Donkey Kong 3 High Score Lists Discussion

[xelnia]

How about something like this:

Please take special note of the Difficulty settings for each variation!

The various scoreboards and sources use different terminology for the same settings and some settings are not tracked at all. Each variation will list the equivalent difficulty setting used across all the scoreboards and sources. A setting of "n/a" means that variation is not tracked by that source.

Donkey Kong 3 High Score Lists

Difficulty 1 - Marathon

Special Rules: A minimum score of 50,000 points is required.

Settings
Number of Players Per Game: 3
Extra: 30,000 Points
Additional Extra: 30,000 Points
Difficulty: Manual: Easy (1)
                MAME: Easy
                MARP: Easy
                TG MAME: n/a
                TG Arcade: n/a
                Aurcade: Easy (1)
                Retro Uprising: Easy (Score Mode default setting)
[noembed]

Rank

Score

RBS

Player

Date

Platform

Source

1

13,957,600

Y

George Riley

12/27/2011

MAME

MARP

2

3,163,700

Y

Ben Falls

06/06/2013

MAME

MARP

3

3,061,700

"teign"

01/02/2003

MAME

MARP

4

2,550,500

"Sampras@AIVA"

12/23/2002

MAME

MARP

5

1,748,900

Chris Psaros

12/28/2014

MAME

MARP

6

1,644,300

Eric Tessler

03/24/2013

Arcade

Aurcade

7

1,596,000

Brian Allen

06/16/2011

MAME

MARP

8

1,488,800

Steve Wagner

09/23/2011

Arcade

Aurcade

9

1,394,900

"EMPTY BOY"

10/14/2003

MAME

MARP

10

966,500

James White

02/16/2014

Arcade

Aurcade

[ChrisP]

The user that used to be chrispy is now, I believe, known as CrispyChicken as a result of some IGBY bet.

 

[homerwannabee]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems a tad confusing for the average layman what the difficulty is.  Through all the years, 99 percent of the people who refer to the difficulty settings don't call it difficulty 1,2,3, or 4.  It doesn't seem clearly definable from what I see.

[stella_blue]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems a tad confusing for the average layman what the difficulty is.  Through all the years, 99 percent of the people who refer to the difficulty settings don't call it difficulty 1,2,3, or 4.  It doesn't seem clearly definable from what I see.

Why not add the description to the number designation, making it both unambiguous and intuitive?

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 1 (Easy) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 1 (Easy) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 2 (Medium) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 2 (Medium) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 3 (Hard) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 3 (Hard) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 4 (Hardest) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 4 (Hardest) - 5 Man

[homerwannabee]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems a tad confusing for the average layman what the difficulty is.  Through all the years, 99 percent of the people who refer to the difficulty settings don't call it difficulty 1,2,3, or 4.  It doesn't seem clearly definable from what I see.

Why not add the description to the number designation, making it both unambiguous and intuitive?

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 1 (Easy) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 1 (Easy) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 2 (Medium) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 2 (Medium) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 3 (Hard) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 3 (Hard) - 5 Man

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 4 (Hardest) - Marathon

Donkey Kong 3 High Score List

Difficulty 4 (Hardest) - 5 Man

Thank you, that's what I already did.  I think it makes for the best of both worlds.

[xelnia]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems a tad confusing for the average layman what the difficulty is.  Through all the years, 99 percent of the people who refer to the difficulty settings don't call it difficulty 1,2,3, or 4.  It doesn't seem clearly definable from what I see.

It's an attempt to compromise and standardize. The best players at this game, in the here-and-now, are STILL confused about what the different settings mean. I started a thread in February hoping to clarify the settings. The same conversation happened again during BOTA...then it happened again a couple weeks ago when the same people were discussing the Trifecta badge. It's not the players' fault that the settings are a mess, but it's not too much to ask for them to spend 30 seconds reading and comparing the settings listed in a scoreboard's rules. Saying "Difficulty 1 (Easy settings), Difficulty 2 (Medium settings), Difficulty 3 (Hard Settings), and Difficulty 4 (Hardest settings)" is not clearly definable and just as problematic: somebody will eventually wonder how TG/Aurcade's "Medium (3)" fits into the puzzle. To me that's NOT unambiguous and intuitive. By including TG, Aurcade, MARP, and RU you need to compare and explain the discrepancy between all those sources for every variation.

In my opinion the way I've formatted the settings in my preview is the most succinct and thorough way of combining all the different sources. For Difficulty 3 it would look like this:

Difficulty 3 - Marathon

Special Rules: A minimum score of 25,000 points is required.

Settings
Number of Players Per Game: 3
Extra: 30,000 Points
Additional Extra: 30,000 Points
Difficulty: Manual: (3)
                MAME: Hard
                MARP: n/a
                TG MAME: n/a
                TG Arcade: Medium [3]
                Aurcade: Medium (3)
                Retro Uprising: n/a

[stella_blue]

Saying "Difficulty 1 (Easy settings), Difficulty 2 (Medium settings), Difficulty 3 (Hard Settings), and Difficulty 4 (Hardest settings)" is not clearly definable and just as problematic: somebody will eventually wonder how TG/Aurcade's "Medium (3)" fits into the puzzle. To me that's NOT unambiguous and intuitive. By including TG, Aurcade, MARP, and RU you need to compare and explain the discrepancy between all those sources for every variation.

Ouch.   

Just kidding, I see what you mean.

TG and MAME interpret the same DIP switch settings differently:

Switch G		Switch H		Difficulty		TG		MAME
OFF		ON		3		Medium		Hard

Jeremy is correct.  Understanding the inherently confusing details requires more than a simple label.

Take a look at this topic for a more complete explanation:

https://donkeykongforum.net/index.php?topic=759.msg13511#msg13511

[ChrisP]

In the alternate universe that I come from, MAME gives the difficutly levels as Easy, Not-So-Easy, Taxing, and Highly Vexing.

So you can imagine how traumatizing this process has been for me.

[homerwannabee]

For the moment, I think having it as difficulty 1 (easy), difficulty 2 (medium)
is the way to go.  I say this because I'm including both front, and center. 

[f_symbols]

  if mame and arcade aren't the same setting, you can't just use numbers, it doesn't matter how lazy or stubborn one is, it needs to be addressed adequately.    It seems blatantly apparent what needs done.

[homerwannabee]

if mame and arcade aren't the same setting, you can't just use numbers, it doesn't matter how lazy or stubborn one is, it needs to be addressed adequately.    It seems blatantly apparent what needs done.

Difficulty 1 Arcade= MAME Easy
Difficulty 2 Arcade= MAME Medium
Difficulty 3 Arcade= MAME Hard
Difficulty 4 Arcade= MAME Hardest

I don't understand your problem?

[f_symbols]

if mame and arcade aren't the same setting, you can't just use numbers, it doesn't matter how lazy or stubborn one is, it needs to be addressed adequately.    It seems blatantly apparent what needs done.

Difficulty 1 Arcade= MAME Easy
Difficulty 2 Arcade= MAME Medium
Difficulty 3 Arcade= MAME Hard
Difficulty 4 Arcade= MAME Hardest

I don't understand your problem?

Well, where does it convey?  5 man vs. marathon settings? Or the issues of differential score boards using different settings? Aggregate lists would be a nightmare with the above nomenclature.

I hope that helps

[homerwannabee]

I would also like to submit this bota score. It was on arcade medium, 1 hour marathon setting , but you can check that with the bota website, or a real gamer  like Steve Wagner, who would know the settings used! :-)

192,100

Seen on page 3 of the bota scores for dk3, thanks in advance

http://www.battleofthearcades.net/Game/3/20

People don't understand there are 2 different medium settings for arcade. Difficulty 2, and Difficulty 3.  Fortunately I know the "Medium" settings for BOTA are difficulty 3 i.e. MAME Hard.

[f_symbols]

I would also like to submit this bota score. It was on arcade medium, 1 hour marathon setting , but you can check that with the bota website, or a real gamer  like Steve Wagner, who would know the settings used! :-)

192,100

Seen on page 3 of the bota scores for dk3, thanks in advance

http://www.battleofthearcades.net/Game/3/20

People don't understand there are 2 different medium settings for arcade. Difficulty 2, and Difficulty 3.  Fortunately I know the "Medium" settings for BOTA are difficulty 3 i.e. MAME Hard.

This is exactly what were talking about George and a prime example of why it needs to be thoroughly worded. Everyone needs to be able to get "it" not just you. That's why People are asking for depth in a definition

[homerwannabee]

OK, I changed it.  (Arcade difficulty 1=MAME Easy), (Arcade difficulty 2=MAME Medium)

By the way, why isn't anyone complaining about the Mario Bros. scoreboard?  All it says is "The dip switch bank has to be on medium difficulty setting"