OK, I'm putting it out there. My Donkey Kong 3 record might be harder to beat than the Galaga record. Specifically the Marathon records. Especially the 6.1 million score on Difficulty 3, and the Medium on Difficulty 2.
Now before you burn me at the stake for heresy, let me explain. I am not saying 100% it's harder to beat, just the numbers would suggest so.
First off, yeah Galaga was widely popular. Having said that the 15.9 million record is not a dominant record. There are seven other scores within half of that.
For the 8.7 million, and 6.1 million scores there isn't a single score within half of that.
The argument against this is Steve Wagner getting a million on his third try. Still Wagner is a freak of nature in CAG gaming. He can casually play a tournament, and get a top five. Also getting to a million on easy settings is helped by the game awarding a man every 30,000.
Next in the argument is the fact that Galaga doesn't have randomness. On the higher level s there are I think three or four different boards. Those boards the ships come out in the same place, at the same speed.
This is not the case with Donkey Kong 3. The bugs come out at different speeds. This can be seen when using the super spray. Sometimes the bugs are right on you, and you barely get him to the top. Sometimes bugs lay back, and let you easily get him to the top.
Next is there simply isn't as much to deal with. Most of the enemies are killed in the first wave. After that you have three different bugs not counting the bonus bugs.
For Donkey Kong 3 you have soooo much going on. The game has a timer, meaning you have to kill them all before the timer runs out, and the vine eaters eat the ropes to let Donkey Kong down.
Next, and this is important. You have enemies that can't be killed with regular spray.
With the worms they will block your shot of other bugs, and if you're not paying attention or are stuck in a corner they'll sneak up on you, and kill you simply by touching you.
Donkey Kong just hangs out, and constantly throws coconuts in your direction. Plus you have to constantly be spraying him so he doesn't hit the bottom, and kill you.
Without the super spray Donkey Kong is basically the nearly unbeatable boss enemy.
Next is the fact Galaga enemies can be killed in one shot.
With DK3 the queen bees take two shots, and they don't die peacefully. They explode in four pieces. When that happens sometimes you are dodging the explosion, and Donkey Kong's coconut at the same time.
Having said all of that, I do recognize the speed of the galaga bugs are much faster, and if you screw up the beginning, you are in major trouble as they rain down bullets on you.
Also Galaga has 17 men they give you while DK3 gives out 37. Also you get a super spray after every death, and you can pass through the blue board with not much of a problem.
Plus, like I said, there was so much competition back in the day.
So yeah, I basically am comparing apples to oranges again in a way, but I firmly believe there is at least a decent argument to support that Donkey Kong 3 is the tougher record to break.
