Donkey Kong Junior might not receive the same attention that it's older brother, the original Donkey Kong, gets, but it's still one of the more hotly contested retro arcade records out there - and because of that, the score is really getting up there.
With that in mind, enter Mark Kiehl, a previous DKJ champion and now once again, after a new world record score of 1,412,200 points was achieved over a non-stop 3.5 hour gaming session.
He's not done yet though. There's a much higher score out there, he thinks, and he's keen to chase it: "This new score still doesn't come close to what has been speculated as the theoretical max, which is thought to be around 1.475 million. So I have no doubt that Mike (Kasper) can retake the record if he gives it a go, and I hope he does.
He's sort of hopefuly for Kasper to retake it too, as it's the competition between him and other players that drives him to improve.
If you're hoping to pick up some tips from the man, Twin Galaxies interviewed him about his recent record and he said that really, he just followed his usual strategy and did surprisingly well: "seeking a strong front end to the game [was important] as I inevitably find ways to lose lives along the way, and you only get four."
"That way, I can temper the risk down a bit to stand a better chance of completing the game. I think this is how all of my recent scores have played out, Donkey Kong included. I get way too frustrated trying to go all out and rarely make it to the end, especially since a full game of Junior can take upwards of 3 1/2 hours and it's hard for anyone to find that kind of uninterrupted time."
So that I sort of knew what Kiehl was talking about for this piece, I did some "research" and bust out MAME to have a go on DK Junior. I failed to get over 10,000... this guy's good.