Donkey Kong World Record Broken, New World Champion Crowned
The 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong, has found yet another talented player who has mastered the game and broken its all-time high score, setting a new world record in the process.
Kotaku reports that Robbie Lakeman has broken the world record for Donkey Kong, which was previously being held by NY plastic surgeon, Hank Chien. Chien set his first world record in 2010 with 1,068,000 points in DK and has topped that record four times over the following two years, ending with 1,138,600 in Nov. of 2012. Well, it looks like someone better tell Chien it's time to step out of retirement, because Robbie Lakeman has beaten Chien's record and now holds the crown.
Lakeman has been livestreaming his attempts at the world record for the past few months and has been gunning for the title for the past three years. While he didn't stream his world record-breaking performance, he did record it and then uploaded it onto Twitch (provided below, skip to 3:12:00 for the world record being broken).
Donkey Kong's world record has been contested over again and again since the game debuted over 30 years ago. A noteworthy rivalry has been going on between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell for the crown since Mitchell first set the world record in 1982. Mitchell and Wiebe each dethroned Hank Chien's high scores throughout 2010, but Chien came back each time and remained the reigning champion until Lakeman's impressive showing.
For those who would like to learn more about the rivalry of Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell or the history of Donkey Kong and its world record, we suggest checking out the documentary, 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.' We also suggest checking out the Donkey Kong Blog, which follows live Donkey Kong events around the world and has a full list and detailed history of every world record holder the game ever had.
We'd like to congratulate Lakeman on his impressive win. We here at Arcade Sushi are arcade and retro game enthusiasts and highly recommend checking out the high-end, competitive scene for games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Galaga and the many other classics of yesteryear.