Setting Records: 5 Impressive And Legitimate Feats Involving Video Games

UPDATE (4/12/2018 7PM ET): The statement that Rick Fothergill was the first to achieve a Pac-Man kill screen is false. While Rick is now the first player currently recognized and verified by Twin Galaxies to have achieved a "perfect" Pac-Man score of 3,333,360 points, the first recorded instances of someone achieving the Pac-Man kill screen dates back to the early 80s. There is debate as to who actually achieved the first Pac-Man kill screen. An archived copy of Video Games Player posits that Eric Schwibs may have achieved the kill screen with a score of over 3 million back in Fall of 1982, but one of the first recorded instances of the kill screen dates back to November 22, 1982, achieved by Ricky Mori in a taping of the tv show, Just Kidding. You can view the recording below. The Pac-Man entry has been corrected with Fothergill's proper achievement. The dates of Steve Wiebe and Hank Chien's original recognized million point Donkey Kong records is also incorrect. They actually achieved their first verified million point scores in August 3, 2006 and February 26, 2010 respectively. Wiebe's 2006 score was 1,049,100 and Chien's 2010 score was 1,061,700. These dates have also been corrected below. ~TG Editorial

---

The world of video game records is an ever-changing landscape, with new peaks of achievement being set regularly and other feats surviving for years or even decades. Once in a while a record comes along that stuns the gaming community, proving just how resourceful gamers can be when it comes to their favorite form of media. Here are five such records, accolades that only the very best have reached in some of the most iconic games ever made.

The Pac-Man Kill Screen & Perfect Score

Way back when, Pac-Man took local arcades by storm with addictive gameplay and intense competition atop its leaderboards. Some players vowed that they could play the game forever...until the game itself was discovered to not give players the option. Upon reaching level 256, players were greeted with the “kill screen” seen above, rendering their playthrough finished at a maximum 3,333,360 points possible. Rick Fothergill is the first player currently verified and recognized by Twin Galaxies to have achieved a "perfect" Pac-Man run back in July 1999, but many players have found their way to it since. When a game tells you to stop playing, you know it’s time to go do something else.

137 Hours of Just Dance

Just Dance has been delighting audiences since its inception on the Nintendo Wii, letting players boogie down to their favorite songs from yesterday and today. It seems Carrie Swidecki enjoys hitting the dance floor more than most, as she once logged 138 hours of continuous gameplay. That’s not only the longest gaming marathon in Just Dance history, it’s also the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon in video games period.  While all of the achievements on this list are impressive, dancing for 138 hours straight makes us tired just thinking about it and we’re not sure it will never be topped.

ZeRo’s Massive Streak

The fighting game community has its fair share of dominant players throughout its many games, but none can compare to the path of destruction forged by Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios in Super Smash Bros for Wii U. Between the game’s launch in November 2014 and October 19, 2015, ZeRo won every Smash Bros Wii U tournament he signed up for. APEX, EVO, CEO, all of them saw ZeRo’s hand raised in victory when the dust settled. ZeRo won a total of 53 tournaments in that timeframe, finally taking his first Smash Bros Wii U loss at the hands of Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada at the Major League Gaming World Finals (video above). This is a Herculean stretch of victory in a fiercely competitive genre, and the changes of this happening again are very slim.

The Killing Hour in Quake

Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel, one of the first professional gamers to truly make a name for himself on a grand stage, didn’t just get there on luck alone. His abilities in games like Quake were not to be questioned, and his most impressive achievement is a perfect reason why. In one hour of online play Fatal1ty racked up 671 total kills. That’s averages out to just over 11 kills a minute, or one kill every five and a half seconds. Numbers like that just don’t happen in today’s first person shooter universe, so this is a record that will absolutely stand the test of time.

Wiebe’s One In A Million

Donkey Kong has been a focal point in the records community for a long time, with films like The King of Kong putting a massive spotlight on the scene. However, one name stands out above the rest as being the first person to enter the Donkey Kong Million Points Club: Steve Wiebe, who achieved the mark on August 3, 2006, and held the record of highest ever Donkey Kong score until Hank Chien began to challenge him  in 2010. The current record, for those curious, was set just a few weeks ago when Robbie Lakeman reached 1,247,000 points on March 23rd. However, no matter how high the scores tally, there can only ever be one “first timer,” and Steve Wiebe will forever be “the man.”

(Editor's Note: Some of these records are officially recognized on Twin Galaxies, like Steve Wiebe's, but some have not been submitted or are unrecgonized in the Twin Galaxies adjudicated archives. But, we wanted to celebrate just some of our favorites in general.)