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New "Perfect Game" Donkey Kong Record May Be Unbeatable (polygon.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the now-Mario-retires dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Standing in front on a Donkey Kong arcade cabinet, Wes Copeland set a new all-time high score on Thursday, playing Donkey Kong for 3 hours, 20 minutes, and scoring 1,218,000 points."It's how he took the title, though that's so staggering," reports Polygon. "Copeland did not lose a single Mario in the game. He took his first life all the way from the first level all the way to the end, cashing in the extra lives to obliterate all comers." Since the game ends after 22 levels, it will be difficult to surpass Copeland's "perfect game".

For comparison, Steve Wiebe set a high score in 2007 with just 695,500 points in the documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," eventually bumping his score up to 1,064,500 by 2010. But Thursday, posting a picture of his new high score on Facebook, Copeland announced that "This will be my last record score. I don't believe I can put up a game any higher than this."

18 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wes the Neckbeard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Some men are just better than you. They can hit a world record and bang chicks. Get over it.

  2. Meh. by meerling · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've given up caring about other peoples video game high scores when all the cheating started to really heat up.
    If you're interested in that kind of drama, I'm sure you could google it pretty easily.
    Though back in the 80s I did meet and have lunch with the world champ of Asteroids at that time. He had so many free lives, we walked over to the cafe, had lunch, and when we got back to the machine, it was still going!

    (Cue the immature fools with a worse sense of humor than mine to start up the asteroids jokes now...)

  3. Pretty sure he died at 3:12:45 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Am I trippin? In the video of the feat, he eats a fire barrel at 3:12:45. Does that not count?

    1. Re:Pretty sure he died at 3:12:45 by Sowelu · · Score: 5, Informative

      Oh! I think I see what's going on. The game only has 22 levels, and you are not directly awarded extra points for extra lives remaining. Instead, if you run out the clock on a life and score all possible points, then you've converted that extra life into points. So get to the end, blow all but the final life getting points, and finally complete the game. Confusingly written, but correct play.

    2. Re:Pretty sure he died at 3:12:45 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Am I trippin? In the video of the feat, he eats a fire barrel at 3:12:45. Does that not count?

      You watched it in it's entirety?

      Yeah, you're trippin'.

    3. Re:Pretty sure he died at 3:12:45 by phizi0n · · Score: 2

      Thanks for clarifying that they have to die to convert the lives into points but the OP's reference to 22 levels still seems to be completely irrelevant or at least lacking any context for why it is important.

    4. Re:Pretty sure he died at 3:12:45 by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      The 22nd level is a "kill screen". Due to a bug in the game it can't be completed because the time limit for the level is too short to finish it. Many games of that era had similar bugs due to either a lack of testing or the developers thinking that people simply would never get that far. PacMan is probably the most well known example, with level 255 being corrupt and impossible to complete.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. That's literally what it means by Sowelu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If it's beatable, then it's not a perfect game.

  5. Re:I'm pretty sure he died by Sowelu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Huh, my first comment didn't post so this might be duplicated. You're not actually awarded points for extra lives; if you beat the last level with lives remaining, they're wasted. So you get to the last level, then spend all lives except your last one collecting as many points as are possible during a life, and finally beat the game with your last life. Confusingly written, but correct play.

  6. Re: [Going off-topic] This is where UBI would go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I get it in some ways. People pay lots of money to watch sports, while the players spend a lot of their lives training. I get the value in setting a record for running the fastest marathon, setting the single season record for most home runs, or laying down the fastest lap ever on a particular circuit in an F1 car. While I don't find intrinsic value in watching someone play Donkey Kong, I do enjoy watching sports. Maybe someone else's tastes are different. A lot of those sports have origins from skills that are actually useful. You can look up the legend of why a marathon is called a marathon, and why there's a place I'm Greece named Marathon. I certainly can appreciate driving fast cars and the skill and precision required to navigate some circuits. Some of those things are also stuff I did for fun and I'm sure many other people did as well. I certainly appreciate racing someone or trying to hit a ball farther than anyone else. I guess either you get it or you don't.

  7. Re:[Going off-topic] This is where UBI would go... by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

    How exactly would he have "consumed" GDP?

    GDP is a measurement of economic strength because it measures how much value is transferred in transactions. Standing at an arcade console increases GDP, because he's using electricity and paying the utility company for it. He's digesting food, for which money was paid to the farmers, bakers, processors, packagers, distributors, and retailers. Those companies then spend their income on other things, further raising GDP.

    He certainly could have done something with his time that might have led to even more addition to GDP, but there are very few ways in which someone can actually reduce GDP.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  8. Re: Wes the Neckbeard by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    While I admire your power to raise the dead, I do question your method.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Re:So? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some things are more important than work, Mr AC.
    Do it for the love, not for the money.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  10. play the fixed rom that has no kill screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get.htm

  11. Someone's still playing Donkey Kong by aglider · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is the real news here!

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  12. Re:Who is by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 2

    Donkey Kong's dank meme posting cousin.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
  13. Mario who? by UberVegeta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Didn't lose a single Mario"

    Who the hell is Mario? This is Donkey Kong. Did you mean Jumpman?

    --
    I knew I needed to stop reading Slashdot and finish my PhD when I started to miss articles by Bennett Haselton.
    1. Re:Mario who? by gameboyhippo · · Score: 2

      It is canon that Jumpman is Mario.