Algebra teacher and King of Kong star Steve Wiebe has failed in his attempt to wrestle the Donkey Kong world high score record from current champion Billy Mitchell.
Wiebe made his attempt live at E3, where he had three attempts and chalked up a best score of 989,400 points - which in practically any arcade in the world would earn you a free drink at the very least, but sadly is short of Mitchell's score of 1,050,200 and Wiebe's personal best of 1,049,100.
One of Wiebe's attempts was interrupted by an unexpected power outage, which caused his Donkey Kong machine to shut down.
You can see the video footage here.
[source mentalfloss.com]
Comments 25
Too bad Steve. I liked the show King of Kong. It was interesting to say the least. Never knew this kinda of rivary existed until I watched that show.
Aww
Still an extremely impressive score, and he keeps doing this kind of thing live with all the pressure of an audience, while Billy's high DK scores have often been taped in the safety of his domicile.
I guess, now that his son is old enough to look after himself in his toilet activities, Steve Weibe's devotion to this over all else is less worrying
Shoot, it was so close too!
They should had given him another chance because of the power outage!
According to the referee Steve accomplished something that had never been seen before...jumping over three barrels at once.
a respectable 989,400 points
And the understatement of the century award goes to... Dazza!
Damo, actually.
Hei, wasn't Mitchell on duty as an electrical technician that day?
Also it was the first time the DK kill screen was breadcasted live on TV.
I finally watched that King of Kong movie and maybe I missed something, but did that Mitchell guy ever even show any proof of his score other than that doctored video tape? I think that guy has the "rock star syndrome" or something. I remember him from back in the day, but now he just seems to pathetically hold onto those scores to keep what's left of his ego intact.
@Corbie
Yes, the guy is a real jerk. Seems like a coward as well. He wouldn't ever face Steve in a real competition live. He always hides behind closed doors to beat the highest score. I was rooting for Steve to get the title back, but oh well. I think it's just a matter of time before he does.
I remember Billy and how he used to win all those competitions back in the early 80's, but I had no idea he was so arrogant. I was even surprised at how supportive of Billy the Twin Galaxies was. They seemed like a bunch of Billy fanboys to me. But I don't know how he gets over a million on Donkey Kong. Even in my day, I couldn't break the 300,000 barrier.
I was sad to not see him get the score when watching G4 for the Ninty/Sony conferences, and before it was aired I watched King of Kong for the first time.
I'd probably go insane if I had to play Donkey Kong over and over and over and over again until I got the high score.
Go Billy!
It was cool how you could hear Steve playing in the background while G4 was interviewing the different developers throughout the day. It sucked when the power got cut off while he was playing.
I think it was too distracting to listen to Nintendo and Sony talk about new games and play Donky Kong at the same time.... plus a large Stadium and TV audence
Damn it!! so close
How could one person play such a game for so long?? And a pretty simple structured game with no storyline at that!! I'd go insane...
For everyone slating Billy Mitchell, while there is no doubt that the guy is a rather hilariously pompous ass people should be aware of the fact that the King of Kong like so many documentaries was rather heavily biased and edited in a way that made the viewer root for Wiebe and boo Mitchell. Many of the scenes where it is implied Mitchell snubbed Wiebe are the result of careful editing, as is much of the chronology. Wiebe was shot to look like more of an underdog that he actually has been in the world of DK just as Mitchell was shot to look like more of a villain.
Its important people bear that in mind before making judgements.
yea it appears that Wiebe and billy did play together on a few occassions the movie really was biased. trust me i've read just about every article on this matter.. but still, i think somehow that billy and his gang are hiding something and Wiebe in my opinion will always be the champ.
Wow. That Sucks.
He is a kill screen better than Billy.
Whatever that means.
We should give him lots of props.
But what was the score to BEAT?
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