The Donkey Kong High Score Has Been Topped Again

How high can you get?

by Mitch Vogel Mon 9th May 2016

Donkey Kong has long since been a popular game for aspiring world record holders to challenge in hopes of being the "King of Kong". Mario and Donkey Kong's inaugural debut may seem to be a simple enough game, but competitors have been battling for years over the crown, continuously pushing the limits of what was thought to be the highest score possible. Amazingly enough, the score ceiling continues to climb, as a new competitor has just broken the previous world record.

On 5th May, Wes Copeland – who held a previous world record for the game – set the highest score recorded on Donkey Kong at a cool 1,218,000 points. As if that alone wasn't impressive enough, he did the entire thing on one life. Amazing. Copeland had previously set his goal at 1.2 million, and believes that he will never best this score. As a result, he's retiring form the competitive Donkey Kong scene. For those of you that are curious, here's a video of the run, which lasted just over three hours:

What do you think? What's your highest score on Donkey Kong? Do you think you can beat this? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[source polygon.com]

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

1
Vallu
Mon 9th May 2016

Why do people compete in something as boring as this

2
Handy_Man
Mon 9th May 2016

@Vallu Donkey Kong is a great game, I come back to it every now and then and it never gets old to me.

3
TheRedCap30
Mon 9th May 2016

Shows how much people can do if they put their mind to it. Cough A new F Zero game Cough

4
edgedino
Mon 9th May 2016

@TheRedCap30 would you like a cough drop? Besides i rather them add mario party 2-7 on wii u eshop in na first.

I wonder how fast till some1 beats this score.

5
LinkSword
Mon 9th May 2016

I don't even know what killed him. Is there a timer?

Impressive dedication.

6
Starwolf_UK
Mon 9th May 2016

@LinkSword There is a timer. When bonus reaches 0 death happens. That particular one is the kill screen because of programming issues which make the timer very small (the bonus gets so high it loops back to almost 0).

Level 256 in Pac-Man is another famous example of a kill screen.

At the end of the day these games were not meant to be played for hours and the kill screen is somewhat a relief as it sets an end. There are some arcade games where there is no kill screen or ending and human endurance is effectively the high score limit at high skill levels.

7
Mario500
Mon 9th May 2016

My highest score was for the version in Donkey Kong 64: 467,100 points (it was achieved on my highest level for that version: Level 13-3).

8
chiefeagle02
Mon 9th May 2016

The scene has come a LONG way since "The King of Kong".

9
TheRedCap30
Mon 9th May 2016

@edgedino Nah, my cold will only be cured when Nintendo stops making lame excuses for not making games people want. Like the time Miyamoto said "we need a new control scheme if we are making another F Zero game".