New Donkey Kong World Record Set

There's a new King of Kong, people. New York plastic surgeon Hank Chien has scored 1,068,000 at the arcade version of Donkey Kong in a two hours and 45 minute game, the best game of Donkey Kong ever played in human history.

This is Chien's second go-round as the world record DK player. He first won the title back in March, with a score of 1,061,700, but  flamboyant hot sauce maker Billy Mitchell’s then scored 1,062,800. After that, hero of King of Kong, Steve Wiebe broke Mitchell’s record in September with 1,064,500.

“I played more aggressively in the beginning to put my pace well above the world record score and then played more conservatively towards the end of the game,” he told Edge. “The score is getting high enough now that you will have to play fairly aggressively all the way through the game to get the world record. If the score is pushed up much higher, I will have to revamp my playing style next time for a higher risk/higher reward.”

No one knows what the ultimate high score is in Donkey Kong, because the game contains many random elements that always add mystery and excitement to the game. It is known, though, that there is a finite number of screens on which to play--due to limited memory at the time, there's a kill screen that essentially ends every game, no matter what the score, hence the records that are only a few thousand points apart.

Ever the gentleman, Wiebe posted the following congratulatory message on his Twitter feed:

"I want to congratulate Hank Chien on reclaiming the Donkey Kong record with an amazing score of 1,068,000 points. Way to go Hank!"

Personally, my favorite Kong King is Billy Mitchell, and I hope he comes back into the game swinging and takes the title. This video is why:

 Source: Edge