If you’ve seen the documentary, “The King of Kong,” you know about the epic battle to set the world record score on “Donkey Kong” between underdog Steve Wiebe and long-time “Kong” champion, Billy Mitchell.
In the time since the movie was shot and released, the battle for dominance has gone back and forth between the two. Well, now you can add a new name to the list of champions, New York City plastic surgeon Hank Chien.
Chien tells Details that he was inspired by the documentary to begin playing the popular video-game and that his interest quickly turned into an obsession.
“When I started playing, I wasn’t trying to set the world record. I had pretty much never played before in my entire life, so when I started it was just for fun. I found out I was a natural, and I was seriously addicted for the first three months,” he says. “I was, like, not eating and not doing laundry. I always said that after I reached a million I was going to retire because this game was taking up way too much of my time. But with my first million-point game, I was only 12,000 points shy of the world record, so I was like, “I can’t retire now!”
As the movie details, “Donkey Kong” is one of the most deceptive video games ever produced. It looks simple but beating the game and reaching the fabled “kill screen” (when the game’s program runs out and you can’t continue any more) is a difficult task which few have achieved.
Chien says he didn’t necessarily have a regiment for playing the game, at least not at first.
“In the beginning it was about three hours a day. It wasn’t a regular training program; there are some days I play zero, and then on some weekend days I play six. It was enjoyable, so it didn’t seem like a chore,” he says. “[The game] was basically occupying all of my free time, but I don’t think it ever really interfered with my work or personal life. I was never late to work because of Donkey Kong or stood someone up because of Donkey Kong.”
Chien says that he’s received congratulations from Weibe, but has yet to hear from Mitchell.
“I am not sure if I missed his phone call or he hasn’t called. I would like to meet with him and speak with him. I’m sure that now, since our names are in the same sentence all over the Internet, we will meet each other at some point,” he says.
As far as his high score goes, Chien says that he doesn’t expect it to hold up forever.
“My score is very beatable. But I held back. I knew I was on pace to beat the world record even if I played safely. On top of that, two of my deaths were completely stupid. So, my score is very beatable—and if nobody beats it, then I am probably going to beat it myself,” he said.
I miss the full-size arcade games I used to own. I kinda wish I still had the Star Wars upright and the Zaxxon cocktail table.
If ever I have the means again, I think I’d get myself a Robotron upright… along with Zaxxon and Phoenix, those were the games I’d reached crazy levels of mastery on.
so, ok what was the final score???