So much for the "King of Kong" outcome.
http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1465
Fairfield, Iowa - July 26, 2007 - Even though he was proclaimed the "Video Game Player of the Century" in Tokyo in 1999, that doesn't stop Billy Mitchell from adding more glory to his legendary reputation. On Friday, July 13, 2007, exactly 25 years after setting the original world record, Billy scored a high-score on the legendary Donkey Kong arcade game that has been verified to be the new world record.
In front of an audience of hundreds, including Twin Galaxies Senior referee Todd Rogers, Mitchell scored 1,050,200 points – a new world record.
"The accomplishment, backed up by video tape of his gameplay, provides further supporting evidence of his record," explains Walter Day, Chief Scorekeeper at Twin Galaxies and editor of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. "After two top Twin Galaxies referees-- all experts at Donkey Kong -- have reviewed his tape, we will publish the highlights of his accomplishment on the Twin Galaxies website at www.twingalaxies.com."
Highlights of Billy Mitchell's new Donkey Kong score are already published on the website for the Chasing Ghosts documentary film. Mitchell was one of the featured stars in Chasing Ghosts - a documentary that studied history's first video gaming superstars who were brought together by Twin Galaxies and LIFE Magazine on November 7, 1982 for a famous group photograph. Mitchell is one of 16 gaming stars who appeared in the photograph who are now recognized by video game historians as being the pioneers of professional gaming.
Chasing Ghosts, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival documentary feature competition, follows the lives of the LIFE Magazine gamers from 1982 to present. Viewers can watch samples of Mitchell's Donkey Kong skill on the Chasing Ghosts website at http://www.chasingghoststhemovie.com
To further support growing interest in classic arcade gaming, Billy Mitchell is personally offering a $10,000 cash prize to the first person who can break his new score while at the Classic Gaming Expo, at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, July 28-29, 2007.