For those of you who have not tuned into the antics surrounding the Donkey Kong world record score since the release of the King Of Kong movie, you be wondering just who is the world Hank Chien is. What happened to Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, you ask? The answer is simple: They have been bested by a man who’s first real exposure to Donkey Kong came after seeing the movie that highlighted their trials and tribulations involving the Donkey Kong world record.

Hank Chien, 35, is the new reigning King of Kong, and has been named such twice in his life so far. Chien had his first taste of victory when he obtained the new record high score in March of 2010, and once again in January 2011 when he reclaimed the crown from former King of Kong, Steve Wiebe. Since then, he has been enjoying the view from the top.

As reported by The Examiner’s Patrick Scott Patterson, Chien has just recently made it even more difficult for his pursuers to surpass his kingly score by superseding his old world record score with a score of 1,110,000 points. Those familiar with the game may know that at a certain point, the game reaches a level called the “killscreen”, at which point, no matter how many lives you have left, the game simply cannot progress any further, and abruptly ends.

This is the point where many high score runs end, but, that was not the case for Chien. As he details in an interview with Patterson, “This was not a killscreen game. I died two screens shy of the killscreen so my score would have been a little higher, perhaps 1.12 million points. I had a spare man going into Level 21 and was mentally preparing to sacrifice it on the last barrel board and my game was over a few minutes later. That’s how Donkey Kong rolls sometimes.”

Although his record has withstood for over a year now, Chien is very aware of the fact that many players have their targets set on him. “I know currently there are several players who are capable of beating that score. If there was still a Donkey Kong in every pizza parlor I’m sure I wouldn’t have the record.”

Chien is not ready to rest on his laurels though, as he feels that he still has more room for improvement. “I don’t know what my limits are on this game. Right now it’s about 1.15 million points.”