High Score Lists > Donkey Kong High Score Lists
DK Submission Rules
corey.chambers:
Donkey Kong High Score List Submission Rulesfor all scores submitted to the Main HSL, Level 1-1 HSL, Start HSL, No-Hammer HSL, No-Killscreen HSL, and Wild Barrel Hack HSL
Please review the rules below before submitting.
Submission Thread
Rules last updated: March 31, 2021 12:19 AM MST, by xelnia
A. Game Settings
* Number of Jumpman: 3
* Score Level for extra Jumpman: 7,000
* Coinage: Player's Choice
* Table/Upright: Player's Choice. The DK manual recommends always leaving this on Upright.
B. Platform
1. Arcade
* Arcade submissions should be done on a TKG4 PCB. Other hardware revisions may be accepted if the rom revision is US Set 1.
* 4-way controls are required.
* High score save kits, D2K kits, and Remix kits are allowed. However, should any of these kits prove to affect gameplay, scores may be invalidated after the fact.
* Multi-PCBs (x-in-1) are allowed.
* Double Donkey Kong (DDK) boards are allowed.
* Using the Pace feature on Remix kits is allowed.
2. MAME
* The only acceptable MAME platforms are WolfMAME versions 0.106 and newer, and Retro Uprising's Score Mode.
* The only acceptable romset is "dkong" / "Donkey Kong (US Set 1)"
* Pausing the game is not allowed.
* Intentionally altering the game speed is not allowed.
* Any modifications to WolfMAME, Retro Uprising, or the dkong romset will result in disqualification.
C. Evidence
1. Arcade
* For a player's FIRST submission to DKF, they must show the inside of their cabinet. We must be able to see: 1) 4-way controls, 2) TKG4 label, 3) DIP switch settings, 4) ROM chips, 5) the Z80 processor location. Players are not required to do this again for future DKF submissions unless they use new or different hardware.
* Video evidence must show the complete gameplay, from beginning to end.
* Players must make a reasonable effort to make their video evidence permanent.
* Scores done at live events will be accepted if it can be reasonably determined that game settings and platform requirements have been met.
* Video evidence that only shows the end of a game must include, in the same video, an immediate restart and demonstration of the Game Settings. Do not power cycle the cabinet before restarting.
* For scores done on a multi-PCB (x-in-1), only complete gameplay videos will be accepted.
2. MAME
* All MAME submissions must include an INP in a zip archive. If WolfMAME 0.106 is used, the corresponding WLF file must also be submitted in the zip archive.
* Players must make a reasonable attempt to make their INP evidence permanent.
* Retro Uprising submissions must also include a screenshot of the moderator information used to verify Retro Uprising submissions. This shows game time, recorded speed, and pause information.
* The average recorded speed in the INP must be at least 90%.
* Please submit only one attempt per INP.
D. Special
* High score lists may have their own Special Rules. It is up to the player to be familiar with those rules.
* Screenshots and photographs are not sufficient evidence for a score.
* Any score may be rejected if video quality is poor.
* Any score may be rejected if a player uses a technique or method not mentioned here, if it violates the spirit of the game and the spirit of fair play.
cheetah33p:
Very awesome Job Corey and Jeff! All explained awesome! :-).
corey.chambers:
Question: In the rules, when I mention new players to briefly show us some parts of their cab I mention the "underside of the control panel with 4-way restrictor plate". I think this came up before but for the life of me I don't remember when or where it my be in the monster General thread. (Sure wish there was a quick and practical way of pulling out single submission posts etc, so I could create new topics to get that thing organized and into multiple new threads). I may have slipped this language into the rules without remembered what we may have discussed. I think someone said that as long as they use the original nintendo joystick with the four-way restrictor and the pcb is real that it would constitute as an Arcade submission. Though I think I know at least one person that may play with a ms pacman joystick, and I am pretty sure that the machine that Svarar played on was a multi-cab that may not have had the nintendo joystick with 4-way restrictor... hmm. I mean, what is the point of an original power supply too because I know that Ethan has a newer power supply.
I don't think I ever officially decided what would be considered an Arcade submission. Some may have a mame cab with different types of joysticks, and some use a joystick on their computer. So if someone is using the TKG-4 pcb, and they happen not to have a fourway restrictor, then is this any different than a joystick that one could be using with mame on their computer? There does not seem to be a hard and fast rule. I mean, what if one player's score is higher than another, both were on an Arcade, but the one with the lower of the two scores was done with a 4 way restrictor.
Is this a level playing field for an Arcade submission?
Another question to ask along these lines has to do with the platforms. We have one for MAME, and we have on for Arcade, and I added the Arcade(multi) next to Svarar's to ensure people knew it was not an original TKG-4 pcb, but rather a multi-board. Maybe the Arcade designation can be for those that fit an "Arcade Criteria" and then those cabs that don't fit that criteria will be on the list as something other than Arcade, or MAME. What do you guys think?
EDIT: I mean, if we did an "Arcade Criteria" then we could maybe have a minimum requirement of an original TKG-4 pcb and an original or reproduction of the nintendo joystick with the four-way restrictor. But I need all you to chime in on this possible distinction for the list.
ChrisP:
My thoughts:
1. The four-way should not be a requirement. As has been discussed elsewhere, anything other than a four-way is gonna hurt way more than it helps! I had an 8-way restrictor on my joystick for a short time while waiting for the 4-way and it was awful. The concern, for example, that one could "steer while climbing" with an 8-way by using the diagonals is not valid. DK doesn't acknowledge simultaneous directional inputs. You're either pushing up, left, right, or down - there is no "up-right" or "up-left."
EDIT (two years later): as it turns out, I was incorrect about this, at least in part. While I still think it's much harder to play with an 8-way, on an arcade machine you can indeed hit two directions simultanously, register two inputs, and do "steer-climbs". I was basing my assertion that you couldn't on tests I did in MAME. What I didn't know at the time is that for DK (and other 4-way games) it's hardcoded into MAME to only register one directional input at a time.
I think people should be allowed to submit using whatever controls work best for them because nobody has ever identified a control setup that would give an advantage in DK (except the old "keyboard vs. joystick" debate, where the keyboard can add a tiny bit of precision at the very, very highest skill levels of play).
2. The power supply thing is something that PSP added to the requirements when he was with TG because he noticed sometimes that certain elements of the game (the pie boards specifically) behaving strangely with certain new power supplies. I don't like this rule either. It's an extra layer of needless bureaucracy, IMO. If the power supply makes the game glitchy, it will be apparent in the gameplay. Certainly won't give anybody an advantage, in any case.
3. I like "Arcade(multi)". I think it says everything it needs to say!
4. The board is worth thinking about though, because the TKG-3s DO offer an advantage in the form of the ladder cheat. However, the title screen on the TKG-4s say "(C) 1981 Nintendo of America," whereas the TKG-3s say "(C) 1981 Nintendo", so there's no need to show the physical board because the title screen will make clear which version is running.
corey.chambers:
Good thoughts, Chris.
Here are some more questions:
I enabled cheats in MAME and then clicked play and record input. Then I turned off cheats, even moved the cheat.dat file to a different location, and then replayed the inp and it played. The inp playback did not show me going into the settings to enable the cheat. Therefore, if someone submits only an inp, then someone will have to watch every second of it to ensure that invincibility was not enabled on the springs and then shut off. There must be an easier way. How does MARP submissions work? Cheats are not allowed as I understand it but how do they know without watching every second of the game. IF there is no easy solution and the inp must be watched completely, then who would be interested in assisting me with inp verification. I can check the checksum etc, but I don't think that I can watch absolutely every second of every inp. I could require it to be streamed on Twitch and hope at least someone watched it and would report any problems, but then how does MARP handle their submissions?
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