McCrary and Lakeman Dominate 2014's First Donkey Kong Open, KO4 Is On, and Twin Galaxies Is Alive!

March 6th, 2014 - Here's a quick overview of the first Donkey Kong Online Open for 2014, along with some updates on recent developments regarding the future of the Kong Off and Twin Galaxies.

  • Dave McCrary crushed the tournament with a massive 1,091,400. Not only was this good enough to win the weekend, it was also the highest score ever achieved in any of the six online Donkey Kong tournaments held thus far. In addition, the score pushes McCrary from 14th up to 8th in the all-time rankings. Last year, McCrary was knocked out of the Kong Off 3 main lineup and into the Wildcard Division, so reasserting a top position has been a major priority. Congratulations to Dave for the tournament win, and the payoff to a lot of hard work.
  • In a close second place was Robbie Lakeman, who managed an impressive 1,075,500 during the first half of the tourney, bumping up his personal best by 5,100 points (but not quite moving him up a place in the all-time rankings). Most assumed that Lakeman had the tournament locked up when his score came in, until McCrary's unprecedented run on the second day.
  • McCrary's rise to 8th this weekend knocked Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell down another spot on the all-time scoreboard, to 11th and 12th respectively. Who could have predicted that less than a decade after The King of Kong both former champs would be pushed out of the top 10?
  • In the days leading up to the tournament, the bounty on the world record received a $50 boost from competitor Daniel Desjardins, and then a mysterious "this tournament only" contribution of $1,000 from an anonymous donor, bringing the total pot to $1,300. The record was not broken, but it added heat to an exciting weekend.
  • On a personal note, I was happy to redeem myself from my seriously lackluster Kong Off 3 showing by getting a new personal best high score of 911,700, which puts me in 30th place all time and 7th for the tourney (along with one of the two "mystery bounties" of $50, which were awarded randomly to 7th and 27th place). I've kill screened in each of the last three online tournaments, placing 8th, 6th, and 7th, respectively, and I feel pretty good about that. I'm holding my own in the "second tier"; now I just need to build the skill to compete with the best. Maybe one day I'll actually win one of these...
  • Congratulations also to Jeremy Young, one of our ace score submission referees at Donkey Kong Forum, who achieved his first-ever kill screen during the weekend's action.

The Kong Off 4 Is A Go

Soon before the tournament began, Richie Knucklez debuted a Facebook page for the Kong Off 4. The next installment of classic gaming's biggest event will be held in New Jersey, and will depart from the usual "highest score wins" format with a bracket-style elimination tournament. Response from the community has been positive, and we are all excited to see how it will come together.

Online Open organizer Eric Tessler announced that the results of the weekend's tournament—the first in a series of six—would play into the Kong Off 4 seeding process, but further details have yet to be revealed.

Twin Galaxies Is Returning!

A funny thing happened after my most recent post (concerning the Donkey Kong Forum taking up the scorekeeping duties for the DK community in the wake of Twin Galaxies' apparent demise). Mere hours after the post went live, the following image appeared on the Twin Galaxies Facebook page:

The location on their "About" section was updated as well, with a new address based in North Hollywood.

Then, on March 4th, TG broke almost four months of total radio silence with the following status update:

The spirit of Twin Galaxies is quite alive and at the moment going through a significant restructuring period. Out of courtesy and respect for all involved parties and the community itself, no public announcements or details are currently being made available.

Please know that the frustration and lack of information that has been felt by the community for quite some time, has been felt by everyone involved, on all sides, one way or the other.

Resolution on all matters that involve this restructuring are being sought as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.
-TG

It looks as though the phoenix of video game scorekeeping will, once again, be rising from the ashes!

The imminent re-emergence of Twin Galaxies, however, does not change the DK community's position that the Forum's scoreboard will continue to have primacy over TG's as far as our game is concerned. The high score list at DKF is still going to be the most complete, accurate, stable, transparent, timely, and easy to submit to, at least for the foreseeable future.

I am, nonetheless, happy to see TG stirring, and look forward to the day when we can submit scores there again.

Final Scoreboard and Prizes: Donkey Kong Online Open 2014, #1

RankPlayerScoreGap
1Dave McCrary1,091,4000
2Robbie Lakeman1,075,50015,900
3Steve Wiltshire963,700111,800
4Mike Groesbeck953,8009,900
5Timothy Sczerby934,70019,100
6Ben Falls913,40021,300
7Chris Psaros911,7001,700
8Jeremy Young905,7006,000
9Eric Tessler882,90022,800
10Adam Mon880,7002,200
11Ethan Daniels798,30082,400
12Daniel Desjardins753,80044,500
13Aaron Rounsaville725,60028,200
14Scott Cunningham680,60045,000
15Jeff Harrist679,1001,500
16Ross Benziger675,9003,200
17Allen Staal556,300119,600
18Graham Hawkins545,00011,300
19Jason Corey Brittain544,700300
20Mick Winzeler517,00027,700
21Estel Goffinet476,80040,200
22Brian Allen474,1002,700
23John Salter324,400149,700
24Nick Sheils273,80050,600
25Matt Ziolkowski260,10013,700
26Victor Sandberg242,60017,500
27Ken House241,1001,500
28John McNeill216,70024,400
29Mitchell Meerman214,7002,000
30Thomas Høgsberg197,60017,100
31Patrick Goldbach186,30011,300
32Steve Grunberger178,9007,400
33Don Rubin119,30059,600
34Stan Trazka94,20025,100
35Brendan O'Dowd86,8007,400
36Katie Young47,60039,200
37Edward Dietman37,8009,800
38Rene Salinas12,70025,100
39Douglas Tessler12,000700
40Chuck Vess5,3006,700
41Jessica Tessler3,8001,500
Played But Did Not Submit (13)
N/AChrister KristenssonN/AN/A
N/ACorey ChambersN/AN/A
N/ACraig ZieglerN/AN/A
N/ADallas RileyN/AN/A
N/ADaniel DockN/AN/A
N/AJason NugentN/AN/A
N/AJeff WolfeN/AN/A
N/AMartin Andrew LaingN/AN/A
N/AMichael KasperN/AN/A
N/AShane MosherN/AN/A
N/ASvavar Gunnar GunnarssonN/AN/A
N/ATodd LalondeN/AN/A
N/AWes CopelandN/AN/A
Registered But Did Not Play (21)
N/AAdam HayN/AN/A
N/AAndrew BarrowN/AN/A
N/ACraig Rout GallantN/AN/A
N/ADustin PeaseN/AN/A
N/AEric MartinN/AN/A
N/AGeorge StrainN/AN/A
N/AHank ChienN/AN/A
N/AForeman FrankN/AN/A
N/AGeorge RileyN/AN/A
N/AJoe KasselN/AN/A
N/AJohnathan O'DonoghueN/AN/A
N/AJohnny BondeN/AN/A
N/AJonathan McCourtN/AN/A
N/AJoseph CarrollN/AN/A
N/AKatherine WilliamsN/AN/A
N/AKayla RoseN/AN/A
N/AMarcelo MandajiN/AN/A
N/AMark KiehlN/AN/A
N/AMatt DouglasN/AN/A
N/AMichael StastnyN/AN/A
N/AMitchell ElliottN/AN/A

Total Entrants: 75
Total Active Players: 54
Total Submitting Players: 41

Prizes:
$200 1st - Dave McCrary (1,091,400)
$150 2nd - Robbie Lakeman (1,075,500)
$100 3rd - Steve Wiltshire (963,700)
$50 4th - Mike Groesbeck (953,800)
$25 5th - Tim Sczerby (934,700)

Bounties:
$50 Longest First Man - Ben Falls (57 boards)
$50 Longest Last Man - Steve Wiltshire (70 boards)
$50 Mystery Bounty #1 (7th place) - Chris Psaros (911,700)
$50 Mystery Bounty #2 (27th place) - Ken House (241,100)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The return of TG should be taken with a grain of salt.
http://youtu.be/v3lltxquS2Q

Anonymous said...

Who is the REAL owner of Twin Galaxies? Robert Mruczak paid for the TG website! Don't waste your time with more TGBS. Go to Guinnessworldrecords.com to submit records.

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