Hello everyone,
I had an interview with 80sArcadeKid about his Donkey Kong journey to a Kill Screen thank you for reading.
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Evan04 - Q1. "How did you get into Donkey Kong?"
80sArcadeKid - A1. "I Started watching Matt Tecchio (Lyriell) play when I realised he was an Aussie, it was purely for entertainment and over the course of a few weeks I watched him get into the top 10 and it was inspiring. So I thought I'd give it a real go to see how far I could get."
Evan04 - Q2. "Do you play the game often?"
80sArcadeKid - A2. "I'm an all or nothing type of guy, so once I started playing, and getting the high's of new PB's every 2 weeks, I just kept grinding pretty much every night for a few hours and all weekend with any spare time I had. I'm talking probably 30hrs a week in the evenings and weekend. Obsessive would be the word. Although I eased of a lot in the last few months."
Evan04 - Q3. "How long did it take to get a Kill Screen?"
80sArcadeKid - A3. "So I posted my first decent post L4 springs score on an Aussie Kong Facebook group and that was April 6 (140k), That's pretty much my first week of going hard. So maybe late March was when I started playing and I hit 769k on July 12th, so that was approx. 4 months. I've been in a rut since then and suddenly I got the KS tonight. So approx. 6 months all up."
Evan04 - Q4. "How did you feel when you got a Kill Screen?"
80sArcadeKid - A4. "Honestly, I felt relief more than anything. DK can be absolutely demoralising at times, yesterday I was so depressed with my performance I thought I'd never get the kill screen. I'm dead serious about that, it messes with your head. It's a cruel cruel game."
Evan04 - Q5. "Would you recommend Donkey Kong to others?"
80sArcadeKid - A5. "I'd recommended it with caution. I'm not sure it's a "fun game" however, it's highly addictive at the start (with PB's) then it hooks you in and quite honestly can drive you mad once you hit 600k+ and it takes so long to play a game, to just dying to randomness again and again."
Evan04 - Q6. "What is the hardest part in Donkey Kong for you?"
80sArcadeKid - A6. "Maintaining focus for the duration is definitely the hardest part. Distractions can be deadly and the mind game is intense when you die. I think once you hit scores of 500k+ you actually know the mechanics of the game well enough to kill screen. From that point, it's just grinding and having enough focus to not make silly mistakes and a bit of luck helps as well."
Evan04 - Q7. "What is the easier part in Donkey Kong for you?"
80sArcadeKid - A7. "I think the Barrel board is definitely the easiest part of the game *after* level 4. It's can be a lot of fun."
Evan04 - Q8. "Do you want to shout out anyone or add anything else?"
80sArcadeKid - A8. "In general, the Donkey Kong community is amazing, supportive and inclusive. A lot of DK players stream and watch on Twitch to share their game experience (highs and lows!). The Aussie DK community and wider arcade and pinball community are champions that will go out of their way to help others. I'm not going to call out anyone in particular because I may miss someone, but there are a LOT of people and they know who they are!
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Thank you to 80sArcadeKid for allowing the interview to happen
