VonBlogenstein

[VON]

I made a promise to several people that 2013 would be the year I would finally get serious about getting serious about getting a serious score on Donkey Kong.  School is winding down for me and my love for classic arcade gaming has taken a back seat long enough.  Coincidentally, not long after I had made this pledge to myself and others, Vincent "Man Nipples" Lemay added further motivation with his offer of a friendly wager. 

The bet: the first player to eclipse 1.17 million on Donkey Kong will buy a pretty dress to be worn by the loser upon their entrance to the Kong Off 3.
 
In attempt to win this bet and reach my ultimate goal of 1.2 million, I will play a minimum of one session of Donkey Kong per week, and all sessions will be streamed. 

If I'm fortunate enough to reach my Donkey Kong goals in MAME, I will then task myself with gaining the Donkey Kong Arcade record; and if somehow I obtain both these lofty goals, I will seek total victory and the unification of the belt, with a win at the Kong Off 3.

This blog will be a place for me to post scores, videos, and any interesting details of my attempts.  Furthermore, this blog will serve as a contract to keep me playing and focused on the goal at hand. 

[marinomitch13]

Awesome! I completely missed out on the 'Days of Ross' that Vincent and others always talk about. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for when you stream. Good Luck!

[ChrisP]

I don't know if you remember, but I kinda went a little speculative when I was talking about you  on my blog, theorizing that you weren't going to go after the world record because you just don't seem to approach Donkey Kong that "technically."

Ie, you don't strike me as someone who would think too much, if at all, about your pace, how many points you would need to get on the next screen in order to make up a deficit in points, back off to a more conservative pace in order to complete the game, etc.  You seem to just sort of say "wheee!!!!" and do whatever and let the final score figure itself out.

Is that accurate, or have I totally misread your approach?

Actually, I guess your first post answers my question.

So I guess what I'm saying is, "I appear to have misread your approach."

1.2, that's cool.

[VON]

Ie, you don't strike me as someone who would think too much, if at all, about your pace, how many points you would need to get on the next screen in order to make up a deficit in points, back off to a more conservative pace in order to complete the game, etc.  You seem to just sort of say "wheee!!!!" and do whatever and let the final score figure itself out.

Is that accurate, or have I totally misread your approach?

No that's pretty accurate.  I think the vast majority of players concern themselves way too much with pace.  The fact is, pace can not be determined by "start" (a term that may need explanation in the terms thread), nor is it determined over the course of a few better than average or worse than average levels.  Pace is only dictated by the averages put forth from a player's normal gameplay.  To elaborate: levels more cooperative than is normal will allow me to rack up big points without actually deviating from my normal gameplay, levels less cooperative than is normal will cause me to score fewer than 60K because I won't take unnecessary risks to make up the lost points, but in the absence of outliers I will score level averages a little over 60K.  I try not to let a bad level or a good level affect me because, with respect to pace, what has just transpired has no bearing on what is to come, so long as I continue to play my normal gameplay.  Of course 17 levels is not a huge sample size, and thereby, normalization by game's end to the mean I've established over 1000s of levels is not guaranteed.

[Xermon54]

I repeat once again: I don't remember officially agreeing that the loser will wear a dress! haha. But Youmee Told me she had a nice dress to offer me if I lose, so why not! lol.

1.17m pace is a "conservative" pace without taking extra risk when you point press at a high level. Someone very good should be able to get that pace on every game (theorically, if time they reach a kill screen, it should be 1.17m+ while playing without taking stupid risks, and playing very good).

But good luck on that quest, Ross ;-). I will also be playing (maybe on MAME, or arcade. I might not have my arcade machine to play on for the following months, I'll see!).

GAME ON!

[stella_blue]

The bet: the first player to eclipse 1.17 million on Donkey Kong will buy a pretty dress to be worn by the loser upon their entrance to the Kong Off 3.

Might I be one of the first to submit a guess as to the outcome of this wager?

My prediction is in the form of an image, since a picture is worth 1000 words.

[hchien]

Vincent, what's your bra size? 

And I thought you made a pledge to stop making bets about DK.  You know you always lose these bets.

[Xermon54]

I don't really know my bra size. It changes when I'm pumped or not!  .

But maybe, for the contest, we should do:"Who has the highest score by the end of October 2013 wins the contest". Or maybe 2 contests: Who beats Dean's score the first, and who has the highest score by the end of October 2013.

Let's make a Deal: If I have a lowest score by the end of October 2013 than Ross/Hank, I'm putting a dress for my entrance. But if my score is higher than Hank and Ross, both must do a shirtless entrance.

I would be willing to agree on that bet (yeah Hank, once again, I might make a bet I'll regret! lol). But even if I lose, I will find a way to make a cool entrance with my dress (no homo).

But this would be a serious bet (unlike the kick in my nuts I made with Hank, haha). Just tell me what you think about it!

So, Hank and Ross: You better start hit the gym soon! 

[VON]

It's all good Vincent.  It's all for fun.  But yes, if I do lose, I will have to stop with my all chicken skin and beer diet and start doing a serious amount of sit-ups.

[up2ng]

I try not to let a bad level or a good level affect me because, with respect to pace, what has just transpired has no bearing on what is to come, so long as I continue to play my normal gameplay.

Yeah, I don't completely agree with this because ...

  Of course 17 levels is not a huge sample size, and thereby, normalization by game's end to the mean I've established over 1000s of levels is not guaranteed.

Meaning, if you find yourself getting 10s of thousands of points "behind pace", it becomes significantly more unlikely that you'll hit your target score by the end of the game vs. another game where you got a great start and had above average luck in the early levels and have gotten "ahead of pace".  The reason is once a screen is completed, those points are gone.  There is no such thing as "making up for it later" since upcoming screens have no memory -- they have an expectation of being exactly average and so once you're in too big a hole, there is no way out except for having unusually good luck for an unusually long period of time.

Can't wait to watch some of your screens again Ross.  It's going to be a blast.

[VON]

Alright Vincent, it's go time!  Official start date of mission "Unify the Belt": 02/28/13.

Prepare to launch.

[Xermon54]

Looks like I still don't need to buy a dress? haha.

I'm starting streaming in a few days (probably always on MAME), 1.17m or bust! (But since I'm always unlucky, I'll end up 2,700 points short of Dean's record... lol).

[VON]

2/28/13: Abysmal session.  I managed only one start in 4 hours which I promptly threw in the toilet losing two lives on the same elevator.  I basically just let Donkey Kong rub his junk all over my face while I repeatedly bashed my head against levels 1-4.  I wasn't even playing risky, I just ate an unfair amount of wild barrels and made a lot of dumb mistakes.

Whatevs, it was to be expected my fist session would be an ugly one.  I'll chalk it up to rust and a bit of crap luck, and pick myself right back up for more. 

[ChrisP]

Donkey Kong rubbed his junk all over your face in your ugly fist session after you threw it in the toilet??

This blog is heating up!

[VON]

03/02/13:  Better, but again, not so fresh.  I just phoned in a couple sub 130K starts (130K is plenty to get me 1.17+ and I'm just not going to play the numbers game with the early boards or allow them to prevent me from getting the most out of each session), but still haven't made it half way so no scores or pace to report.  I need to relax more and just play my game.  I felt tense and was second guessing my instincts.  I made a lot of execution errors that will go away with practice.  I was also having trouble seeing the springs correctly, but that too will disappear with just a few more plays. 

My last game of the night ended before I felt I had gained enough from the session, so I practiced 4 or 5 levels from a save-state.  By the end of those boards my confidence on the elevators had improved and my barrel screens were nearly where I want them.  63K+ levels are a regularity so I'm not at all concerned about my final score, just getting to the end alive.  With a few more sessions I believe I will see some marked improvement, after I've resolved my issues with springs and retrained my fingers a bit.