DK Level 5 Example (Running Boards)

Barrel Board
1) Almost always skip the bottom hammer. Only grab it if the fireball decides to immediately climb up to the second girder, and you’re not able to get up to the third girder fast enough.
2) Steer the barrels down the ladders and out of the way. If you press in the direction of a ladder right as a barrel rolls over it, there's a chance it'll roll down that ladder. On level 4 and up, the chance of this happening is 75%, so try to steer them away from you as much as you can. Just remember that you can steer barrels while in midair and while on ladders. Also, keep in mind that it's possible for barrels to automatically steer without player input, so watch for that and act accordingly.
3) Defensive grouping is important; not as vital for survival as simply steering barrels out of the way, but it can make life easier. This is when you steer oncoming barrels down ladders in such a way that they group together. Not only is it simpler to jump over a cluster a barrels than it is to jump over individual barrels one at a time, but you also get more points for jumping over said barrel clusters. If a series of oncoming barrels looks threatening, don't be afraid to try grouping them together to make things easier when moving up the board.
4) There are three types of wild barrels DK can release on the barrel board from level 5 and on; a slow wild barrel that gently falls down towards Mario's location, a "bomb" that falls straight from DK's hands down to the oil can on the first girder, and a bomb that transforms into a regular wild barrel partway down the screen. There's a 1 in 16 chance that the next barrel DK releases is wild, and it's possible for him to release a few in a row, so be on the lookout for them and dodge accordingly.
5) When trying to climb up to the fifth girder, watch which type of barrel DK releases first. If it’s a regular barrel, you’re safe to climb up. If it’s a wild barrel, move out of its way. Players often refer to this as "watching the monkey."
6) Grab the top hammer. It’s safer than skipping it, as it acts as a shield against the barrels. If you want, you can steer them down the broken ladder and smash them to earn a few extra points.
7) Stop moving just as you're about to smash an oncoming barrel with the hammer. This will eliminate the chance of you missing the barrel and having it run into you. Remember, the hammer is not an invincibility powerup.
8) When you feel like the hammer's about to expire, mash the jump button every time you approach a barrel. That way, if the hammer runs out right before you're able to smash an oncoming barrel, you'll jump over it rather than taking that barrel to the chest.

Pie Factory
1) Optimally, you’ll want to try for a free pass. On this board, the fireballs spawn on the side of the screen Mario’s on, so wait for them all to spawn on the left before climbing up to the conveyor belt. The pattern here is climbing the center-right ladder on the bottom up to the conveyor belt, then taking the right ladder up towards the center of the board, then jumping to the platform on the center right (grabbing the parasol along the way if you want), then climbing up the platform’s ladder to the conveyor belt above, and then finally taking the retracting ladder up to the final conveyor belt to finish the board.
2) However, given the random nature of Donkey Kong, a free pass is not guaranteed. The fireballs can easily become uncooperative. It’s possible to go many pie factories in a row without once being able to take a free pass. If you’re on the bottom-most conveyor belt and you feel threatened by the surrounding pies and/or the fireballs up above, don’t hesitate in grabbing the hammer. It can be a life saver.
3) The direction of the bottom-most conveyor belt flips every time DK touches the left edge of the screen, so keep this in mind.
4) Be careful when trying to reach the retracting ladders, as a pie can easily spawn in and kill you if you’re not paying attention.
5) It’s generally safer to clear the board on the left side rather than the right, as fireballs travel faster when moving right than when moving left, so whenever they get up to the top-most conveyor belt, they’ll tend to stay closer to the right side of the screen.
6) The second and fourth fireballs that spawn on any given board are what are called “freezers,” meaning they have a chance of stopping in place, approaching a ladder, climbing up or down it, and then stopping in place again for a few seconds. On the pie factory, this is significant, as fireballs that freeze while on the top-most conveyor belt will become stuck on the right side of the belt for the rest of the board. This makes clearing from the left side safer.
7) Have patience. There will be times where you'll have to wait a while until the fireballs move in such a way that further progress becomes safe.

Spring Board
1) You can grab the parasol and hat at the start of the board if you want, but they’re not necessary for survival. It’s safer to skip the hat altogether, though, as that eliminates the threat of the fireball bopping Mario on the head as he jumps for the hat.
2) If the first fireball climbs up to the top of the second set of platforms while you’re stuck on the first set, partially climb down the ladder to get him to move down.
3) The path you want to take from the down elevators is jumping to the platform with the ladder on top of it. This is the safest way across.
4) Skip the purse. It's not necessary for survival, you have to go out of your way to grab it, and you put yourself at an unnecessary risk of dying.
5) Once you’re on the final girder, you’ll have to contend with the springs. There are two spots on this girder where the springs won’t touch you; the first one being directly above the ladder you just climbed up, and the second one being on the right elevator pulley.
6) Before I continue further, I have to talk about the different spring types. So there are 16 spots where springs can land when they spawn in, but for the sake of simplification, I’ll refer to them as short springs, medium springs, and long springs. What determines a spring’s length is where it lands in relation to the left elevator pulley. If a spring either doesn’t touch the pulley at all or just barely touches it, that’s a short spring. If it lands about halfway between the girder and the pulley, that’s a medium spring. If it lands either almost entirely or entirely on the pulley, that’s a long spring. This is very important for the rest of the board.
7) You want to move from the first safe spot to the second safe spot on a short or medium spring. Once you’ve identified one of these springs, move a little beyond the first safe spot, and when the spring passes over you, move across to the second safe spot.
8) Once you’re at the second safe spot, wait for a long spring to pass over you before attempting to climb the final ladder.
9) But it’s not over yet. Once you begin the climb up the final ladder, you still have to pay attention to which spring spawns next. If it’s a short or medium spring, continue climbing the ladder. However, if it’s a long spring, you have to head down the ladder and run back to the second safe spot, as the long spring will kill you on your way up the ladder. This part can be tricky. It’s something you’ll become more accustomed to with practice and experience.

Rivet Board
1) One of the best ways to go about the rivet board is to use the star pattern. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll refer to the height of each rivet with numbers 1-4, with 1 being the lowest, and 4 being the highest. I’ll use L and R to refer to which side of the screen a rivet is on. So with the star pattern, you clear L1, skip L2, clear L3 and L4, then climb down to where L2 is, grab the hammer, and run across the girder to clear L2. From here, you can clear R1, R2, R3, and R4 however you want, depending on what the firefoxes do.
2) On this board, firefoxes spawn on the side of the screen opposite that of Mario. Keep this in mind when smashing them with a hammer so as to not inadvertently have firefoxes respawn on the side of the screen you don’t want them to.
3) Don’t run into DK. You’ll die.
4) You can jump over firefoxes if they’re moving in the direction opposite of you. You generally want to avoid doing this, as it’s possible for the firefox to turn back around and catch Mario on the way down from his jump, but if it works out, it can be a huge life saver; in particular, if you’re trapped up on the fifth girder between a firefox and DK.
5) Have patience. Just like with the pie factory, there will be times where you'll have to wait a while until the firefoxes move in such a way that further progress becomes safe.
6) It’s possible to earn points by jumping next to DK. What you do here is jump and hold either left or right while in the air. This is probably the safest point pressing strategy in the game, and the only one I will not advise against doing when playing for survival.