Calling all Donkey Kong Masters!

[TheShanMan]

OK, so all my life Donkey Kong has been my favorite game, but all my life I have been able to reach the 3rd elevator stage (100m) and I get no further (except the rare lucky instance). I have just never been able to figure out the double springs. I've searched online for tips and the tips I find either don't specifically talk about the 100m elevator level or else the tip simply doesn't work (unless I don't know how to interpret). Here's an example that I just tried tonight for a while using the unlimited lives cheat, which for the life of me just seems to be wrong information. From arcade-history.com:

4) Climb the ladder onto the girder that Donkey Kong is standing on and don't move. Mario will be right on the edge of that girder. The Springs will get very close to Mario (basically shaving his nose) but they won't hit him.
5) When a Spring basically scrapes Mario's nose, take off running toward the ladder to the platform with Pauline. This trick will require some timing. Run a little past that ladder then immediately turn around and go up the ladder. If this trick is done correctly, Mario will follow the Spring that just bounced over him and beat the Spring right behind it. This trick works on the later levels even when the Springs are 'double-jumping'.

So, I'm sure there are plenty here in BYOAC who know the trick and can explain it well. I'm begging you to help me master this! Yes, I realize that my admission about my favorite game means I suck at arcade games (if I can't master my favorite, how good can I be at others!?!), but I'm on a quest to get better here.

Oh, and I wouldn't want to take without giving back, so I'll give a tip that I have never seen given, nor has anyone known that I've come across. I'm sure there are others out there that know it, but it at least seems to be one of the lesser known tips! It's a variant of the rivet level "jump over DK's toe for free points" tip, but it doesn't require you to get dangerously close to him. All you do is stand so that you're touching the thin post that holds up the girder above DK (the post on the right), jump, and while in mid-air, tap the joystick to the right. No danger yet you get pts for every jump.

EDIT: I went through this entire thread, extracted all tips and techniques, organized them, and posted them in the ning community that Jeff Rothe set up, in the DK group there. Become a Donkey Kong Master! - Tips and techniques for reaching 100,000 and beyond!

[CrazyKongFan]

You need to get the movie "King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters" They explain the 3rd elevators on there, with one of the guys (Steve Wiebe) even drawing the bouncing pattern on the monitor bezel and showing when to run. It's still a really tough move and I haven't been able to do it reliably.

[TOK]

This is where the MAME save state can help you. Get to that point with a couple of guys and do a save state. You can then practice the level all you want without playing through the game every time.

I never did this on DK, but I did it on a bootleg called Congorilla (its what the corner deli had!). There were two spots that were safe. You had to get to the first one, which is described in the text you attached, then count the springs while listening to the sound they made (they had an overlapping sound effect that was distinctive). When it got to the right point you ran inward toward Kong (Congorilla?), then counted the sounds/springs again before running out to the ladder.

Congorilla was WAY easier than DK though. I could get 160k on Congorilla regularly. Not sure I've ever broken 100k on DK.

[CrazyKongFan]

If Congorilla is the same as Crazy Kong (which I believe it is), the 3rd Elevator level is really easy, because only 2 springs ever appear at the same time. That gives you enough of a gap to make it up the ladder without too much difficulty. On DK, there's 3 springs on the screen at any given time (not counting the start of the level). Also, the 3rd elevator on DK (US version) is actually the equivalent of the 4th on CK, due to the way the levels are set up (if you play the Japanese version of DK, the levels are arranged the same as CK, so the 4th elevator is the really hard one)

[jilted]

have you watched any vids on youtube?

[TheShanMan]

Thanks guys!

You need to get the movie "King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters" They explain the 3rd elevators on there, with one of the guys (Steve Wiebe) even drawing the bouncing pattern on the monitor bezel and showing when to run. It's still a really tough move and I haven't been able to do it reliably.

I moved King of Kong to the top of my queue.

This is where the MAME save state can help you. Get to that point with a couple of guys and do a save state. You can then practice the level all you want without playing through the game every time.

Great idea.

have you watched any vids on youtube?

I'll have to watch that video a bunch of times (is it just me or is it missing sound?) - looks like it could be very helpful.

[BUCKETHEAD]

Try this, Steve Weibe of KING OF KONG recommends it!

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=76983.0


My score is up to 122100 now.

Got up to the 4th elevator/springs stage, Died on it.   


Unlimited lives cheat ?   Im taking it,  That's a MAME feature ??

[Ginsu Victim]

Buckethead:
Look at that thread. ShanMan already knows about it...

[ediblegod]

Thanks Buckethead!!!
I've been looking for a copy of "How to win at Donkey Kong" forever!

[Donkey_Kong]

Sounds like the cheat.dat mixed with the save state TOK mentioned would be a good mix for conquering the harder stages.

I've done the mame cheat for infinite lives and it's good practice, but when you start out you have to go through all of the easy levels, not soo bad of a deal either I guess.

Oh, and by doing the cheat I was able to get good enough that when I turned the cheat off I could finally make it past the 3rd & 4th elevator stages playing a "factory setting" game. Starting with 3 lives etc...

I also used the hints in the book posted above and Steve Wiebe's tricks from the DVD K.O.K, which were very helpful.

 

[BUCKETHEAD]

Oh?  My bad!  Sorry Guys!

[Bender]

ShanMan,

I understand your frustration it has taken me quite a long time and a lot of experimentation to get past that board! (I wish I'd seen that video posted above, that's exactly how I do it)
I've gotten to 278,500 and can get past the elevator board now pretty easily now

here is an explanation of how get past the 4th and all subsequent elevator boards

1. climb the latter to where Donkey Kong is and move forward a few steps, practice this till you know how far you can go toward DK without getting hit by any spring
2. watch the springs hit the girder near DK's feet when the one that lands the farthest to left of the screen hits run toward DK and stop on top of the second elevator(the one closest to you, you are safe here)
3. turn and face away from DK and edge forward toward the latter and practice till you find out how far to you can go without getting hit by any spring
4. this is the tricky part (you cannot count springs they are random!!!) if you watch really closely you will see that the springs land not only short medium and long but there are quite a few variations, the trick is to be patient. One will hit the very far right edge of the first elevator top (the yellow thing) if you run towards the latter at that moment you can make it. That same spring should scrape your nose just as you get to the latter. Some times you will make it with some space sometimes the next spring scrapes your ass, but I can do about 90% of the time now and when I die it's cause my timing was off
id does take quite a bit of practice, but it's worth it not to dread that board any more!

Now does anyone know how to avoid the random barrels?
that's whats been killing me

let us know if it works for you
if it's not clear, maybe I' can make a video for you

good luck, and keep on climbin'

Bender

[TheShanMan]

More helpful advice. Thanks guys! I know I'll master it now.

BucketHead: If you're not already familiar with cheats, you download the cheats.dat database (google it), put it in your mame directory, enable cheats in mame (mameui has a checkbox for this in the game properties dialog), and then in the game you do the TAB menu and go to cheats. The cheats vary from game to game, like infinite lives, infinite credits, and invincibility (try invincibility on the elevator level! if you land on the bottom girder the elevators and springs stop, and then the elevators become intermittent after that - very strange!). I generally don't like to use cheats unless I'm trying to practice something specific. The only other game I've used a cheat for is marble madness to get infinite time, essentially making it a practice game.

Yeah, I had that book as a kid, but it says nothing helpful to say about 100m elevators though!

P.S. Anyone else try the tip I gave? Or already know about it?

[Bender]

P.S. Anyone else try the tip I gave? Or already know about it?

already knew that one, I couldn't figure it out, when I first saw Steve Wiebe do I though he had a bad CPU or something, then some kind and very clever soul (you know who you are) let me in on it. Pretty neat, not too useful past the 4th level as the time speeds up so it's equal to the points you make by doing that trick.
Oh yeah, I found that it works other places too, if your next to a fire ball that can't get you(like just the other side of a removed rivet) you can get some points while waiting for it to move

[TheShanMan]

Cool! I look forward to seeing him do it when we get the dvd. I've been doing that one since I was a kid.

[Farb]

I found a wired.com article that talks about Steve Wiebe's strategy for the third elevator stage. I archived it on my blog here:

http://www.farbish.com/forums/blog.php?b=60

I've found it to be pretty reliable.

->Dan

[BUCKETHEAD]

On The King of Kong DVD bonus features.

The director puts Steve Weibe and Billy Mitchell"s game play side by side.

For you to watch.

As impressive as Steve Weibe's game play is.

Billy Mitchell's was just an absolute pleasure to watch!

Despite what people think of him? He's an awesome gamer!

[Singapura]

Despite what people think of him? He's an awesome gamer!

Mitchell also makes me embarrassed to tell others that I like to play classic video games. Wiebe has at least a sense of normalcy and doesn't look like he has webbed feet and lives in a trailer park with his mom who is also his grandmother. 

[CrazyKongFan]

One thing to keep in mind, the people doing the movie edited the footage to make Billy look like the bad guy. Not to say one guy is bad and one guy is good, but the sequence that things happen in the movie isn't the same as they actually occurred on certain events. Walter Day talked about this during a presentation about Twin Galaxies at the Midwest Gaming Classic in Oconomowoc WI back in March.

Oh, and to keep this on topic of DK, I played one yesterday and had my best game. The thing was set to 6 men, so I was able to play a little longer due to that, but I got to level 8, and I successfully did 4 or 5 of the "3rd elevator" levels, without losing a life on any of them. (most of my deaths were on the barrel levels, with I think one  death on a rivet level). I don't remember my final score, but it was around 220-230K

[Spacejack]

While it's true that Mitchell's behavior was "enhanced" for the movie, nothing that came out of his mouth came from anywhere but him.

[Lutus]

My top score is 204,000 so I am not really a MASTER, more like an apprentice.  But here are some helpful hints of hours of playing this fun game.

Barrel stage -

If you are going for point pressing you are going to HAVE to get the bottom hammer.  Stand just to the left of the bottom hammer and jump barrels as they come down.  Once the screen is full of barrels, grab the hammer and run between the two left ladders on this platform.  "Control" the barrels to come down the right ladder of these two ladders and smash them from the left side.  But watch out that you don't stand DIRECTLY beneath Kong in case he throws a straight down wild barrel.  Make your way up the ladder (usually the RIGHT one) when the coast is clear.  Control barrels on the upper platforms to make it clear.  Now you are on the middle platform.  Climb up the center ladder.  Now you are on the platform with  the two ladders below Kong and a broken ladder on the right side.  Control the barrels to go down the broken ladder to make it clear for you to climb up either ladder.  While under Kong, don't stand directly beneath him.  Grab the hammer and make your way to the right side of the screen and stand on the right side of the top right ladder.  Eventually your hammer will run out.  Don't panic, keep controlling the barrels to go down the far right ladder and eventually the timing will be such that when you send a barrel down the ladder next to you, a barrel will go down the ladder right by Kong.  When this happens, climb the ladder (easily since Kong's barrel went right down the ladder next to him).



I wrote this particular stage since people were saying they died on this stage fairly often.

[CrazyKongFan]

Yeah, I definitely need to practice my barrel manipulation on the Barrel level. I feel pretty confident in the "3rd elevator" now after my last game, and usually can do pretty good on the Conveyorbelt level. The problem is, it can be so random (with him throwing them down on you), and you have to do that screen 3 times per level once you get past level 3.

[Lutus]

There are only like 4 or 5 wild barrel patterns.  After seeing enough of them you will know the danger spots.

Barrel manipulation is pretty easy, but not 100% by any means.

Remember, you can manipulate barrels while climbing ladders and while jumping.

When climbing a ladder (with a 4-way joystick) stop moving up and then press either right or left like you were walking and you can control barrels that way.  Also, will in the air jumping, press right or left like you were walking and you can control them that way.

Side note:

Sometimes when jumping straight up over a barrell the game will give you no points.  To combat that, jump straight up and press either right or left while in the air and you will get the points.  It is the same principle as jumping by Kong's foot and getting 100 points each jump.

[Spyridon]

"Control" the barrels to come down the right ladder of these two ladders and smash them from the left side. 

How do you "Control" the barrels?

[Lutus]

Barrel control 101-

Basically the gameboard looks at your current "Jumpman" position (which level girder you are on) and your direction of travel.

If a barrel is on the girder above you and you are walking toward a ladder (from either side) when the barrel rolls over the ladder it will go down that ladder.

That is a simple explanation.  Sometimes timing of when you begin walking towards the ladder matters.  Time it so that you make Jumpman walk towards the ladder JUST before the barrel makes it to the top of that ladder and it will come down it.

Have you noticed that when you are trying to run past a ladder it seems a barrel ALWAYS comes down that ladder?  This is why

If you watch any video of some of the high scoring players you will see Jumpman move left and right in rapid movements.  That is because they are controlling barrels sometimes 2 or 3 girders above their current position.  I hope that makes since.

[Spyridon]

Thanks for the barrel lesson.  I'll experiment tonight.

[TheShanMan]

BENDER!!! You are DA MAN! That youtube video helped too, but you provided all the necessary info. Following those steps it really isn't hard at all (you have to be good at timing if you can get to elevator 100m anyway). My high score in one shot went from around 88,000 to 106,100!

Next I'll have to learn to control barrels. Man, in the barrel stage following elevator 100m that fireball sure zips up to the top FAST. You can't dilly-dally on that level. He almost got me while I was waiting for a chance to go up the ladder next to the upper hammer.

[Bender]

BENDER!!! You are DA MAN! That youtube video helped too, but you provided all the necessary info. Following those steps it really isn't hard at all (you have to be good at timing if you can get to elevator 100m anyway). My high score in one shot went from around 88,000 to 106,100!

Next I'll have to learn to control barrels. Man, in the barrel stage following elevator 100m that fireball sure zips up to the top FAST. You can't dilly-dally on that level. He almost got me while I was waiting for a chance to go up the ladder next to the upper hammer.

Glad I could help!

That board was the bane of my existence for a long long time!

There are only like 4 or 5 wild barrel patterns.  After seeing enough of them you will know the danger spots.

My experience is a little different I find that there are many more random barrel paths and although it appears sometimes that it is a pattern I find that it is dependent on where jumpman is and where and when he's moving (the exception is the straight down barrel)

I made a drawing of where the barrels fell and it covered  the whole screen except the very top right hand corner (the only place where you are safe from random barrels)
what 'd like to figure out is exactly how to control the random barrels

[Spyridon]

Try this, Steve Weibe of KING OF KONG recommends it!

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=76983.0


My score is up to 122100 now.

Got up to the 4th elevator/springs stage, Died on it.   

I followed the pattern in the book on the rivit stage and it never works. 

[TheShanMan]

I followed the pattern in the book on the rivit stage and it never works. 

Yeah, I never followed the book's advice on the rivet stage (at least not fully). I first take care of the left side (I think this part is identical to the book IIRC). I go up the left side, get the bottom left rivet, jump back to the left, get the 2nd from the top, go up and get the top, then go down to get the lower hammer and finish off the rivets on the left side. And when you kill with the hammer, be sure to quickly get to the right half of the screen so the fireballs come out on the left (ultimately you want to trap them all on the left side). Then on the right side I get the 2nd from the bottom, go down and get the bottom, then get up to the upper hammer and (hopefully) kill whatever fireballs aren't trapped on the left. Get the rivet on that stage, then go up for the last rivet.

On earlier rivet levels when the bonus countdown is slower, you can use the free points trick I posted (or the DK foot trick) to get extra points until the bonus is down to 0, then clear the last rivet. Eventually that trick doesn't benefit you because the time counts down too quickly.

Hope that makes sense. I'm going off of memory since I'm at work, but I think I got it all right.

Note that the rivet levels are unpredictable. You will frequently need to deviate from it at least a little bit (always try to get back on track though).

[Spyridon]

Thanks for the barrel lesson.  I'll experiment tonight.

Thanks for the tips on barrel control.  I beat my high score twice last night.  I'm only up to 67,000 so I have a long way to go, but I'm getting there.

[Spyridon]

OK, so all my life Donkey Kong has been my favorite game, but all my life I have been able to reach the 3rd elevator stage

When you guys refer to the 3rd elevator stage, are you referring to the Level 3 elevators which is the second time you are on that screen, or do you mean the 3rd time you are on the elevator screen?

[Farb]

The third time you hit the elevator level (technically level 4 in the US version).

->Dan

[TheShanMan]

Yes, we're talking about 100m, which for the US version is the 3rd time you get there.

[massive88]

This is a great thread, last night I doubled my previous high with improved barrel control.  Still am a beginner though, but definitely am making headway.

Thanks for all the advice in here folks.

[Lutus]

There are only like 4 or 5 wild barrel patterns.  After seeing enough of them you will know the danger spots.


My experience is a little different I find that there are many more random barrel paths and although it appears sometimes that it is a pattern I find that it is dependent on where jumpman is and where and when he's moving (the exception is the straight down barrel)

I made a drawing of where the barrels fell and it covered  the whole screen except the very top right hand corner (the only place where you are safe from random barrels)
what 'd like to figure out is exactly how to control the random barrels

Yes, that is true and I should have specified it.  The direction and speed in which Kong throws the barrels is around 5 or 6 patterns BUT what you do after they bounce on the first girder will ultimately effect the outcome of the wild barrel pattern.

If a wild barrel makes it over, further right on the screen than jumpman currently is and jumpman begins to move to the left... the wild barrel will change course and try to follow jumpman.  I call these the CURVEBALLS.

BOMBS: when a barrel falls straight down from Kong, never bouncing and never slowing down.

ZIG-ZAG:   the MOST dangerous in my opinion.  This will bounce all OVER the place usually in a left to right, to left, to right pattern all the way down the screen.  If you plotted thier course, they would be a zigzag

WATERFALL:  this barrel pattern is almost always to the right of Kong.  He throws it most often when you are to the right of the top most ladder (by his foot) trying to get barrels to come down that ladder to smash with the top hammer.  They fly to the spot in between the two ladders on the top level (one by Kong's foot and the other ALL the way to the right).  They bounce here and continue down in an arc that rarely has its path coming back to the left like the CURVEBALLS do.

Those are the ones I see most often.   

[BUCKETHEAD]

With these great tips!

My score is now 129700

Thanks!  Lutus!   

[TheShanMan]

My score is now 129700

Ah! A challenge!

[CrazyKongFan]

Best I could do today was about 134K (134XXX...don't remember the hundreds digit). I've been having problems with my joystick though, sometimes it doesn't respond like it should, and of course, it always waits for the worst time for it to happen...I was on the level 5 rivet level when I lost my last life. (game is set to 3 men, 7000 extra man)

[Ummon]

I've gotten up to around 97000/level 4 elevators (getting it at the top of the ladder at just the swing-point in the springy's bounce down) without these tricks and that's where I've been stuck. I'll have to look more into these things.