Donkey Kong Kill Screen beaten after over 40 years

If you’re anything like me — old, tired, and chronically nostalgic — you’ve probably played a few rounds of the ’80s arcade classic Donkey Kong. While most games last around ten minutes (if you’re lucky), a select group of incredibly skilled players has spent years pushing the game to its absolute limits. It’s players like these who have witnessed something that most of us never even knew existed — or at the very least, only dreamed of seeing: the fabled Kill Screen.

I first heard about the Donkey Kong Kill Screen from the 2007 documentary The King of Kong, which chronicled the quest for the game’s highest score. Even for players who have mastered every jump, ladder, and perfectly timed dodge, the Kill Screen has always been an unavoidable roadblock — the definitive end of the game.

 

 

Like many classic arcade games, Donkey Kong wasn’t designed to be played indefinitely. At a certain point, players reach a level the programmers never expected anyone to get to. When this happens, all sorts of strange bugs can occur: glitched graphics, freezing screens, or, in Donkey Kong’s case, an unavoidable and unexplained death. On Level 22, Screen 117, Mario simply keels over after a few seconds of play, bringing the game to an abrupt and inescapable end.

 

 

For years, most players assumed that the Kill Screen was caused by a lack of memory, but just recently, data detectives have uncovered the true cause of Donkey Kong’s Kill Screen. And for the first time in over 40 years, they have finally beaten it.

 

 

However, while the Kill Screen is hypothetically possible to surpass, it requires a combination of glitches and absolutely perfect control — so much so that it is highly unlikely a human could ever accomplish it. For all the details, check out the incredible video above by speed-runner Kosmic, which breaks down how this feat was discovered, and see it in action!

 

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