The Donkey Kong champion has lost his record after an investigation found that he had not used the original machine to set the record. Twin Galaxies, the organization that tracks video game world records, began investigating after Donkey Kong forum moderator Jeremy Young had his doubts about the images.
Billy Mitchell, a famous video game player, set a Donkey Kong record in 2007. That record was later beaten but Mitchell set a new one in 2010. In February, Donkey Kong forum removed three of his scores after the forum moderator stated that the records had been set using an emulator.
Mitchell later responded to the claims by saying during an Internet talk show that he had never even played MAME. He added that he doesn’t have MAME loaded in his home. On Thursday, Twin Galaxies announced that its investigation found that Mitchell had used modified hardware to record footage of his score. Twin Galaxies could not confirm if he used MAME.
Twin Galaxies said in a statement that staff had unanimously decided to remove all of his scores. He was also banned from submitting scores. The removal of the high scores now means that Steve Wiebe holds the record. Twin Galaxies now recognizes him as the official 1st million point record holder.
Guinness World Records told Variety on Friday that his Pac-Man and Donkey Kong scores would no longer be recognized. The decision came shortly after the news of the Twin Galaxies investigation. Twin Galaxies and Guinness World Records require the use of an arcade machine. A spokesperson told Variety that Twin Galaxies is Guinness World Records trusted adviser on video game scores. The spokesperson added that the records relating to his scores on Donkey Kong have all been disqualified. The two other records on Pac-Man have also been removed.
Donkey Kong, released by Nintendo in 1981, is one of the most popular arcade games of all time. In this game, Donkey Kong is actually a villain attempting to stop Mario from saving Pauline. Donkey Kong has since appeared in other video games, including the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series.
