Donkey Kong King Reclaims His Throne

[Tom Goldman]

Donkey Kong King Reclaims His Throne

The always exciting world of competitive Donkey Kong playing has a new champion once again, with a familiar bearded face.

King of Kong [http://www.amazon.com/King-Kong-Fistful-Quarters/dp/B000XQ4HR8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1281314739&sr=8-1] co-star Billy Mitchell has reclaimed the Donkey Kong high score world record once again as of this weekend. The latest battle for the record popularized by the 2007 documentary has been won by the shiny-haired hot sauce entrepreneur for now.

Though the Donkey Kong record was once a back-and-forth between Mitchell and other King of Kong co-star Steve Wiebe, a surprise challenger [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98987-Surprise-Challenger-Sets-Donkey-Kong-Record] appeared in March that held the record until yesterday. Hank Chien's previous record of 1,061,700 points was broken by Mitchell at Iowa's International Videogame Hall of Fame with a referee-verified score of 1,062,800.

But that's not all. The ever-confident Mitchell also broke the world record for Donkey Kong Jr. on the same day. Steve Wiebe held the title's record [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91268-Steve-Wiebe-Sets-New-World-Record] as of February, which was broken in April, but now again overruled by Mitchell.

Mitchell was only planning to take care of Donkey Kong, but says: "I remember a lot of celebration; hugs, kisses and a lot of hooting and hollering. Once that died down, stood there looking at Donkey Kong Jr. and thought 'there's one more thing I have to take care of'." And he did.

While Mitchell gets a bad rap for being overly arrogant (just watch King of Kong to see what I mean), he says that's just his way. Mitchell actually stopped playing as soon as he beat Chien's Donkey Kong record, instead of trying to get an even higher score. He said: "Some say I'm being cocky. Some say I'm being lazy. I say, I'm being Billy Mitchell." Whether he's cocky, arrogant, a total *****, or just a smart competitor, one thing's for sure: The man has great hair, and that counts for a lot these days.

Source: Twin Galaxies [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=27&id=2213]

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[Arkhangelsk]

I have to say, that is stunningly awesome hair. Oh, and the score's impressive I guess...
[sub]But not as impressive as the hair![/sub]

 

[Mr.Pandah]

You know...I watched King of Kong and I thought Billy was an asshole. Now that I think about it though, hes just being a competitor and a little taunting is actually pretty hysterical considering that its just a game and he is having fun toying with his competition.

 

[Hiphophippo]

If someone were to mock up trollface with his hair, that'd be a fairly accurate representation of what I see when I look at him.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Donkey Kong is Serious business I take it.

Anyway, Good for him, but someone is simply going to come along and take it from him.

 

[mjc0961]

Donkey Kong is Serious business I take it.

Anyway, Good for him, but someone is simply going to come along and take it from him.

I wonder if that's why he stopped after getting the score back instead of continuing. Maybe he did it just so someone can take it, and then be like "Haha nope" and steal it away again.

I think he's trollin'!

 

[BehattedWanderer]

...People still care about this? Really? Huh. Takes all types, I suppose, what with a decadent capitalist society and whatnot...

 

[Hayate_GT]

yea i've seen King of Kong on G4...awesome hair or not he's a real prick...

 

[Therumancer]

...People still care about this? Really? Huh. Takes all types, I suppose, what with a decadent capitalist society and whatnot...

It's like any other game, it's just that electronic games are "arriving" to take a place alongside sports. One could argue that any nation that has a professional athlete class is also decadent.

In this case though it seems like a competition between hobbyists because I don't think there is any money involved in this, just bragging rights.

I don't follow it too much, but even though the guy seems like a jerk, he's a fun "heel". Competitions would probably be a lot more boring if it wasn't for guys like this and Brock Lesner.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

...People still care about this? Really? Huh. Takes all types, I suppose, what with a decadent capitalist society and whatnot...

It's like any other game, it's just that electronic games are "arriving" to take a place alongside sports. One could argue that any nation that has a professional athlete class is also decadent.

In this case though it seems like a competition between hobbyists because I don't think there is any money involved in this, just bragging rights.

I don't follow it too much, but even though the guy seems like a jerk, he's a fun "heel". Competitions would probably be a lot more boring if it wasn't for guys like this and Brock Lesner.

I'll agree that smack talk is vital to the competitive atmosphere, but I won't concede you that dickishness is. The prominence to be the best is fine, but when it comes merely to "just to beat someone else", then we're crossing a line, and that's not as cool. Though, I will, if you allow, borrow your analogy of everyone's favorite electronic media being comparable to sporting events.

 

[Blueruler182]

...I wish I could have that hair. That's fan-furking-tastic hair.

 

[Therumancer]

...People still care about this? Really? Huh. Takes all types, I suppose, what with a decadent capitalist society and whatnot...

It's like any other game, it's just that electronic games are "arriving" to take a place alongside sports. One could argue that any nation that has a professional athlete class is also decadent.

In this case though it seems like a competition between hobbyists because I don't think there is any money involved in this, just bragging rights.

I don't follow it too much, but even though the guy seems like a jerk, he's a fun "heel". Competitions would probably be a lot more boring if it wasn't for guys like this and Brock Lesner.

I'll agree that smack talk is vital to the competitive atmosphere, but I won't concede you that dickishness is. The prominence to be the best is fine, but when it comes merely to "just to beat someone else", then we're crossing a line, and that's not as cool. Though, I will, if you allow, borrow your analogy of everyone's favorite electronic media being comparable to sporting events.

What I was thinking is that I do not see this as being all that differant from one world class fighter wanting specifically to beat another one, even if there is no title on the line (at the moment). You see it with boxers, UFC fighters, and others. While it's since been resolved, consider that the whole Lesner/Miir thing is an example, Miir beat Lesner originally, and those two went at it for a while making it quite clear they wanted to meet again (though I'm sure most of us know what eventually happened). There are plenty of guys who want to fight Wandalei Silva ("The Axe Murderer", I can't remember how to spell his name) he's actually cool in a lot of interviews, but for whatever reason for years that seemed to be no shortage of guys who wanted to fight him specifically.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

...People still care about this? Really? Huh. Takes all types, I suppose, what with a decadent capitalist society and whatnot...

It's like any other game, it's just that electronic games are "arriving" to take a place alongside sports. One could argue that any nation that has a professional athlete class is also decadent.

In this case though it seems like a competition between hobbyists because I don't think there is any money involved in this, just bragging rights.

I don't follow it too much, but even though the guy seems like a jerk, he's a fun "heel". Competitions would probably be a lot more boring if it wasn't for guys like this and Brock Lesner.

I'll agree that smack talk is vital to the competitive atmosphere, but I won't concede you that dickishness is. The prominence to be the best is fine, but when it comes merely to "just to beat someone else", then we're crossing a line, and that's not as cool. Though, I will, if you allow, borrow your analogy of everyone's favorite electronic media being comparable to sporting events.

What I was thinking is that I do not see this as being all that differant from one world class fighter wanting specifically to beat another one, even if there is no title on the line (at the moment). You see it with boxers, UFC fighters, and others. While it's since been resolved, consider that the whole Lesner/Miir thing is an example, Miir beat Lesner originally, and those two went at it for a while making it quite clear they wanted to meet again (though I'm sure most of us know what eventually happened). There are plenty of guys who want to fight Wandalei Silva ("The Axe Murderer", I can't remember how to spell his name) he's actually cool in a lot of interviews, but for whatever reason for years that seemed to be no shortage of guys who wanted to fight him specifically.

That...alright, fair point. But that seems more of a personal best kind of concept, along the lines of a personal triumph of a peer, someone who has your respect. The sensation that I'm getting from Captain Beard here is that he does it merely to put the other guys down, elevating himself. I keep thinking that he holds no respect for them, that they just infringe on his title and he feels he has to put them down for it. At least between UFC fighters, there is still that "I know how good he is, so I need to take him" kind of thing. Here, though, it just seems like arrant dickishness poking its head up just because.

 

[William Dickbringer]

you know I want a nobody to break the record I think it would be funny to see how the 2 guys react to that

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

His hair is awesome and shiny. I want it...however if i were him I'd change the tie.

 

[Harlemura]

Surely if you can break that many world records, you're allowed to be arrogant.
So they're for video games of long ago and no one really cares but still, how many world records do you have?

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Mediocre hair doesn't disguise his dickishness. Steve Wiebe was competitive as well, but he wasn't a douche about it.

Oh well. Congratulations on your Donkey Kong record, Mr. Mitchell. I'm not being sarcastic about that. However, it must really stop being fun and start being a chore to constantly stay on top, playing that same damn game over and over and over.

 

[RvLeshrac]

you know I want a nobody to break the record I think it would be funny to see how the 2 guys react to that

Already happened. That's what the OP is about, Mitchell taking his record back from the Random Guy (Chien).