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Guiness World Records Drops Pac-Man, Donkey Kong High-Scorer Billy Mitchell's Records (Update)

Video game records tracking organization Twin Galaxies announced on Thursday that it will no longer recognize Billy Mitchell's high scores after verifying a claim that his Donkey Kong high scores were not achieved on arcade hardware.

Mitchell previously held the record for being the first to score one million points in Donkey Kong. Twin Galaxies member Jeremey Young submitted the dispute claim on February 2, saying that the board transition images in Mitchell's recorded runs could not have been generated on actual Donkey Kong arcade hardware. Twin Galaxies verified the claim for two of Mitchell's high scores.

Young also claimed that Mitchell was using MAME emulation software. Twin Galaxies was not able to say definitively whether this is true.

Guiness World Records told entertainment news source Variety on Friday that it will also no longer recognize Billy Mitchell's high scores. This also includes his records for first perfect score on Pac-Man and highest score on Pac-Man.

Mitchell's Donkey Kong high score was the subject of Seth Gordon's 2007 documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (pictured right), in which Steve Wiebe attempted to beat the score. Twin Galaxies noted that Wiebe is now the first million-point record holder for the game. The current high score for the game is held by Robbie Lakeman.

Source: Variety (Brian Crecente)

Update: Mitchell made a statement at Midwest Gaming Classic over the weekend. In the video, he says, "In a professional manner... we will show that everything that has been done, everything was done professionally, according to the rules."

Source: Milwaukee Record

Thanks to Spastic Minnow for the news tip.