Donkey Kong Nintendo 64 Arcade mode "accuracy"

[TheBraveCarpenter]

Does anybody on here know just how "accurate" the arcade mode of Donkey Kong on Donkey Kong 64 is? Besides the fact that you consecutively play all 4 stages per level, obviously. Sometimes I feel as if they might have "smartened" up the game a bit. For instance, you can't collect points jumping right next to Donkey Kong on the blue tiers level. Also, don't you get points for jumping over pies on the arcade game? I thought I saw that in a video once. You don't get points for jumping pies in the 64 version of DK arcade... I've never gotten farther than L=04, so I don't know just how far it goes(kill screen n' such?). My current high score on it is 89,000. I used to just points drive as hard as I could but, now I'm just trying to get as far as I possibly can on it(the goal is to reach the "end" of it...).

How far have you guys gotten?

Is there a High Scores list for this version, or any other version for that matter(NES)?

[WCopeland]

Hi,

I have not played the mini-game myself, but from the looks of it, it very closely resembles the Japanese romset. This romset had a different board order than the US version (which is the version that is generally competed on for world records).

[CaptainJivePants]

I should have the minigame unlocked on my cartridge. I will try to stream a bit of it so we can learn more.

[Mario500]

Is there a High Scores list for this version, or any other version for that matter(NES)?

The World Wide Web site Cyberscore has such a list for this version and lists for the versions for NESs and Atari 2600 systems.

How far have you guys gotten [in the version for Donkey Kong 64]?

You may learn how "far" I had gotten in that version by visiting the list for it I had mentioned earlier (it also has my highest score for that version).

[TheBraveCarpenter]

Damn. That's pretty high. My best, thus far, is 94,300. I always die on the elevator board on level 04. Haven't been playing that long. Whats the highest level you've been to, Mario 500? And thanks for that link 

Hi,

I have not played the mini-game myself, but from the looks of it, it very closely resembles the Japanese romset. This romset had a different board order than the US version (which is the version that is generally competed on for world records).

Is the Japanese version just all 4 boards "in order" from level to level? This one starts on the barrel board, goes to the pie factory, then the elevator stage, and lastly, the blue tiered stage.

[Mario500]

Whats the highest level you've been to, Mario 500? And thanks for that link 

The answer is part of my signature for this site and the list for this version on the site I had mentioned earlier.

Is the Japanese version just all 4 boards "in order" from level to level? This one starts on the barrel board, goes to the pie factory, then the elevator stage, and lastly, the blue tiered stage.

Yes.

[CaptainJivePants]

Short answer: The 64 version is very different from the arcade one. I haven't had a chance to edit parts together to highlight the differences, but I have some video play of the DK64 version on my Twitch and YouTube channels now:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTFovFxeyHg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBoxroLfu40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbAUNC25KZc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCJtrhhYcPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXhFQGv1dA


http://www.twitch.tv/captainjivepants/v/26776572


A few differences I recall off the top of my head.
- Going up to the machine and playing it in the level to get the golden banana and/or Nintendo coin seems to produce the same start as far as RNG/pattern. The "full game" played from the mystery menu does not seem to be as predictable.
- You can hit barrels and flames coming down ladders even when you are standing beside the ladder.
- Barrels are faster.
- Girders seem smaller in general.
- All 5 firefoxes come out quickly on the early rivot screens, and they seem to start off faster (like you would expect on the hard romset).
- Some sprites are different, most noticeably to me was the flames and firefoxes.
- Pie factory flame spawns seem very slow.

[TheBraveCarpenter]

Thank you all for your responses and information. I feel like the 64 version is "smarter". When DK throws a barrel, instead of rolling them, I call those "Rogues". I swear to god the rogues are super smart on this 64 version. I haven't been able to play the arcade machine version too much, so I'm not quite sure just how "smart" the rogues are on that one. Flame guys seem pretty smart on it too. I want to buy an arcade machine SO BAD but I can't find one at cheap enough of a price that someone will ship to me. Everyone just says "local pick up only".

Does anyone know if the 64 version has a kill screen?

Also, why is the NES version so drastically different from the OG arcade? i.e. the 1st hammer being on the 3rd girder instead of the second one. The elevators move super slow. The blue tiered level is even slightly different.

[CaptainJivePants]

I was trying to get past L=04 in the DK version so I could start gauging how well the barrels steered, as well as seeing if the difficulty maxes out in L=05 like it does in the arcade version.  The wild barrels (rogues) seem to be awfully random for the first few levels, just like the arcade one.  I know somewhere in my highlight you can see a rogue barrel go full screen left to right and ALL the way back, which I'm pretty sure is not possible in the arcade one.  Sounds like we need to keep at it to provide more evidence for folks .


As far as the NES and other home ports, the short answer is pretty much always hardware limitations.  IIRC, the original NES port of DK is missing one of the screens, so there are only three screens instead of the usual four.  At the time, it was even harder than it is today to create the same game for all the different consoles, especially due to the unique hardware restrictions of each.  I don't know all the specifics, but an easy example is to look at the monitor.  If you look at a DK arcade cabinet, you see a monitor that is taller than it is wide.  If you look at most TVs, especially from the 80s, they are not shaped the same way.  So, for the sake of adapting to a different screen shape alone, every home port pretty much had to be slightly different than the arcade one.

[Mario500]

Does anyone know if the 64 version has a kill screen?

It probably does not since at least one person was able to exceed the number of levels to achieve the "kill screen" for the arcade version released in the United States in this version.