Add another name to the short list of classic video game champions known to reach the infamous Donkey Kong kill screen.
Snohomish, Washington's Brian Allen is the latest entry to the exclusive club, reaching a retro gaming goal made somewhat famous by the 2007 film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. The kill screen essentially marks the "end" of Donkey Kong by reaching a level that unintentionally causes a glitch that no longer allows the player continue.
For Allen, who achieved the feat on Tues. July 9, it marks the end of a lifetime of climbing buildings and chasing barrels.
"I started playing Donkey Kong as a teenager back in 1981," Allen said. "I do not know how many hours I've spent playing over the years."
Having already hit the same milestone in Donkey Kong Junior, Allen said that he was just hoping to increase his personal best high score as he began his noteworthy game of Donkey Kong.
"I was on my last man at the 600,000 mark," Allen recalled. "The springs in Donkey Kong are not my friends. I screamed when I passed the final spring board because the odds of me reaching the kill screen jumped big time. I said to myself for hours after that game ended that I can't believe I just did it."
Wild barrels, fast springs and grumpy fireballs were not the only obstacles that Allen says he had to overcome en route to his newest arcade gaming triumph. Other real-life obstacles jumped into his path, including the murder of his uncle and a series of online bullying attempts during live streams of his DK record attempts.
"There are bullies in this hobby that try to control who is making news and getting scores," Brian stated. "I can take it for so long and then I have a breakdown because I have done nothing to these people."
At one point, the bullies went so far as to hack into Allen's Twitch account, erasing the footage of all his previous Donkey Kong attempts, including one he'd dedicated to his late uncle.
"That one really got me for a while," Allen said. "All my video and everything was wiped away, but I'm not just going to stand here and get walked over."
For now, nobody is walking over Brian Allen, who now stands among classic arcade gaming's most exclusive club. He says his next quest is to break the 1 million point mark, a feat even fewer Donkey Kong masters have ever managed to do.
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The author of this story can be reached at http://www.PatrickScottPatterson.com
