For over four decades, players of Nintendo’s 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong, believed that the game concluded at the infamous “kill screen” on level 22. This stage was notorious for a bug that caused the bonus timer to overflow, leaving Mario with mere seconds to complete the level before an inevitable demise. However, speedrunner Kosmic has recently demonstrated that this kill screen isn’t the definitive end.
In Donkey Kong, players navigate through four distinct stages that loop with increasing difficulty. Upon reaching level five, the game’s difficulty plateaus, and these stages repeat in a set pattern. Traditionally, elite players would amass high scores up to level 22, where the kill screen would abruptly end their run due to the aforementioned timer glitch.
Kosmic’s breakthrough involves an exceptionally precise maneuver exploiting a glitch on the barrel stage—the very stage where the kill screen occurs. This stage requires Mario to ascend ladders and traverse slanted girders to reach the top. By executing a meticulous trick, Kosmic utilised a broken ladder glitch to swiftly climb to the top, effectively bypassing the constraints of the kill screen.
After 44 Years, it's finally possible to get past the Kill Screen in Donkey Kong. Video in reply explains how! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/Rwt2wA4uoW
— Kosmic (@Kosmicd12) February 1, 2025
It’s worth noting that while this strategy was theorized as early as 2013, previous attempts, even with tool-assisted speedruns, couldn’t overcome the timer limitations. Kosmic’s success hinged on an extraordinary stroke of luck. The game’s timer decreases with each barrel Donkey Kong throws, and these throws occur at random intervals. To have sufficient time to perform the glitch, a player would need Donkey Kong to delay his initial barrel throw—a 1 in 3 chance—and then further delay subsequent throws, a 1 in 32 chance. Combined with flawless execution, the odds of achieving this are astronomically low, making such a feat exceedingly rare in actual gameplay.
This discovery not only challenges long-held beliefs about the game’s limitations but also showcases the dedication and ingenuity of the gaming community in uncovering new possibilities within classic titles. There is a supporting Pastebin technical white up on DK’s delays here.
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