Steve Wiebe | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 19 Jan 2017 11:28:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Steve Wiebe | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 A decade on, the Kings of Kong are very different https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/a-decade-on-the-kings-of-kong-are-very-different/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/a-decade-on-the-kings-of-kong-are-very-different/#respond Thu, 19 Jan 2017 11:28:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=318098 Somehow nearly a decade has passed since the original release of celebrated, retro-gaming documentary, The King of Kong and the landscape of top-tier Donkey Kong gamers is very different today. Not only has the world record been raised to monumental heights since then, but the two champions of the film, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell …

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Somehow nearly a decade has passed since the original release of celebrated, retro-gaming documentary, The King of Kong and the landscape of top-tier Donkey Kong gamers is very different today. Not only has the world record been raised to monumental heights since then, but the two champions of the film, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell don't even feature in the top 10.

King of Kong was originally released in August of 2007, though saw a wider release in the following year. It chronicled the world record attempts by father and teacher Steve Wiebe, as he battled against not only rival Donkey Kong player Billy Mitchell, but a perceived bias against him for certain affiliations and a seeming old-boys mentality in the retro gaming community.

kingofkong

While many aspects of King of Kong have proved to be exaggerated in the years since its debut, the battle for a world record score in the original 1981 arcade release of Donkey Kong was very real and has continued to this day. However in 2017, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell's million plus scores which required so much effort to achieve, barely register in the top 20, let alone the top 10.

At the time of writing, Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe occupy the 19th and 18th places on the official top 20 rankings. Both have long since retired from active competition, though you do occasionally see them make appearances where they attempt to show kill screens, or make semi-serious runs at a decent score.

Today though there are new champions. followed by a multi-year reign by Hank Chien, several others have pushed the boundaries of what scores are possible within the game. Dean Saglio's previously considered unbeatable score on the MAME emulator rests in third place, having been achieved way back in 2013. But it was in 2016 that we saw the really astounding scores appear.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkwECcfqX_I']

We reported last year how Wes Copeland posted a potentially difinitive score of 1,218,000, which required not only amazing skill, but amazing luck with certain randomised elements in the game. Serious competitor Robbie Lakeman pledged to take the record back and almost managed it just a few weeks later, but ultimately his score of 1,206,900 fell short by a reasonable margin.

As the Donkey Kong Blog points out, as much as the champions of King of Kong, Wiebe and Mitchell, may no longer be the royalty they once were, they were the pioneers who helped push the game well beyond what was previously thought possible. They discovered many of the tricks still used today to rack up massive points and world record runs. Without them, few of those who came after would have gotten even close to what they achieved with the game.

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KitGuru Says: I'd definitely be up for a decade later, where are they now documentary for both of those Kings of Kong, especially if it was wrapped around a look at the current champions. I wonder what Brian Kuh is up to these days. 

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Donkey Kong, Kong Off 3 champion crowned https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/donkey-kong-kong-off-3-champion-crowned/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/donkey-kong-kong-off-3-champion-crowned/#respond Tue, 19 Nov 2013 09:00:15 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=163182 Another year is coming to a close and that means many things, but one of them is that a new Kong Off Champion has been crowned. Funnily enough, it's turned out to be the same as the old champion, but that's alright because it was well deserved, as Jeff Willms battled through against world class …

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Another year is coming to a close and that means many things, but one of them is that a new Kong Off Champion has been crowned. Funnily enough, it's turned out to be the same as the old champion, but that's alright because it was well deserved, as Jeff Willms battled through against world class competition with a score of well over a million points.

Even with a score as high as 1,096,200 though, Willms was not necessarily secure in his title, since he was up against several contenders who have previously scored higher than that on the official World Record table. People like the current world record holder, Hank Chien, who put up some real competition, but ultimately couldn't top Willms' efforts.

willms
Jeff Willms, seen here with the official Donkey Kong Off championship belt

Source: TwinGalaxies

Mr Chien ultimately came in third place, with a score of 1,056,900 points, with fan favourite and star of the 2008 documentary, King of Kong, Steve Wiebe coming in fifth with 1,048,800 points, dropping two places from his last year third place posting, even though his score was up 40 odd thousand. His rival in the KoK though, Billy Mitchell, did far less impressively, despite the crowd he pulled on the day, he only placed 20th with a score of just 598,800 – though he did make it to the final heat.

Vincent Lemay, one of the hottest contenders for the current Donkey Kong world record, came in 10th with 989,700 points, while current second place world record holder Ross Benzinger took second place here as well, with an impressive 1,067,100.

Ultimately the top three players walked away with $3,000, $1,000 and $500 respectively for their efforts.

Kitguru Says: Some impressive scores all round, but it shows from the results that even the best in the world need many attempts to achieve the scores they do and even someone like Hank Chien, who's current world record has stood for over a year now, can't just knock out those sorts of scores when he wants. His performance at the Kong Off 3 falls almost 80,000 behind his highest ever score.

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Donkey Kong Kong Off 3 Wild Card Qualifier results are in https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/donkey-kong-kong-off-3-wild-card-qualifier-results-are-in/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/donkey-kong-kong-off-3-wild-card-qualifier-results-are-in/#respond Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:31:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=139826 Fans of competitive retro gaming, listen up, as the results of the first round of the Donkey Kong, Kong Off #3, Wild Card Qualifier #1, are in. They saw a couple of people break the million point barrier and an amazing number of people hitting the Kill Screen, but who has the best chance of …

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Fans of competitive retro gaming, listen up, as the results of the first round of the Donkey Kong, Kong Off #3, Wild Card Qualifier #1, are in. They saw a couple of people break the million point barrier and an amazing number of people hitting the Kill Screen, but who has the best chance of making it to the real competition later this year?

First though, it's best to explain the way the Kong Off will work this year and what the Wildcard matches are all about. The Kong Off, sees the best Donkey Kong (original 1981 arcade version) players in the world, competing head to head to see who's the best on the day. To enter, they'll need to beat their way through the live qualifying event on 15th of November – or enter one of the online qualifiers, as part of the Wildcard division.

Traditionally, the Wildcard side of Donkey Kong was reserved for those that hadn't already proved themselves capable of garnering over 1,000,000 points in the game, but this year it's to allow people from all over the world to compete, not just those that live near the hosting 1Up arcade.

While only eight of those out of the three qualifying competitions will progress to the first round of the live tournament, here's the top three from this event:

Dean Saglio: 1,087,500
Phil Tudose: 1,051,600
Jeff Wolfe: 997,800

Each of those men wins a small monetary prize for their efforts and they all stand a good chance of making it to the Kong Off 3 later this year.

But how do they stack up against the best of the best? Chances are, if these guys make it to the Kong Off 3, they'll be facing off against some of the biggest names in the game. Current world record holder Hank Chien is expected to attend, along with Vincent Lemay, the man hot on Chien's heels. Fan favourite Steve Wiebe is also expected to show up, though no word on whether video gaming's lovable bad guy, Billy Mitchell will make an appearance.

Currently the top three world rankings for Donkey Kong are:

Hank Chien: 1,138,600
Vincent Lemay: 1,135,900
Jeff Willms: 1,105,400

The top 10 rankings for this game are all over a million points, though traditionally Kong Offs – being heated competition – don't tend to produce world record scores.

While the hero of documentary/movie King of Kong, Steve Wiebe, hasn't been in the top of the table (or even in the top five) for the past few years, he did recently reignite speculation about how he would do in the next Kong Off by putting up the following image on his Facebook page:

donkeykong2
While Wiebe's cab. is from a Donkey Kong Junior machine, the board inside is all original. And not from Roy Schildt. 

How will he do? Who knows. Wiebe has fallen behind the curve a bit in recent times, though he's still capable of pumping out kill screens if he wishes, as was evidenced at a recent comicon.

KitGuru Says: You know when you think you're getting good at something and someone else just makes you feel totally inadequate? That's what it's like writing this news piece. My own personal best is 77,000 and I can pull around 8,000 points on level 1 when I'm lucky. Do you know the record for 1-1 is 13,600 points? For god's sake. 

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Competition for Donkey Kong world record is still fierce https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/competition-for-donkey-kong-world-record-is-still-fierce/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/competition-for-donkey-kong-world-record-is-still-fierce/#respond Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:22:14 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=121852 While the somewhat-sensationalist – but still awesome – documentary on the rivalry for one of gaming's most honourable top scores, King of Kong, was released nearly six years ago at this point, the race for the world record is still ongoing. And though haven't seen a changing of the highest of the high scores since …

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While the somewhat-sensationalist – but still awesome – documentary on the rivalry for one of gaming's most honourable top scores, King of Kong, was released nearly six years ago at this point, the race for the world record is still ongoing. And though haven't seen a changing of the highest of the high scores since plastic surgeon Hank Chien beat his own best in November last year to raise the bar to 1,138,600, some players have recently come agonisingly close.

At the Kong Off 2 – where 20+ high ranking DK players all get together to compete head to hear – we saw the three most recognisable names in Donkey Kong – Steve Wiebe, Hank Chien and Billy Mitchell – fail to take first or even second position. What we did see though, was Canadian Jeff Willms place first with 1,107,600 points. There were two other million + scores that day and impressively another six in the 900,000s.

However, the big news over the weekend was that a new face has appeared in the rankings, clearing away 99 per cent of the competition and becoming the number two of all time. 21 year old Vincent Lemay of Quebec, managed a 1,135,900 score game that lasted nearly three hours, putting him not only ahead of greats like Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, but only 2,700 points behind Hank Chien.

Lemay
Vincent Lemay (right) seen here with current champ Hank Chien (left) and veteran of the DK wars, Steve Wiebe (centre)

According to the DKBlog's rundown of the record attempt, Lemay actually lost his first two lives early on – levels 4 and 5 – which is relatively unheard of for a record attempt. However, his scoring at this point was actually higher than Chien's so he forged on. It was only a sub-par scoring on the last few screens that relegated his potential world record run to second place.

KitGuru Says: I've had very few arcade cabinet runs, but my MAME score sits at 76,700. Pathetic by the standards of these record holders, but I'm pleased with it. What's your personal bests?

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