Yet another "help me progress thread"..

[dimmu--borgir]

Ok. Need some help. My 9 out of 10, 150k games are finally over. 300-400k every time now but it's time to go further. The things I have done is to go back to the top hammer strategy again. Started my "career" with this but has experimented with the no hammer strategy the last months with almost no success at all. Jumping and grouping is nothing for me it seems. The other thing I've done is that when the free pass on the cement factory fails, I wait, wait, wait more and finally, for the most, go left instead of right. Much lower death rate from now on and 3/4 deaths are good nowadays compared to the earlier opposite.

I'm not interested in points. Fastest and safest way it is. Killscreen is my goal!

So, apart from some stupid deaths here and then there are two things I need help with.

1. How the hell do you avoid the wild barrels on lvl 3-4? Especially the barrel that comes in the beginning of the lvl on the second girder? Is it barrel 3 or 4? Anyway, they don't come very often but since I usually restart I think it's only a waste of time although it's 10 minutes or so. Only thing I could think of is to grab the bottom hammer as soon as I can grab it.

2. But the worst one is this. Occurs almost at least once per game with a death but how on earth do I jump the x_x_x barrels on the fourth girder?

Also, on the cement lvl. After using the bottom hammer the fireballs seems to be going/hunting me down? If I stand at the bottom of a ladder they seem to go up instead? 

I guess it's been discussed plenty of times but I really don't have time to search. Must play Donkey Kong!! :-)

Thanks in advance!

[Shane_NC]

1) There are ways to avoid lvl 3-4 wild barrels, but usually learning this for just running boards KS is overkill. The little amount of time you spend on those screens usually only translates to 1-2 WBs max, sometimes more sometimes less. My advice to you is just restart it doesnt take all that long and get to 5-1 without dying. Million point players on the other hand spend 3x as much time on those boards as you do, which in effect means they see around 3x as many WBs. So its much more valuable to million point player than just someone running boards. I wouldn't worry about this until after KS.

2)Ok the easiest way to jump an x_x_x barrel combo is backjump, backjump, straight jump, in that exact order. You can do this one of 2 ways

a.Doing a standing backjump, ie standing still and waiting until the barrel almost touches mario then jump in the same direction as the barrel. when you land its probably best to run with the barrel, let the 2nd one nearly get to marios heels then jump in the direction of the barrel again. Once you land just straight jump the last barrel.

b. Do a running backjump, ie running the direction the barrel is going, waiting until the barrel is on marios heels and jump with the barrel, then just follow the rest of the steps.

3) on the cement level after you take bottom hammer you need to do these things in this order to achieve maximum safety potential.

a.Grab the hammer and as the conveyer is still moving to the left, run all the way to the left side of the screen, once you reach the edge stop holding left and left the screen push you left. If a fireball comes down the left ladder you turn right just enough to get the hammer to turn then either let him come to you (since all fireballs head left from ladders) or by this time the conveyor will be switching right and you just left the conveyor push you into the fireball.

b. When the conveyor switches right (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) you need to position yourself in such a way that the hammer is contact the left ladder, ie if a fireball comes down the left ladder he goes straight into your hammer. You are going to have to stutter step left with the hammer in your hand to keep your hammer even with the left ladder. If a fireballs comes down the left ladder you got him easily. If a fireball comes down the right ladder, you can use the conveyor (which is still moving right) to push you into that fireball for the smash.

these positionings on the cement stage will help you a lot . GL

[ChrisP]

The best way to avoid the L3/4 wild barrels that come out right after you climb the first ladder is to *keep running left*. Don't try to grab the hammer, don't stand still, don't "juke," just *run toward the left side of the girder and don't stop running*, except to jump other barrels.

This was a huge discovery for me when I made it and immediately started saving me lots of time in restarts. At this point the amount of restarts this "rule" has spared me is incalculable. If you're on the right side of the screen when he throws a pinballer, just run left.

To avoid the ones up by Kong, *try to get directly below his left foot ASAP* (the foot on the opposite side of the barrel stack). This is a safe spot. You are in danger anywhere to the left of that, as well as in a huge area to the right of it (where he throws the "ankle biters.")

You are most vulnerable to L3 barrels while climbing the middle ladder from the third to fourth girder, or really anywhere in the middle of the screen.

Also, L4 WBs become L5-style WBs after 33 (actual) seconds.

[Svavar]

http://www.twitch.tv/sneikarmokko/c/2778223

A way of dealing with x_x_x  A hard one to execute, I just got really lucky.
...and I do realize that my reaction was maybe a bit over the top

I think the best advice is just to aware of the barrels and steering them in such a way that you won't have deal with dat shit

[f_symbols]

To avoid this X_X_X, You could also climb the broken ladder (or any available ladder), obviously, this increases the risk of a barrel rolling down on you...

Or you can execute a well timed single wall jump to clear the entire X_X_X in one jump (you can actually clear about X_X_X_ worth of space with a well timed wall jump from the maximum safe distance away from the wall, this can be useful for things like X_XX_X, or XX_X_X, etc.  If your jump is initiated"too far" away from the imaginary wall, you will either land on the lower girder and die, or bounce at a point too low to ensure that barrels will roll under your hitbox as you "rebound"; in both cases you will die.  Spend some time to find the maximum jump"sweet spot", it's essentially at the distal corner of the 2nd girder segment away from the wall (single pixel of vertical offset divides segments in my explanation).  NOTE, its probably closer to 5.5 barrel widths rather than the "6" that i have demonstrated above.

Also, another way to avoid the X_X_X is to look at the girder above you and attempt to steer apart barrel groups that could potentially form the X_X_X before they even get to your girder.

Lastly, depending on how soon you spot the X_X_X, you can always go down a ladder, and then attempt to steer or "tease" the grouping apart.

[Shane_NC]

i think we need to distinguish the difference between the X_X_X combo.... and the unjumpable XXX combo, 3 barrels with even space in between can be jumped by double backjump then straight jump, but and XXX combo with just a little spacing in between cannot be jumped and you need to broken ladder it or die. Not to be confused with a tighter XXX that can be longjumped for 800 pts. Also difference from the dreaded XX_X combo where you need to long jump back jump, straight jump back jump or whatever.. I know this is semantics but its hard to understand exactly what combo you were referring to.

[f_symbols]

Shane you can actually jump an XX_X if the _ is less than a barrel wide... It's pushing the max jump distance for sure...

[marinomitch13]

Maybe we should start a thread with a primer on barrel/spaces notation!

Shane, maybe use periods to connote smaller space. Two periods (.) equal an underscore (_), so:

XXX
X.X.X
X..X..X = X_X_X (see below to see that they line up exactly)

X..X..X
X_X_X

In light of what Ethan said about the XX_X with a smaller space, maybe the max jumpable distance is closer to (and can be symbolized by) something more equivalent to XX.X

Obviously there are smaller denominations of gaps that are important (e.g. there is a range to where you can successfully back jump a barrel), but maybe this smaller unit of measurement can help bring even more clarity to discussions.

[ChrisP]

8==========D ~ ~  (.)(.)

[alumbrada]

8==========D ~ ~  (.)(.)

How do you jump THAT??!?!

[alumbrada]

I propose we rename straight jumps to "no homo" jumps

[dimmu--borgir]

Thanks for all your answers. Great forum!

@Shane_NC; Ok. I will restart. The last three plays today went without any wb:s. Got my personal best on the third one. YES!!! 615900 lvl 17. Still plagued by stupid mistakes. Walking in barrels on ladders when I try to steer etc. For the first time I smelled KS today!
About the x_x_x. I will make some savestates and practice. This scenario didn't occur on either game today. But the "b" cement-scenario you write about did definately occur on my PB-game. Nailed by a fireball on the left ladder. Learned something new today.

@ChrisP. Ok. Running left like when the WB comes on lvl 5.. Tried that. Die every time. Stood still two times yesterday when the scenario came up. Maybe I was just lucky to survive. Great tip about the left foot though.

I think the best advice is just to aware of the barrels and steering them in such a way that you won't have deal with dat shit

What do you think I'm trying to do 24/7 Svavar!!? 

Anyway. I don't think any of the above is a really big deal since they occur so rarely. But it will not be so fun when I will jump in the third barrel on lvl 21:5 not knowing what to do. The cement factory tip will help alot though. Only one Death here on my PB game. Would have been three yesterday..

Thanks