With Twin Galaxies and the G4 Network preparing for Steve Wiebe's arrival at E3 in Los Angeles, CA in early June, Steve has been doing some preparing of his own.

 

While Steve hopes he can regain the Donkey Kong World Record on live national television on June 2, he is able to lay claim to recent success on another classic Donkey Kong title.

 

On April 24, Twin Galaxies announced that Steve Wiebe has officially taken the Donkey Kong Junior World Record.

 

The new World Record mark was accomplished on March 14 and verified by Twin Galaxies Chief Referee David Nelson.  Steve's new World Record mark of 1,139,800 points takes the Donkey Kong Junior crown from fellow Washington state native Ike Hall, who was crowned the DKJ World Champ in August 2008 with a score of 1,033,000, taking the crown that Billy Mitchell had held on the game since 1985.

 

"I'm not surprised he was able to beat it," Ike Hall told Twin Galaxies Editor-In-Chief Scott Patterson via telephone on the day of this announcement. "I'm definitely going to try and reclaim it, but it won't be an easy hill to climb."

 

Hall also stated that family life may make finding time to play in the near future difficult, but in the meantime he wishes to extend his congratulations to Steve.

 

"I'll be calling Steve to congratulate him," Hall said.

 

This new mark on Donkey Kong Junior also gained the attention of another who appears in the King of Kong film.

 

"This is a profound performance," notes Walter Day, Founder of Twin Galaxies. "On March 19, 1983, Billy Mitchell set a then-World Record of 957,300 points at the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard in Ottumwa, Iowa.  That record stood for 25 years until Ike Hall of Port Angeles, WA scored 1,033,000 points on August 10, 2008, lifting the record 86,000 points.  Even though the World Record was able to creep up by only 86,000 points in those 25 years, Steve has managed the unimaginable and has lifted it another 106,000 points by scoring 1,139,500 points."

 

Steve's attempt on the original Donkey Kong is airing on the G4 Network at the annual E3 event in Los Angeles on June 2, with several Twin Galaxies officials there to witness and verify the attempt.

 

Twin Galaxies hopes to have a word with Steve and possibly with current and former World Record holders on both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior as this televised attempt approaches.