King of Kong

2007's King of Kong is one of the seminal video game documentaries. It charted the epic battle between legendary high-score holder and hot sauce-maker Billy Mitchell and the underdog Steve Wiebe. At the conclusion of the movie, Wiebe had made gaming history and the film has gone on to become a genuine classic.

However, a lot has happened in the world of Donkey Kong high scores since the movie was first shown. The record has changed hands multiple times, with the likes of Hank Chien, Wes Copeland, John McCurdy and Robbie Lakeman all claiming the title – Lakeman is the current champ with a score of 1,260,700.

Mitchell, meanwhile, has been involved in some serious drama following accusations that some of his scores were not achieved on original arcade hardware. He was stripped of his scores by Twin Galaxies back in 2018, only to have them reinstated recently by Guinness World Records. Lakeman is one of the people who has come out to publically support Mitchell during this process.

Ever since the drama began, Mitchell has been posting scores to prove his talent at the game, and recently achieved an impressive 1,092,100 – a new personal best.

https://twitter.com/BillyPacman/status/1276750792867840000

Interestingly, Wiebe recently announced he was returning to competitive play after a decade away and has also hit a new personal best recently, recording a score of 1,106,200 (his previous best score was 1,064,500, submitted in 2010) which means he joins the exclusive "1.1 million club".

Wiebe said:

I'm a ways away from any world record on Donkey Kong, but it sure felt good to cross the 1.1M mark. I was just doing a practice game before I was going to stream, and I had a good run for 1,106,200. I should be streaming everyday for the summer and hopefully, I can hit my next milestone of 1.15M soon.

King of Kong 2, you say? Stranger things have happened...