We usually don’t flatter ourselves but in honor of the Donkey Kong hi-score record we will.  Back in August, our retro writer, Gonzalo, predicted that Dr. Hank Chien will surpass the 1 million mark and eventually set the new record for Donkey Kong.  Guess what, he did!

Dr. Chien surpassed the 1,050,200 Donkey Kong mark set by Billy Mitchell, with an unbelievable score of 1,061,700 in 2 hours and 35 minutes according to Twin Galaxies officials, ending the game on the famed kill screen.

The Perezstart.com staff first met Hank early in 2009 at a Richie Knucklez competition in Flemington, NJ. We remember seeing Hank playing on the Donkey Kong arcade machine wearing his medical scrubs. We then saw Hank again at the Richie Knucklez’s Invitational, and noticed something special brewing after he broke the 900k mark. Hank is a cool and calm customer, he has nerves of steel and exudes brilliance with every move that he makes.

Hank began practicing Donkey Kong on the MAME version and then invested in his own Donkey Kong arcade machine. The game of Donkey Kong requires impeccable hand eye- coordination and precision. It is only natural that the steady hands of a Plastic Surgeon could attain this phenomenal feat.

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Perezstart.com took a ride down to Flemington, NJ for Richie Knucklez’s World Record Weekend this past weekend.. Where top players from all over the world, (and we do mean the World) met up to compete for the top spot of their respective games.

Of course as gaming fans ourselves, we took advantage of the great selection of Classic Games that Richie has to offer. Our EIC and his wife (Juan and Melissa Perez) were fascinated by the Tapper machine. Tapper is an excellent game, but even better when you play it on an actual arcade machine because of its unique controls.

I made my way around the arcade and played a few all time favorites. From Qbert, to Ms. Pacman to Punchout and Galaga. Ritchie’s collection was new and fresh from our last visit a few months ago. He had a new Championship Sprint game that I spent some time on.

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[UPDATE 3] – Steve Wiebe gets a KILL SCREEN on LIVE TV. Final Score 989,400.

[UPDATE 2] – Steve Wiebe currently has 970,000 with 1 life in his pocket.

[UPDATE] – Steve Wiebe currently has 900,000 with 1 life in his pocket.

In a surprising turn of events, Steve Wiebe –attempting to break the Donkey Kong Hi-Score record — received a green screen of death.  It’s not the “Kill Screen” that’s been made famous when you beat Donkey Kong and Mario just spins in his spot and dies — Game Over.  It’s one of the more successful types of ending your Donkey Kong gameplay experience and one that Steve Wiebe has done at Funspot.

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Fresh from a new World Record score of 1,139,800 in Donkey Kong Jr on March 14th, Steve Wiebe is setting his sights on the coveted Donkey Kong title. In a sequel of events to the King of Kong movie, the saga continues tomorrow with Steve hoping to write the next chapter in Donkey Kong lore. click on the read more for the full Video….
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If you are a true retro gamer, you  probably have your DVD copy of The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters, resting comfortably in your DVD player for quick viewing. This film brought drama, human psychology and retro gaming all together in a most interesting plot. Well, the script is still being written, as Steve Wiebe will attempt to win his title back from the evil
gaming legend, Billy Mitchell.  The live attempt will be made a the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 2nd.

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It’s only fitting that a truce would commence after years of fighting between Donkey Kong and Mario.  Artist Bob Dob, came up with a great answer to the question many of you have been asking.  BEER, is what’s in those Barrels!

I am sure you have seen many a Donkey Kong shirt in the past. I am also certain you have not seen one quite like this one! Men bring out your ape like instincts from the days of yore with this shirt. When you are mad at your lady friend clench your fists and pound your chest, while still looking stylish and professional in your Donkey Kong tie. I have to say it, just go bananas in this tee!

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Well we didn’t mean bad gun ports, we meant bad game ports…
Anyhow, just because the title of a game is the same it doesn’t mean that the game will be the same. Developers have had the daunting task of porting games to run on various platforms throughout time.

In the early 80’s programmers had to write a number of different versions since no platform was pre-eminent. There were Atari 800, C64, Apple, Mac and IBM PC versions of games, but because of the specific constraints of each systems, the games were not all the same. Some games were horrific excuses of a translation. One can argue that all of the games on older systems, Atari 2600 being the main culprit, made horrendous version of the arcade original. Ok, I can entertain that argument, but some were so disappointing that they deserve special mention here.

Admittedly, Atari 2600 games were never quite the same as their arcade counterparts. However some games like Missile Command, Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender still captured some of the magic of those machines, and were also fun as games all on their own.

Throughout the years the home console versions have caught up in quality, up to the point that arcades have all but vanished.

This article speaks about my most disappointing experiences with home versions after playing the arcade version. (With exception to #2 which is a recent disappointing version of Alone in the Dark on xbox360.)

5.  Donkey Kong (2600 – arcade)

I had three points of reference points during the 80’s:

- The high powered arcade version
- The Atari 400/800 versions (also Commodore 64) {Our family owned the Atari 400, then later the Atari 130 XE}
- The Atari 2600 versions {our cousins had the 2600}

What in the H… E…  (double hockey sticks) is this about? Donkey Kong looks like the result of someone’s stomach ache! I could not believe how poor the translation was when I first played it on the 2600. Was this rushed out to meet a deadline? Was this effort the best that could be done with the resources that the 2600 provided? Thank you Coleco Vision, no wonder your not around anymore.  They should have said, based on the arcade version of Donkey Kong.

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