The "3rd generation" of DK players

[marinomitch13]

Yeah, I like all arcade games in general. I assume you've seen my CAGDC post on my goals for the year (or something of that sort to make you know I want to get good at other games -maybe even Rusty Quarters related FB posts..?). Honestly, in the long run I want to be a master at many games -kinda like Donald Hayes, John Macallister, Steve Wagner, Ben Falls, and others. However, my first and greatest love will always be DK!

I don't know what really draws me to these old games exactly..."the simplicity" maybe... idk. However, I do know that I'm not really into most of the new games out there.

[Xermon54]

I'm interested in the very young players like you and Vincent

... No homo? haha, kidding.

I love simple game like Donkey Kong (it's a complicated game, but there are no hard stuff to memorize like starcraft, etc. You immediately know what to do in Donkey Kong (relatively speaking)). And I love to have a lot of competition on game I play (which Donkey Kong is the main interest in DK).

Unfortunately, the competition totally disappeared since I left MAME to play on Arcade. I don't like running boards to beat a WR.

[ChrisP]

The real question is, will you and Hank still be trash-talking when you are an old man and he is in a nursing home?

[hchien]

I love hearing all these different stories converging together to form this great community!  It's really amazing that the internet and a 32 year old game brought us together.

I didn't intend on creating a comprehensive list about who was in what generation.  I was just listing some examples of people that I was sure belonged to certain generations, so don't feel left out!  I had thought when I originally posted that many of the 3rd gen would say they heard about the Kong Off and started that way as there seemed to be a surge of news players after KO1, but it's really interesting to hear the varied reasons that people started relatively late.

Mitch, I dug up my old fb messages, and sure enough, I found the response I gave you, but I couldn't find your original message.  It was right before KO1!  I respond to most of the emails I get if they seem genuine and friendly (majority).  I do get a good amount of hate mail too.  hehehe.  We need to do a segment: "Hate mail with Hank". 

"I broke your record, m****** f*****.  I got 2,437,350."

"You're a cheater and everyone knows it!  [Billy Mitchell/Steve Wiebe] forever!"

Vincent and I will be trash talking til death do us part.  #nohomo

[Svavar]

I remember seeing King of Kong when it came out it theaters in Iceland around 2007. Since then I have probably watched it hundreds of times hahah. Wasn't really playing but couldn't get enough of reading about techniques and watching gameplay videos. Strange how I myself got pretty obsessed with the game without really playing it, I mean I tried it but nothing serious. I first decided to try to get up a score some months ago (around august) when I discovered an arcade nearby where I now live and I freaking love playing it, I really should have started earlier haha. I'm currently working on getting my score up, going for higher kill screens. I think this forum is a really awesome step in propelling the competitiveness of the game.

[marinomitch13]

Yeah that's interesting, Hank, I couldn't find my message either... just your response. I think it was somewhat along the lines of "Hey, I just recently started playing DK 4 months ago and my personal best is 370K. Hopefully I can killscreen it soon!" I remember that I sent it right when I first sent a friend request to you on FB.

370K. Haha. Good times.

I remember wanting to hold off until I had a great score before I started talking on Twitch and Facebook with the DK players that I knew of. I don't know if people coming into the community now feel at all like this (or people reading this forum anonymously), but I can assure you it is much more fun to just jump in and not care to much about being 'high on the totem pole' so-to-speak. I see a lot of current players in the community doing this, so I hope that's a good sign of our community being open and welcoming to the newer players.

[hchien]

Yeah, in retrospect, you should have just jumped right in.  I get excited when I see someone trying to learn DK.  It's fun sharing your wisdom to help someone else.  Allen Staal is the perfect example.  We tease him, but it's all in good fun.  Fortunately he's a good sport.

[Ohrami]

I am a third generation Donkey Kong player. When I was 11 years old, I often used to play a GameCube game called Animal Crossing. In that game, you can find NES games which you can put inside of your in-game house and play. When I found the Donkey Kong NES game, I thought it was really cool. I eventually decided to go to an arcade and play there, on the actual arcade version, but I never got over 90,000 points. I tried downloading an emulator to play on my computer, but when I told my uncle about "ROMs", he told me that they would only work on the original hardware. Being 11, I gave up on that idea and on the idea of my mother shelling out the dough to actually buy me a machine. Eventually, I stopped playing. Fast forward 6 years, I see Dean Saglio's 1,153,000 point MAME score, so I download MAME to start playing again. That's pretty much how I got to where I am right now.

[konghusker]

I watched kok back in January of 2011, and bought my machine in May 2011.  I've been playing ever since, and haven't gotten bored of it yet.  I hadn't heard of the movie until 2011 on Netflix.  Like everybody else here, I became obsessed and watched kok and chasing ghosts a million times over.  Time is the hardest thing in this hobby along with energy.  Working 2 full time jobs and raising 3 kids has taken most of my time & energy, keeping me from playing very often.  Yet, I still have kong on my mind throughout the day.  I did have kong on my Atari 2600 or 5200 as a young kid.  loved the game then, and love it now. 

[ChrisP]

Hank is right about the lower-tier players.

If anything, those players are actually more interesting. To me at least. It's fun to notice the kinds of things they apparently haven't figured out yet and to watch as they succeed (or not) at figuring it out.

Then obviously there's somebody like Allen, who is the MOST interesting...

There's not much in the way of superiority complexes in this community, because we all know that it's just a learning process, and that most everyone will eventually, or at least COULD eventually, be a million-point level player.

The only time there would be any contempt for a lower-tier player is when and if they start running their mouth about how good they are, and that really hasn't been a problem.

[marinomitch13]

Yeah, I think Donkey Kong does a good enough job on it's own keeping us all humble. By the time someone actually gets good at the game, they've already had their butt whipped enough times to know who's the boss. Hint: It's that crazed gorilla that's got your girlfriend -whom (if I might point out) you have yet to ever successfully rescue!

[Xermon54]

Hank: Personally, the only hate I received, was people bashing on my muscles saying I looked like sh*t  ...  you should feel lucky to not have any muscles, Hank, so people won't laugh at your body! 

And me too, I love Donkey Kong noobs! haha. I love the new comers with a 200-300k highscore, trying to increase their score. We all went through that (being a noob in Donkey Kong), and it's awesome to help/teach others your knowledge. The Donkey Kong community is a very close community, and everyone wants to help everyone!

I am a third generation Donkey Kong player. When I was 11 years old, I often used to play a GameCube game called Animal Crossing. In that game, you can find NES games which you can put inside of your in-game house and play. When I found the Donkey Kong NES game, I thought it was really cool.

It's funny, haha. Everyone started/restarted playing Donkey Kong because of King of Kong, because of the Kong Off's But you, you started playing Donkey Kong after playing Donkey Kong in Animal Crossing! haha. Just kidding by the way, Animal Crossing is cool, it's just funny ;-).

Vincent and I will be trash talking til death do us part.  #nohomo

I really wonder, in like 20 years, if we will all still be in touch with each other. Will there still be Kong Off's? Will there still be interest in the arcade community, knowing that a lot of arcade gamers are 30-40+ years old, so in 20 years, they will relatively old. I hope Allen will still be streaming at 70 years old! lol.

In 16 years from now, I will be the same age as Hank (38). And in 16 years, Hank will be pretty much the same age as Joel West is right now. It's funny that there are so much generations in the community, haha.

Hopefully, all the actual gamers will do like Doris Self, and keep playing arcade games even at 80 years old!

[homerwannabee]

Vincent, one really cool thing is this.  Your hand eye coordination really doesn't slow down until you hit at least 60 or so.  Athletes retire early only because they physically can't keep up.  A good comparison is musicians.  It's not uncommon to see people play music into their 80's, and the ones that retires earlier is because of not hearing the pitch of the instrument right.  Hearing is not even needed to be a good classic gamer!

Sides we already have had a woman in her 80's play Qbert better than most people can.  Also Donkey Kong is more of a comprehensive knowledge game, than a quick reaction time short of game.  That is a type of game that would probably play well.

On a side note, I have decided personally that the day I can't get 1 million on easy settings of Donkey Kong 3 no matter how hard I try, is probably the day I really should think about going to a nursing home

[Xermon54]

Nice response, George ;-). So now, Hank should stop making these excuses like:"I don't think I'll still play competitively Donkey Kong when I hit 40, I'll probably be slower at reacting when I play, and I'm starting to have more difficulties to do very long games!" haha (oh yeah, you told me that at the Kong Off, don't say otherwise!  ).

So let's see everyone at Kong Off 30!

[Simpsons99]

Nice response, George ;-). So now, Hank should stop making these excuses like:"I don't think I'll still play competitively Donkey Kong when I hit 40, I'll probably be slower at reacting when I play, and I'm starting to have more difficulties to do very long games!" haha (oh yeah, you told me that at the Kong Off, don't say otherwise!  ).

So let's see everyone at Kong Off 30!

Well i allmost retired when i turned 40.