Donkey Kong help - Wild Barrels!

[LeedsFan]

I'm not a great DK player, but it's a game I've played on and off since it's release. Having got the hang of the elevator stages (and I still get caught sometimes even though I know what to do) one thing I cannot get to grips with are the wild barrels.

Now there has to be some way to avoid, predict or mitigate these otherwise top players wouldn't get the scores they do. Some will say they are purely random but I'm not so sure. There was a guy who disassembled the Z80 code to the game to work out what caused the kill screen on L=22. He showed how the game decided if barrels came down ladders. He displayed the maths behind the earlier levels being harder to get the barrels to drop down ladders, and how the longer you stayed on one screen made it easier to make them drop too.

But I was wondering if there was ever any study of what made a wild barrel drop. And what do the best players on here do to mitigate the danger? It's almost like the game saying "screw you man. I'm taking this life now" 

[TOK]

I think they are called wild because they are random, and its a totally different issue than "steering" the barrels by jiggling the stick near a ladder. There is some pattern to the area they cover on the screen, I think the best players just know to not linger in those areas. The spot they are most dangerous is in the area right below where DK stands because that is where they always originate.

Sucky DK player here, so take that for what its worth, which is probably nothing! 

[wweumina]

Yep.  By no means do I claim to have mastered them and they do result in the majority of the deaths I now have in the game.  However, the key really is to simply not linger in the spots that are particularly vulnerable to them and to be constantly watching the barrels as they leave DK. 

As mentioned above, directly below DK is one such spot.  Wait until DK turns to release sidewards before making a move up that ladder.

[Paul Olson]

Yep.  By no means do I claim to have mastered them and they do result in the majority of the deaths I now have in the game.  However, the key really is to simply not linger in the spots that are particularly vulnerable to them and to be constantly watching the barrels as they leave DK. 

As mentioned above, directly below DK is one such spot.  Wait until DK turns to release sidewards before making a move up that ladder.

This is really all it takes. Well, you also have to train yourself to watch Kong drop the barrells each time so you know it is wild as soon as it happens. In most cases, that will give you plenty of time to react. I die a lot in DK, but it is rarely by a random barrel anymore.