Slow Donkey Kong Jump Button

[SunDevilDog]

Hello all. I have a Donkey Kong upright with the original controls and PCB. It is in fantastic shape in every way. I can score over 100k on it consistently, but my high score of all time is around 123,000.

My question is this:

On the Barrel Board, whenever I run into two barrels that are around 1 to almost 2 inches apart, no matter how hard I try, my machine will almost never acknowledge the second button press, and the barrel runs me over and I die. I even jump a little early so I have maximum time to do my second jump, but I almost always fail.

Is it technique? Or should I try swapping out the button as I have some extras on hand?

Keep in mind, I am not exactly the King of Kong over here, and I am not blaming the darn button, but it is driving me nuts!

[SunDevilDog]

Here is a picture of my setup:

[KIG666]

For the situation you describe here its best if you perform a backjump on the  2nd barrel. That way you will make it over the 2nd barrel much more often.

Oh btw sweet DK machine you have there

[SunDevilDog]

A backjump eh? I will give it a shot!

Thank you for the advice and the compliment!

[WCopeland]

You have a beautiful setup. I'm very envious

[hooch66]

You can also tweak the jump button.
From a post I had on KLOV a while ago "You can bend the little microswitch arm so it is touching the bottom of the button and there is no gap. This way, when you press the button down it immediately activates the switch. "

I did this with mine. Maybe not a huge difference, but maybe enough of one.

[Shnypz]

Nice DK machine. I should re-do the t-molding on mine. It's still the original molding which is now a yellowish color and all chipped.

[mikegmi2]

The issue you are describing was actually intentionally implemented into the code.  There is a fraction of a second that Mario is not able to jump again, after hitting the ground from a prior jump.  You can see an animation for a few frames, of some lines back by Mario's rear/feet area, after he jumps.  As long as you can see these lines, you cannot jump again.  It's a very short time, but it is just enough to mess you up sometimes.

Backjumping, or early jumping, can also assist in the problem you described.  The closer you can land to the barrel after jumping it, without dying, the better.  This will always leave you with the most room/time to jump additional barrels rolling at you.

Hope this helps.

[Simpsons99]

I agree it's not the Jump button.  This used to drive me Nuts..

[LMDAVE]

Yeah, it's the most frustrating thing in the world when you're in the zone and getting like 400-500K on your first man and you do a double jump and the second jump doesn't register!

But, for to have it happen regularly is either a techinique or a button tweaking. I remember playing on a different machine from mine at the kong off and I kept running off the edge on elevator a few time because I was used to a fast responding button, but they just bent the leaf up closer to the button on my machine and I was getting faster response.

[marinomitch13]

Love your red machine!

[SunDevilDog]

Thanks for all the advice and compliments everyone! This is why I love this board! Thank you all so much!

You guys like my red, eh? I just got it a month ago. The person had turned it into a "Multi-Kong" and had hacked it up and thrown the original stuff away! I had to replace the marquee, the buttons, the joystick, the t-mold, the powersupply, the tube, the side art and I installed a 4-board set.

And, I had to move the other machine I had in that spot before:

[SunDevilDog]

Nice DK machine. I should re-do the t-molding on mine. It's still the original molding which is now a yellowish color and all chipped.

Careful! When I replaced mine, it was so brittle, it chipped off and almost took out my eyes several times!

[SunDevilDog]

The issue you are describing was actually intentionally implemented into the code.  There is a fraction of a second that Mario is not able to jump again, after hitting the ground from a prior jump.  You can see an animation for a few frames, of some lines back by Mario's rear/feet area, after he jumps.  As long as you can see these lines, you cannot jump again.  It's a very short time, but it is just enough to mess you up sometimes.

Backjumping, or early jumping, can also assist in the problem you described.  The closer you can land to the barrel after jumping it, without dying, the better.  This will always leave you with the most room/time to jump additional barrels rolling at you.

Hope this helps.

This does help! I knew I was not going crazy! When it happens, it is like Jumpman is stuck and his feet are firmly planted in the ground. I am going to look for the lines and learn to time my jumps better. Thank you!

[SunDevilDog]

You can also tweak the jump button.
From a post I had on KLOV a while ago "You can bend the little microswitch arm so it is touching the bottom of the button and there is no gap. This way, when you press the button down it immediately activates the switch. "

I did this with mine. Maybe not a huge difference, but maybe enough of one.

I know the thread you are talking about! My switch is curved up toward the base of the button as per the thread. Post a pic of your machine.