You may now refer to me as World Champ! Twin Galaxies has officially recognized me as a world record holder. I hold the record for the fastest lap time on the Excite Bike Arena course in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I want to thank my parents and for buying me video games over the years, my brothers for keeping my skills sharp and my wife or putting up with me while I was making my record attempts. Over the years many controllers have been tossed at the ground and quite a few folding chairs have allegedly taken flight in my parents’ basement. Obviously, I’m writing this tongue in cheek, but in all seriousness, having a world record is an awesome feeling.

The quest started when I first saw the hit documentary “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters”. This classic showcases the captivating rivalry between Steve Wiebe and video game bad boy Billy Mitchell. This was only the beginning for me. It was my first exposure to TwinGalaxies.com, the official video game world record keeper. Walter Day started Twin Galaxies from the humblest of beginnings as a small arcade operating out of Ottumwa, Iowa in 1982, the heyday the American Arcade. Day has grown his record tracking organization to a major website that is recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as the official video game world record authenticator. Recently I watched another Twin Galaxies based documentary, Man Vs. Snake and was determined to break a record. Twin Galaxies inspired me and lit a fire within me.

This discovery intrigued me. I’m a lifelong gamer and have always had a competitive fire burning within me. I’d always want to hold a world record but never felt that this was an attainable goal. I quickly began to dissect my gaming abilities and analyze what I felt I was truly great at. My favorite gaming genres are sports, racing arcade and platformers. I knew arcade and platformers were out of the questions. I was born in the late 80s and wasn’t alive in the heyday of the arcade and therefore had no chance amongst the video game legends. I had decided; my brother and fellow blogger Adam would pursue the NBA Jam (Sega Genesis) two-player margin of victory world record.

Naively, Adam and I pursued the NBA Jam world record while playing on my AtGames Console. Over the past couple of years, I had become proficient in the art of NBA Jam block, especially with Patrick Ewing.NBA Jam is a game we both grew up playing together. We started off strong after a few games we felt comfortable with, logging several close attempts in our first few games. We eventually hit a roadblock and couldn’t surpass 3rd place mostly due to the fact we couldn’t capitalize on “catching fire”. Eventually, we decided to call an audible and attempt the record with the Chicago Bulls. Little did we know that any record score we set that fateful night in the summer of 2018 would be for not as we were not attempting the record on genuine Sega Genesis hardware as the adjudicators on Twin Galaxies would kindly point out to us. We did achieve a score that would’ve placed on 2nd in the Biggest Blowout record track, but it was for not.

I was taken aback. I thought we surely could have set the record in NBA Jam, but we simply lacked the proper hardware to achieve an official score. I then looked at the consoles I currently had in my possession; a PS3, Nintendo Wii, and a Nintendo Switch. Ultimately as you know, I chose the Switch.

I have always been a huge fan of racing games and have logged countless hours into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. After many, many attempts I set the world record in the Excitebike Arena track. After many attempts, I broke the record, recording a single lap time of 35.962 seconds. The record was approved on 9/1/18 and I soon received the official certificate in the mail.

Unfortunately, while writing the post I discovered my record has been beaten by Matthew Felix. He posted a score of 34.96 seconds, very impressive. This only pushes me more to shake off the rust and make another attempt at the record. My experience with Twin Galaxies has been amazing. The community is very accepting and willing to point out tips and provide assistance to new members. They were very helpful as a learned the ropes. I will be sure to update you as a strive to reclaim what is rightfully mine that world record!

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