Nuts to E-Sports, ‘Donkey Kong’ is Where the Real Action’s At

  Ah, Donkey Kong. Without a doubt, the most iconic hairy-assed monkey in gamedom. This guy’s been around just as long as Mario, and maybe a little longer if you want to be a nerdy wiseguy and discuss the legitimacy of ‘Jumpman.’ There’s no questioning the great ape’s status. I’m wearing a pair of Donkey Kong Vans right now, and I don’t regret any of my life choices, buddy boy.  

That first arcade game that bears his name is just as legendary, natch. Right up there with Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac-Man and other arcade antiques with an indelible place in gaming history. 35 years later, the Donkey Kong highscore war rages on.

There have been documentaries, books, all sorts of BS relating to this epic battle. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters tells of the war between two competitive Kong-ers, Billy Mitchell and Steven Wiebe, as they wave their mighty e-peens around and try to hold a world record. That was a couple years back, with the current record –1,218,000, close to the maximum score possible to get—held by Wes Copeland. But maybe not for long.

Last weekend, the fifth annual Kong Off hit a Pittsburgh convention center. The world record still stands, but a harshly competitive day of barrel-jumpin’ goodtimes was had by all. Here’s a scoreboard, for any interested souls.

Via Polygon.