February 5th, 2012 - It's an avalanche! Mark Kiehl is now the fifth player to be verified by Twin Galaxies with a Donkey Kong score of over million points.
Kiehl—three-time (and currently reigning) world champion of Donkey Kong Jr.—leapt onto the Donkey Kong leaderboard from out of nowhere to claim an instant fourth place, thereby delivering the bump-down to recent million-point earner Dave McCrary after only a month in that position.
This news comes as a surprise to many in the classic gaming community, since no other player has ever made such an explosive debut on the Donkey Kong leaderboard, and Kiehl, while well known for his Donkey Kong Jr. prowess, had never expressed anything more than a passing interest in competing at the prequel.
During a 2010 interview with Twin Galaxies Kiehl stated: "I play a little Donkey Kong too, but I'm nowhere near the caliber of the top players."
This week's events prove one thing for sure—he is now!
Following announcement of the score verification, Kiehl had this to say: "After Dave McCrary got his million point game, I was inspired to start taping some attempts. I made it a point to try and get an attempt in after work and had some really promising games come up short before this game finally came together."
More than two years since Hank Chien became the only player besides Mitchell and Wiebe to score a verified million points, two more have come within six weeks. If things do indeed "come in threes," is the next right around the corner?
It must also be mentioned that, on the same day, Kyle Goewert strengthened his 6th-place position by upgrading his score from 970,300 to 987,600.
Congratulations to Mark and Kyle!
(Here is Twin Galaxies' 2010 interview with Mark Kiehl:)
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