A Wild Blog in the Face

[xelnia]

Since I'm about two months into my serious DK playing I figured I give this blog/record-keeping a shot. I've kept a few notes of my progress along the way, so I'll start with that and then update as necessary. All scores are on MAME. I consider my "first day" of DK to be March 1, 2013. I'm really hoping for a KS this year and perhaps a showing at KO4 next year!

Early score progression:

19,200 - 2-2 (3/6/2013)
31,800 - 3-1 (3/7/2013)
39,900 - 3-2 (3/7/2013)
41,700 - 3-2 (3/7/2013)
71,300 - 4-2 (3/8/2013)
78,100 - 4-4 (3/11/2013)
89,200 - 4-4 (3/13/2013)
137,800 - 5-6 (4/4/2013)
213,800 - 7-3 (4/8/2013) <-- this game is my high score and a real outlier. I haven't been to level 7 or beyond 170K since.

I haven't kept track of my scores very well since my 213K game, but I'm usually between 140K and 160K right now. I had 142,000 on 4/21 and today I had a game of 168,800 that ended with a badly timed top-hammer grab on a barrel board.

[stella_blue]

Good luck, Jeremy.  A high score of more than 200K after your first month is an encouraging start!

[xelnia]

Thanks Scott! I'll probably start streaming very soon. Initially I was going to wait until I was getting around 300K-400K but now I think it'll be nice to have all my games recorded on Twitch, even if they're not great.

[stella_blue]

Thanks Scott! I'll probably start streaming very soon. Initially I was going to wait until I was getting around 300K-400K but now I think it'll be nice to have all my games recorded on Twitch, even if they're not great.

Just followed your channel.  I promise to be well-behaved in chat.   

[xelnia]

Ok, I finally have something to show the streaming world! A decent game by my current standards and at least partially witnessed by Ben Falls and Allen Staal. I couldn't have been happier to have them watching my after-hours game. Living in Hawaii means most of my streamed games will be at awkward times for the mainland folk. 

156,600

[f_symbols]

Looking good, Just watched the replay.  I never realized the strikingly similarity that your voice has to one Dave McCrary.

Good game buddy!

[danman123456]

Cool beans. Yeah I have limited time to be online watching streams and it is usually the same time I have to play but I try and watch whenever I can. Good luck!

[xelnia]

A new personal best!

Yesterday (5/13/2013) I streamed twice; once for about 45 minutes and then again later for about 2 hours. The first session saw a 197,100 score and my first return to level 7 since my high score in April. The second session saw me achieve a new personal best of 227,600 in a game that ended on the level 7 rivets. The third death was quite silly and probably due to the fact that I was excited that I was only 800 points away from my high score. While the new score is only ~14k higher than my previous, I made it three more boards and felt significantly more confident about my overall performance in both the 197k and 227k games. Onward to 300k and level 9!

Thanks to everyone who watched and provided tips along the way! 

Twitch clips:
197,100
227,600

Edit:
In watching the the replay of my 227k game, all 4 deaths were pretty silly: An accidental wall-jump to grab the top hammer on a barrel board, banging my head into an elevator on the spring board, a mistimed first jump on a spring board, and walking through a rivet hole. That's good news and bad news, I guess. Bad because I should have been able to avoid all four of those deaths, and good because that gives me confidence that I will be able to increase my score very soon!

[stella_blue]

A new personal best!

Way to go, Jeremy!

Something tells me you'll be posting a few more PB updates in the coming weeks.  Certainly more than me, at least.   

[ChrisP]

I hope he doesn't fall silent for a month and then simply post "L=22."

[xelnia]

A new personal best!

Way to go, Jeremy!

Something tells me you'll be posting a few more PB updates in the coming weeks.  Certainly more than me, at least.   

I hope so!

I hope he doesn't fall silent for a month and then simply post "L=22."

I'll try to be a little more subtle. One month, than "L=15." Another month, "L=17." So on and so forth. If you're gonna con the masses, you gotta be patient. 

[xelnia]

I won't have much time to stream/play in the next week with relatives visiting, but I had a great, and my best, first-man in a game today: 111,100 up to 5-3. That quickly fell apart and the game ended around 168k. This gives me hope that 300k/400k is not far off!

[f_symbols]

NICE!  time to move up that list

[xelnia]

Increased my high score by 17,300 today up to 244,900. I went 161,800 on my first man. Two deaths on level 6 conveyors, a third on the level 7 conveyors, and a final death trying to clear the last level 7 rivet. Level 8 mocks me!

244,900

[xelnia]

After struggling for a couple hours during a session on 5/31/2013, I managed to increase my personal best by 36,700 to 281,600.

Previously I've only made it to level 7 rivets (3 times I believe) and really wanted to reach level 8, even if I didn't beat my PR. True to previous attempts, I lost 3 men by level 7 rivets and saw the door to level 8 closing once again. However, I cleared the board and managed to run all the way to level 9-2 on my last man before misjudging my hammer time (stop!) and running face first into a fireball.

My previous best was 244,900 to level 7-6. However, I didn't beat that score until I reached 8-3. I think I would have been happy just to have progressed further into the game.

My deaths on 7-1 and 7-5 (2x) really demonstrate how uncomfortable I am with certain tight barrel groupings. Unless I can drive a bus between two barrels I start to panic and by the time I've decided on a course of action it's usually too late.

This game featured my best first man, by far: 180,100 to the barrel death on 7-1. Previous best was 161,800 to 6-2. Reaching 9-2 means I'm now capable of completing the first 1/3 of Donkey Kong! 

300k is right around the corner!

Thanks to everybody who watched the stream.

281,600 to 9-2