Hank Chien News, Hank Chien Features

Vincent Lemay just 2,700 points shy of Hank Chien's record

There are plenty of vintage video games out there which tempt modern-day players to accomplish a record-breaking score, but Nintendo's Donkey Kong seems to get more attention than most - thanks largely to the amazing 2008 documentary film King of Kong, which charted the titanic battle...

Just to rub it in

Dr Hank Chien is the current master and world record holder on the original Donkey Kong arcade. Ahead of a Kong Off II event in November, it seems that Dr Kong isn't merely content to enjoy his record and wait to face his rivals, but is actively trying to assert his place at the top of the tree. After extending his world record to...

The doctor is in

While some of us may consider ourselves useful when playing some old-school games, there are few that are legitimately world-beating retro gamers. Dr. Hank Chien is one of the elite, as he's the record holder for the original Donkey Kong arcade title, an honour that he currently holds despite constant competition from fellow retro...

We recap the event and sit down with "the most important person in video gaming right now"

In the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Steve Wiebe travels to FunSpot Arcade to put a stop to all the naysayers disputing his record-setting Donkey Kong skills. To the amazement of everyone watching, he achieves the first ever kill screen...

Join us for live coverage

You've seen the movies. You've read the interviews. You've designed the shirts. You've cheered for the former champion. And to top it off, the bar just got raised by 20,000 points. This weekend is what it's all been building up to: The Kong Off.

The high score just got higher

To be the best you have to beat the best, even if that means beating yourself. On 27th February, current Donkey Kong champion Hank Chien did just that. Nearly a year after he originally broke the record for the highest score on a Donkey Kong arcade machine, the New York surgeon has surpassed his best score, making Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell and others' task of..

A smashing shirt

Around a month ago, Nintendo Life and Donkey Kong world champion Dr. Hank Chien teamed up to challenge you, the readers, to design the official Team Chien t-shirt. The response was overwhelming, but Dr. Chien was able to cut through the entries with surgical precision and pick a favourite. The winning design was submitted by user...

We catch up with Alexis and Hank at the film's Brooklyn premiere

The saga over high scores in Donkey Kong is no longer a tale of two dudes. While most of us came to know the world of modern day Donkey Kongers through the epic rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchelll, it wasn't long before a third player emerged out of left field. Hank Chien, a plastic surgeon from New York, shattered both of..

Hint: it's not a hatred of gorillas

Plenty has been written about the ongoing action at the top of the global Donkey Kong leaderboards, but what inspired plastic surgeon Dr Hank Chien to take up the challenge? Chien, whose score of 1,068,000 is just 3,500 points above nearest rival Steve Wiebe, is the subject of a new independent documentary called Doctor Kong, which reveals the Doctor's motivation..

Doctor Kong tells all

We recently live blogged former King of Kong Steve Wiebe's attempt to take back the Donkey Kong record, but before last March, we weren't even aware that a new champ was out there. We recently sat down with the New York plastic surgeon to get his thoughts on his rise to fame, competitive playing and more as well as get some...

World record holder very nearly sacrificed his toilet to achieve his high score

Hank Chien may now sitting pretty at the top of the Donkey Kong high score tree but to get to that point he very nearly had to make a difficult lifestyle choice. Speaking in a recent interview with Details Magazine, Chien revealed that due to a lack of space in his humble abode - which he shares with his brother - he..