Broke 100,000 for the first time. Thank you all for your posts!

[Tryken]

I've spent the past month or so playing Donkey Kong, and most of my better games would end up between 50-80k (my best was 91,000). My initial goal was 100,000 points. It proved much easier said than done.

I spent some time doing save states for the third spring stage, but what finally launched me over my last hurdle was finding out that I could control the barrels! All of this time, I'd wait too long for opportunities to clear the board and get hit with a bad combination or a wild barrel. With the ability to control the barrels, I found myself easily getting opportunities to grab the top hammer and clear the board.

Anyway, I'd have known almost none of this if it weren't for this amazing place. Thank you all for helping me get to my first 100,000 points. Also, thank you to Danman for your awesome streams and to the Beginner's Guide. That 100 page compendium has been a huge help. This, I'm sure, is a mild accomplishment compared to what many of you have achieved, but it's the harvest of weeks of labor and study for myself.

Finally, to make this more open to discussion, what are some tips and tricks you realized that dramatically improved your own game?

Cheers,

Tryken

[xelnia]

Congrats on the PB and breaking the 100k mark! Mastering the springs and understanding barrel behavior will get you a long ways toward the kill screen. Now it's just a matter of developing good habits and patience for a long game.

Being able to "see the springs" was definitely the skill that improved my game the most.

[danman123456]

Great stuff! I've been playing halo lately but I'll be streaming so DK this week for sure. Always welcome to watch me rage and fail. 

[marinomitch13]

Knowing the nature of firefoxes really well helped me become a lot more adept at planning ahead on the rivet and pie stages. I think good players often take for granted just how much they've become so accustomed to the little quirks of the firefoxes and how it allows them to respond in super anticipatory and efficient ways that it can easily get overlooked. It is one of the things in DK that (generally) takes a longer time to sink in for people -but it is the skill that will save more than a few lives in a typical, longer game.

[andrewg]

Good stuff! Once you start breaking 200kish, I say that's when you really start picking up steam.

[stella_blue]

Good stuff! Once you start breaking 200kish, I say that's when you really start picking up steam.

I'll agree with that.  At 100k, you've managed a Level 05 start.  At 200k, you've achieved a start and most likely cycled the 6 repeating boards twice.