E3 09: Donkey Kong World Record Attempt

 

There is a story to go with this current World Record Attempt.

 A company named Twin Galaxies keeps track of high scores in arcade games in America and a man named Billy Mitchell holds the world record for the games Centipede and Donkey Kong. Another man Steve Wiebe obtained a Donkey Kong machine to play as he went to night school and after finding out about Mitchell’s high score in the game (874,300) he studies the game attempting to beat it. He accomplishes this with a score of 1 006 600 and shows a tape to Twin Galaxies. A new record!

 Or so he thought as Mitchell obviously angered by his score being beaten has the arcade cabinet investigated and claims it may have been tampered with and the man he acquired the arcade cabinet from was a man named Roy Shildt who was a rival to Mitchell. The claim of his board possibly being tampered with was accepted and Twin Galaxies declined the high score.

Billy Mitchell

 But it wasn’t over for Wiebe yet, to prove his elite gaming skills he plays the game live in front of members of Twin Galaxies  and obtains a score of 985 600 beating the world record despite Mitchell’s friend trying to put him off as he gathers a large crowd. But the victory didn’t last long and Mitchell sent a video tape with a new score of 1 047 200 points, the video tape evidence was accepted despite him saying live footage is the only credible method.

 The Guinness World Records set out to stick the high scores in and Wiebe sets out to try again to beat the score demanding a head to head with Mitchell which leads to a no-show from him.

 Though it didn’t end there as Wiebe again gains the record by scoring 1 049 100 in front of the people documenting his story, yet again Mitchell took the record again with 1 050 200.

 Would he ever beat the evil Mitchell? This year at E3 he attempted to beat the World Record again under supervision from the people who check these sorts of things. It was a hard effort but unfortunately he failed with a score of 923400. He gave it another go yet failed again but he tried hard as he discussed his tactics and had the world watching through a live stream. The story of his success and quick defeat is interesting indeed so most people were rooting for him to take down Mitchell To think an age-old arcade machine could cause such a rivalry between two men, it shows the greatness of the game Donkey Kong and the simple nature of the game providing hours of fun, not great graphics or story. Gameplay which caused this fierce story. But with persistence and an ongoing good heart against Mitchell and his schemes, may one day he be the top of the Donkey Kong pile!

Steve Weibe

Note: Source of history researched from wikipedia. Hopefully the story is correct! Everything else is from watching the live stream and the excellent film King Of Kong!

~ by joerayw on June 4, 2009.