So its been a while since my last update. Figure some recapping of my KO4 and some new highlights to get me thru the night
Kong-Off 4 was awesome. I'm glad I got to attend and can't wait till next year. Overall my first day was so-so. I had some good runs deep into 500-600k range but had some really bad randomness that just killed me over and over. Felt fairly good because I really didnt have to many deaths that were just blatantly my fault so I was feeling fairly good about that and ready to dig in on day two. The machine was one of the yellow ones and the volume was initially CRAZY loud. Richie turned it down and it was much better. I should have had him move the screen because it was slightly squished and to be honest I totally forgot you could "fix" that and didn't even think about it until Mike G mentioned his was expanded a little. It wasn't a huge issue but I noticed I would "miss" the hammer and stuff like that. Kinda funny how a little thing like that can get to you.
Day 2 - Started off just going for some low 1 million scores and got in the 400-500k range again. Decided that wasnt cutting it and went into a more aggressive mode. I can't seem to play "off" like that. When I started grouping and playing a solid bottom hammer the game felt smoother to me and I started some really good games going. One game first death wasn't until 12-2 and overall was a solid game that ended in the 800k range at 1.06+ pace. Just had some bad screwings on the rivets and PF and felt pretty good about it. Played a few more games up thru lvl 12 and then realized time was getting short. At this point I was having some button issues and wasn't sure if it was just me missing the jump or not. When you get in the heat of a game I started thinking "Ok pretty sure I hit the button there... maybe I didnt"...
Got another game going and was playing pretty well. Before I know it I'm at lvl 14 with no deaths and somewhere in the 1.09-1.1 pace maybe? I wasn't really keeping track of pace or anything just trying to play well and my strat was point press the hell outta my first guy. I am on 14-5 and after my bottom hammer I'm doing the transition and go to jump a barrel and mario doesnt jump. I know at this point im 99.99999% sure I hit the button but think again to myself. "Ok hit it a little harder next time maybe you didn't press it all the way down" and then my 2nd man strat is just bottom hammer and some light point pressing up top.
This strat works well but I believe on 17-1 another button malfunction and I'm getting a little upset now. I figure im still at a good 1.07-1.08 pace and have a man in reserve as well to cash in. At this point my strat is just double hammer no grouping. I go and at 17-5 SAME issue. I go to make a simple barrel jump and nothing.... At this point I'm pretty mentally exhausting and now I'm just like "OMG come on this cannot be happening" I figure if I just run the boards out I can still get a 1.03ish score and decide to do just that but I'm really uptight about the jump button and all I can do is pray it won't kill me again.
Life is over pretty much after this. I'm on 18-2 and look what appears to be a free pass but as I climb up the right ladder a fireball shoots down the left one and IMMEDIATELY goes right. I try and jump the gap and get burned in the butt while in mid-air. Unbelievable is all I can say. 869,700.... decent score but im mentally done. There is about 30 minutes until last quarter drop now and I know I need to play another try but where? Dean is gracious enough to let me try on his machine but I just don't have it... I thought for sure Top 8 was a done deal when I started lvl 17 with THREE men in reserve but alas that is Donkey Kong.....
Overall the event was great, the people were great and I cannot wait unitl KO5!
