There is a new king of "Donkey Kong" and this time around it isn't either of the men made famous by the film "King of Kong."
Plastic surgeon Hank Chien has unseated "Donkey Kong" champ Steve Wiebe, who previously unseated "Donkey Kong" champ Billy Mitchell as the top-score holder in the game that made a giant ape and a jumping plumber famous.
But the battle for highest "Donkey Kong" score is far from over.
Chien accomplished the latest record-breaking score by ringing up a whopping 1,068,000 points on the classic 1981 arcade version of "Donkey Kong." His score – which beat out Wiebe's previous score of 1,064,500 – has been officially recognized by the video game score-keeping gurus at Twin Galaxies.
The ongoing battle for top "Donkey Kong" score was made famous by the 2007 documentary "King of Kong" – which highlighted the rivalry between two men: hot-sauce magnate Mitchell and former Boeing engineer/math teacher Wiebe.
But this isn't the first time that Chien has managed to edge out the movie stars to get his name at the top of the "Kong" score board. Back in March of last year he unseated Mitchell with a score of 1,061,700.
This time around it took him two hours and 45 minutes of playing to claim the top score. And it was the second attempt of the day, he said in an interview with Twin Galaxies.
When asked by Twin Galaxies about his approach to setting the record, Chien had this to say:
My approach was very similar to last time. I played more aggressively in the beginning to put my pace well above the world record score and then played more conservatively towards the end of the game. The score is getting high enough now that you will have to play fairly aggressively all the way through the game to get the world record. If the score is pushed up much higher, I will have to revamp my playing style next time for a higher risk/higher reward.
Of course, the rivalry between Chien, Wiebe and Mitchell is far from over. All three world-record holders along with seven other top scorers will compete in a Kong-Off taking place on March 19th and 20th in New Jersey.
That's right, a Kong-Off. In New Jersey.
But for the time being, all hail the newest King of Kong.
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.
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