A perfect score in Pac-Man was obtained ten years ago by Billy Mitchell, meaning that no one can ever score higher. How then does a person break the world record in Pac-Man? By doing it faster of course. Since Billy Mitchell the record has been broken four more times, and now we can add a fifth. David Race is your new world record holder for the Pac-Man high score with the time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds. That's only 42 seconds faster than the previous time of 3 hours, 42 minutes, and 4 seconds, which was held by Chris Ayra.
In case you're wondering what it entails to get a perfect score, it means that the player has to eat every dot, every bonus fruit and every blue ghost possible throughout the game until it crashes at level 256. Pretty daunting, and to pull it off in under four hours is practically inhuman. I hope Race got many hearty pats on the back for his achievement or at least a job well done.
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
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Contest:
11:00 PM on 09.13.2009
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In the King of Kong, Billy Mitchell really came off as a huge dick. Hope this lowers his ego a few points.
So how does one do it "faster"? I'm trying to figure that out.
That said, I wonder if Race has ever kissed a girl.
No, it takes a patch. The original arcade game crashes at level 256 because they never really thought anybody would get that far.
If someone told me that I could play any game, take as long as I wanted, and take breaks in between anytime I wanted for as long as I wanted, as long as I played through the entire game without ever making a single mistake, I don't think I could ever do it.
Uhm, the article says he's been beaten four times since then, this guy is just beating the last guy to beat the score, not Billy, and I'm sure Billy's score was beaten before King of Kong, but he was recognized as being the first to achieve a perfect score so it was mentioned in the film.
I wasn't referring to him looking like a dick in regards to his Pac-Man score, I was just speaking generally. And yes, I am aware that this guy is one in a line of people that have beaten Mitchell, but if I once had a world record and I moved from 4th place to 5th place, I'd be a little ego-hurt.
It's pretty well known that King of Kong was edited to be more dramatic. For example, there was actually a third guy competing for the high score during the same period and they did interview him, but it's not very "good vs evil" to have 3 guys battling it out so they just completely skipped it.
Billy, however, has been in several documentaries and always behaves the same.
I can't begin to think how one would prepare to accomplish something of that magnitude. Amazing. Imagine the pressure?!
Records like this, video games or not, need to be recorded and seen, rather than just heard about in passing. Epic moments like this should be covered by CNN and other reputable news fronts.
I see. I was under the impression that the right half of the 256th level was still "there" (as far as the machine is concerned), and that the glitch, while making it nearly impossible to complete the level, was purely aesthetic. Thanks for the correction, and the link.
This is an amazing achievement, and this guy should feel proud of himself.
You know what, you aren't even worthy of that American flag tie anymore. I expect it on my desk by Friday.