Two years after being stripped of five Guinness World Records on technicalities, video game player Billy Mitchell has seen the records reinstated.
As of June 10, the following arcade records held by Mitchell stood once again: First Perfect Score on Pac-Man on July 3, 1999 (3,333,360 points) and Highest Scores on Donkey Kong (Nov. 7, 1982 – 874,300 points, June 4, 2005 – 1,047,200 points, July 14, 2007 – 1,050,200 points, and July 31, 2010 – 1,062,800 points).
The reinstatement also re-recognized Mitchell as the first gamer to reach the kill screen on Donkey Kong (Nov. 7, 1982) and the first to score 1 million points on the game (June 5, 2005).
Billy Mitchell, second from left, is pictured at Arcade Expo in 2015 with Mark Hoff, RePlay publisher Eddie Adlum (who was being honored as a Pioneer of Video Game Journalism), Eric Tessler and Walter Day.
“Guinness World Records is always open to accepting new evidence for historical achievements, and to reviewing new and existing evidence for disputed titles,” the organization wrote. “In this case, a re-examination of the records in question and the emergence of key eyewitness and expert testimonials led to a reversal of earlier disqualifications and the reinstating of Mr. Mitchell’s original records. The records archive has been updated accordingly to reflect this.”
