.

I watched that WCR #1 game in its entirety.  I may be mistaken, but I don't recall Ross taking any bottom hammers on the barrel boards.

[hchien]

1M with top hammer is definitely possible.  If you think about it, the bottom hammer adds maybe 100-120K to your score.  Your average top hammer killscreen is about 900K and your average 2 hammer score is about 1.01-1.02M. 

Since we know 1.1M+ scores are possible with 2 hammers, (subtract 100-120K for the bottom hammer) that means 1M+ scores is possible with 1 hammer.  In fact, I might dare say since we believe 1.2M is possible,  1.1M is probably possible with 1 hammer (although very very difficult).

[VON]

1M with top hammer is definitely possible.  If you think about it, the bottom hammer adds maybe 100-120K to your score.  Your average top hammer killscreen is about 900K and your average 2 hammer score is about 1.01-1.02M. 

I 'd argue the high end of that range is more like 150K.  How the bottom hammer is played affects how the rest of the board can be played, and therefore, I don't think it's accurate to forecast based only upon points from smashes.

Since we know 1.1M+ scores are possible with 2 hammers, (subtract 100-120K for the bottom hammer) that means 1M+ scores is possible with 1 hammer.  In fact, I might dare say since we believe 1.2M is possible,  1.1M is probably possible with 1 hammer (although very very difficult).

From my reasoning above, I'd say 1.1 without bottom hammers would be a big stretch.

[Xermon54]

When you take bottom hammer, you will most likely smash a fireball + blue barrel(s), allowing yourself to have more time to group on top.

When you don't take bottom hammer, you won't smash any blue hits, therefore fireballs will most likely be in a greater number and comes up faster.

However, in the beginning of a level, it is sometime faster to climb fast compared to after a bottom hammer (it can vary a lot, obviously).

So it's still very relative how the after-bottom hammer is compared to a no bottom hammer in term of grouping. If someone can study more this phase of the game while comparing taking the bottom hammer and not taking it, that would be neat.

[Bliss1083]

I see what you're saying Vince. Do to not smashing some blue barrels and fireballs on the bottom hammer could seriously restrict pressing under kong and finishing the levels well before the timer runs out because of the fireballs making their way up. Now that I think about it I'd say a high million point game is probably really attainable. I wouldn't say 1.1 due to how hard it's to get with two hammers. You lose quite a few points 3000 minus the time taken away for the hammer. We'll say you gain 2k to be safe from level 5-22 that's just over 100k. I'd say you'd have to finish the levels with about 3000 on the timer on average from fireball pressure which can take your pace way down. I was hoping someone had already done it. I'm sure it will happen soon.

[syscrusher]

∞

Like a boss-uh.

[marinomitch13]

No one shows any love to the bottom-hammer-only variation...

[xelnia]

No one shows any love to the bottom-hammer-only variation...

I guess most people prefer to be tops instead of bottoms.

[LMDAVE]

To, me the simplest way to determine a single hammer max, is what can you average on a barrel board, single hammer.

Given say a modest (110K single hammer start, 7800 conveyor avg, 5500 elevator avg, 8000 rivet avg)

Barrel average (10,500) = 1,000,000
Barrel average (11,500) = 1.06M
Barrel average (12,000) = 1.08M
Barrel average (12,300) = 1.1M

Now, if you think you can average 12,300 with single hammer, that's pretty tough.

[danman123456]

I agree Dave I don't see 12,300 averages on the barrels and its pretty hard to Average 7800 on PF and 8000 on Rivets as it is. Still its difficult to get 12,000+ scores using BOTH hammers let alone just one. 1.05 is probably pushing it. 1 million is doable with a lot of grouping and then taking the hammer if the game just cooperates a little but anything more then that is really pushing the limits. I think we need to see a 1 Million Single Hammer game first and then we can worry about 1.1's

[Xermon54]

Doing 1m with top hammer only isn't hard with efficient grouping, average rivet/conveyer and efficient elevator.
I think a realistic "maximum" would be in the 1.06m range.