Unlocking The Secret Mechanics Of Donkey Kong

Hello, absolute legends when it comes to competitive high scores in retro arcade games, none have received more publicity and attention than Donkey Kong. The game is just under 40 years old and still today fuels a community of dedicated players who work hard to get ahead. as many points as you can now I'm going to be completely honest, I never understood the appeal, I was born in 1986 and when I was old enough to be able to stand in front of an arcade machine and try one out, I was introduced to a variety of incredible options like Final Fight Street Fighter 2 and Turtles in Time, to me a game like Donkey Kong was simply an archaic remnant of a time long ago where games were primitive and players were entertained more by the novelty than the gameplay

mechanics

. games themselves, to tell the truth, I still hold this opinion today, with the large number of options that are currently available at our fingertips.

I suppose anyone who plays games from the late 70s or early 80s is mostly driven by nostalgia. I myself regularly return to The Games I Played as a Child not because they are the best, but simply because they are familiar and remind me of a more innocent and magical time when I was free of responsibilities and could enjoy the moment without any worries in the future. world when I first saw the series. king of

kong

documentary didn't even know people were still playing these ancient relics on its surface

donkey

kong

seems too simple, too slow, too clunky compared to modern games to realistically hold anyone's attention for a long time and, However, the players devoted large amounts of their free time.

Trying to get the highest score possible, I didn't understand why and generally dismissed these players as nothing more than weird and who could blame me when you watch a documentary like King of Kong you can hardly come away feeling like this group. High-scoring competitors are the bastion of normality. Competitive Donkey Kong is rife with strange characters and controversies. One thing I have learned is a huge shame with all the attention focused squarely on the cheating and corruption lawsuit revelations. There are very few people left. I have no idea how the game itself actually plays, but surprisingly at the top level, Donkey Kong is much more complex than you would expect and there is a reason why people still play it today.

Its gameplay exists on just four simple screens, but complexity emerges. that arises from a simple mechanic is truly amazing more than any other game of its time, Donkey Kong stands the test of time and even as someone who never really connected with retro arcade titles, I can't help but notice that the more I learn about strategies. from

donkey

kong, the more I understand that this game is much more nuanced and sophisticated than I ever imagined. In this video you will learn why donkey kong, as a competitive high score game, is an incredible game, we will explore the intricate

mechanics

and advanced strategies that make high-level play incredibly interesting to watch in the end Donkey Kong won't be just that old game that that weirdo cheated and you might have a genuine appreciation for the game itself.

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Skillshare has allowed me to offer a free trial of Skillshare Premium to the first 1,000 legends who click the link in the description. Make sure you take advantage of this opportunity and start exploring your creativity today to make a game a good candidate for a high score competition. It requires two elements: complexity and an inevitable definitive conclusion. the complexity must be enough to prevent players from playing the game. optimally, thus preventing them from getting the best possible score, this is important because if the maximum score can be reached, this immediately rules out any form of high score competition in a game like Pac-Man, no matter how good one is. , they can only do it. achieve a score of 3 million three thousand three hundred and sixty, the skill level required to achieve this is relatively low and therefore several players have achieved it, when players end up getting the same score we can no longer effectively separate them by skill , which generates a high score. meaningless competition a conclusion is necessary because without it stamina plays a much bigger role than skill many retro games did not include an ending meaning they were simply lubricated indefinitely these games are often marathons and the strategy to perform well is completely different, a great An example of this is the Nibbler game that appeared in the documentary Man vs Snake.

The current world record holder Rick Carter took 53 hours to make high scores on Nibbler. It requires immense effort, but due to the commitment of time and energy required, they will never be popular. among players, Donkey Kong meets both of these criteria perfectly, while the game's ending was intentionally untimed, inevitably ending at level 22 due to an integer overflow in the first barrel stage at level 22, the timer appears to be normal, but in practice. The player has approximately 8 seconds to reach the top before dying. Completing the stage so quickly is not possible, so it becomes an insurmountable obstacle given that Donkey Kong has a specific ending.

Getting the highest score is not about surviving but about pushing. As many points as you can with the established number of levels they give you. There are two main ways you can earn points. The first and most basic is by completing a stage with the time remaining on the clock. The timer is represented by the bonus displayed at the top right of the screen, the number of points awarded to the player for completing each stage will match the bonus number remaining, so if you finish with 2000 points left on the timer of bonus points, you will receive 2000 points if this were the only mechanic to obtain points, the optimal strategy would be to complete each stage as quickly as possible, therefore maximizing the amount of bonus points awarded.

Donkey Kong speed races tell us how effective this scoring method is, since speed is the only goal of each attempt. The world record for running speed to reach the kill screen stands at 1 hour, 11 minutes and 59 seconds by JP Burgess achieved in 2018. In this race, the final score stands at 805,900 points in the grand scheme of things, this is still a pretty respectable score. but it is well below the current record for high score at the time of recording this video, the highest score ever achieved in Donkey Kong is one million two hundred seventy-one thousand one hundred points achieved by Robbie Lakeman on September 22, 2020.

To reach such a high score, we cannot rely on bonus points, we must make the most of the second main mechanic to obtain points, jumping or destroying the various enemies or obstacles that stand in our way in an attempt to cross each one. stage as difficult as possible and this is where Donkey Kong's strategy and complexity really shine. The art of extracting as many points as possible from each stage is called point pressure and one's ability to do it well is the fundamental variable that dictates how. You compare yourself to other players. Pressing points makes survival exponentially more difficult, as the longer you spend in each stage, the greater the chances of something going horribly wrong.

Advanced strategies tend to rely on extremely small time windows, which also means that small mistakes will cost you everything. When players begin their journey in Donkey Kong, pressing points is often inadvisable and the general philosophy for newbies is to simply try to stay alive and complete as many stages as possible. Getting to the kill screen is already incredibly difficult and is something that often requires months or years of effort to achieve, if you can't get to the kill screen there isn't much point in trying to get points at each stage as In the long run you will end up with less than someone who could survive to the end.

This strategy of prioritizing safety to maximize the number of stages you can complete is called stirrups and this is the first step towards mastering Donkey Kong. Only when you can comfortably reach the death screen can you begin your quest to become a King of Kong. At this point, more difficult and risky strategies can begin to seep into your game, while there are four different stages in Donkey Kong: barrel stage, conveyor stage, elevator stage and rivet stage, the barrel stage constitutes almost fifty percent of all stages. This is because at level five the stages alternate between the barrel stage and each of the other three, this turns out to be a good thing in my opinion as the barrel stage is the most complex, allowing for a Much greater optimization and a higher skill cap.

The barrel stage is the one that most people will be familiar with and the image of the jumper breaking and jumping over barrels is the image that everyone associates with the game to complete the barrel stage. The jumper must reach the top by crossing the beams and climbing stairs in a try to prevent him from doing so Donkey Kong repeatedly launches barrels that must be avoided jumped or destroyed there are three different types of barrels that Donkey Kong launches normal barrels wild barrels and blue barrels the barrels Normal barrels will roll along beams, only deviating to descend stairs.

Wild barrels will be pushed down or diagonally in an attempt to hit Mario from above. The blue barrels, with the exception of the first barrel that is also thrown, behave like normal barrels, but when they reach the oil can in the lower left corner. On stage, they generate a fireball that will begin to rise. Beams are awarded points for jumping or destroying barrels and fireballs. Jumping over an obstacle will always reward 100 points. However, you can increase the number of points awarded by jumping over two or more objects with the same jump, jumping over two objects will award 300 points and jumping over three or more will provide 500 points due to a programming error.

The game will show 800 points for jumping over three objects, but this is incorrect and it will always be 500 points, you can destroy enemies. When using the two hammers found on the second and fourth beams, picking up the hammer grants you the weapon for a short period of time, although don't be fooled into thinking Jumpman is immune to attacks while wielding it if you're not. Careful barrels can break through your guard destroying obstacles gives you more points than jumping over them using the hammer on a normal or wild barrel will always give you 300 points. Blue barrels and fireballs can award 300, 500, or 800 points, which is decided randomly.

This means that there is some element of luck involved, although over the course of a two-hour game the distribution tends to even out. Hammers are the most optimal way to earn points, so it is crucial to collect them at the right time, as players with the inferior hammer will often do so. wait until the board is full of barrels before picking it up, although sometimes the choice is out of your control and the level forces your hand, if a fireball goes up to the second beam early, you may not have other option than grabbing the hammer so you can take it out before it catches you, in fact waiting until you can kill a fireball or two with each hammer is a good decision since pressing points gives you many more points than simply reaching the end , your goal is to reduce the clock as much as possible.

It is possible to extract as much value as possible from each barrel. Fireballs are a deadly adversary, and when they rise to your level, hanging around is a bad idea and will often lead to inevitable death. How quickly the fireballs rise is once again determined by luck. Sometimes they will leave you to your own devices allowing you to execute your plan exactly as planned, other times they will quickly move up pushing you further up the stage until you have no choice but to finish early. Everything I've told you so far has been nice. simple, but the next mechanic is where thingsThey're starting to get very interesting.

We know that you can earn more points by jumping more than one barrel at a time, but this in itself wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't have control over it. the barrels themselves donkey kong throws barrels slow enough that they are too spaced apart to jump over more than one, the only way they could group together is by going down stairs and believe it or not this can be heavily manipulated when entering a Mechanical called barrel steering. Normally, a barrel has about 25 chances of descending a ladder when it rolls on it. However, this increases considerably if you maintain the correct direction just as the barrel reaches the ladder.

The direction depends on the jumper's location in relation to the ladder. and it will be the direction that would move him towards the ladder, so if Jumpman is on the left, you will need to hold right. If Jumpman is standing on the right, you'll need to hold left. This mechanic will affect all barrels on the stage, regardless of their height, so even if Jumpman is on the lowest beam, it can affect the barrels on top if you've played Donkey Kong before having been running the entire barrel. time without even realizing it, the mere act of moving along each beam forces the barrels down stairs.

Grouping them together, making them harder to avoid. The game was programmed this way to make the level more unpredictable and treacherous to navigate when the barrels cluster together making jumping them exponentially more difficult and at times nearly impossible for a casual player. barrel grouping is a hassle for a high scoring competitor. It is crucial that barrel direction is used to group barrels together as much as possible and the best players are very aware of this. Keeping track of the position of each barrel at all times for an entire screen is an incredibly difficult thing to do.

I played the game myself for several weeks to try to understand exactly what high score competition was involved and I have to tell you, it's a lot more intense than that. It seems like it started to get a little easier over time. I could still only keep track of one or two barrels that came my way. Trying to consciously track each barrel simultaneously was too challenging. This task becomes even more difficult when you consider the fact that you must always be on the lookout for both potential wild barrels and the fireballs that are usually hot on your tail.

Barrel steering does not have to be done while Jumpman is walking and due to the pressing nature of most situations it is. It is often done while climbing stairs and is skipped so as not to slow down the movement. This idea of ​​maintaining a direction while in the air is not only used to steer the barrel and is also involved in a mechanic that completely changes the way the game is played. The way the game checks if Jumpman has jumped over an object is peculiar at the top of a jump, it will scan the area slightly below Jumpman for a distance 5 pixels wide in any direction.

This really isn't a large area, which is why you'll often see players jump over a barrel without awarding points? Generally, the object has to be more or less directly under the jumper for it to count; However, if the player maintains a direction while at the top of a jump, the game area scans. will increase from 5 pixels in any direction to 19 pixels, an increase of almost 400 percent, this area becomes large enough that you don't even need to jump on an object, simply jumping in its proximity is enough for the game to creates. deserve points, this is called leech and is used everywhere, it allows for a wide variety of different techniques and strategies to extract as many points as possible from enemies, the most notable example is Kong's own leech in the rivet stage from the beginning.

It is implemented on the first enemy encountered and throwing fireballs is a common practice in almost all levels, although it is a dangerous practice that is definitely not for inexperienced players. One of the most advanced techniques is the guidacus jump, a near perfect double jump that allows you to extract 200 points from a single barrel, normally this would not be possible, but if placed in a precise location on a beam, you can take advantage of the fact that that barrels slow down slightly when they fall off a ledge, keeping them within the scan. distance on the second jump the guidacus jump is named after andrew gardicus and if you know your speedrunning history this name may have been familiar to you for a long time.

He was the fastest Super Mario Brothers player on the planet and pioneered the game in its early years of speed racing. and world record holder from 2007 to 2014, more commonly known as andrew g, borrowed from his experience in super mario, where it was also known that objects slow down when exiting a curve, and realized that if the same mechanic was present in donkey kong, it could barely allow a second jump to gain points earning 200 points with a single barrel may not seem like much, but it's definitely an important addition, especially with the way the timer works in the barrel stage, In the other stages the stopwatch works in a more traditional way. decreasing after a set number of frames, but for the barrel stage the timer decreases by 100 points every time Kong throws a barrel, this means that to effectively press the point you would need to score over 100 points per barrel.

Guidaca jumps are not a technique you would choose to do if you had a choice, but as mentioned above, ascending fireballs will often leave you no choice but to keep going up. This technique is again reserved for experienced players, as a small mistake in timing will often lead to a quick death when watching the best Donkey Kong players in the world, which I recommend you do at some point. They make it look much easier than it actually is when the game was released in 1981. Modern quality of life advances in movement mechanics had not yet been made.

There's no coyote timing here, no input buffering, if you miss an input in a single frame it could end the game. Donkey Kong was the first platform game ever made and therefore the controls are certainly clunky which only adds to the difficulty which takes a long time to master and until you master it, it can be very frustrating, as I said before I tried my hand for several weeks, but I could still feel that I was a long way from being comfortable with mistakes and missed times still messing up my game and my precise jumps. needed to stay alive in the most intense levels were elusive, even something simple like Jumpman's climbing animation often tricked me into releasing inputs.

In modern games, when a character enters a climbing animation, a automatic process that ends when the character has completed his climb, but in Donkey Kong, this is not the case and it is a small detail that takes time to adapt to the best players, it makes the movement look easy, but it really is not to despite outdated controls. It was a really nice experience to take a deeper look at the game, it's honestly crazy that we are now looking back at games made 40 years ago and something really impressive to think about is that all the advanced strategies that have been found and implemented in recent years they were available in the game since it first came out Donkey Kong is a simple game, but I'm sure there are still discovered strategies waiting to be discovered in this video.

I've only scratched the surface when it comes to the strategies used in Donkey Kong and have only discussed one of the four levels, each of the different levels facilitates a number of unique and interesting strategies that allow for some truly creative gameplay. The purpose of this video is not to give you an encyclopedia of Donkey Kong high scores, but simply to show you brief information about them so that you can at least be aware that they are much more complicated than they seem on the surface. I wish I had time to explain all the mechanics of the game, but this video would be hours long if I did, if you're interested.

When giving Donkey Kong a chance, I'll put some resources in the description. The community surrounding the game is really welcoming and helpful. Don't let the actions of a couple of bad apples stop you from trying the game. I'll link a couple too. of donkey kong streamers for you to watch when you get the chance, as always, thank you so much for watching legends, I hope you're having a fantastic day and I'll see you in the next video.