Thanks everyone for their kind words.
After I achieved my first kill screen a little under two years ago, I always knew I'd consider pursuing the world record at some point, but I never imagined it would be pushed as high as the 1.17+ range.
There are countless people who helped me get here, and while it's impossible to list them all I would like to list a few in no particular order:
- Daniel Solis and Michelle Heckman of Z82 Retrocade Arkansas: Came out many nights to work on my janked up cabinet as well as made serious contributions to getting my control panel in shape to help my damaged wrists.
- Richie Knucklez: Gave me the control panel I used at KO4 which went a long way towards relieving unbearable pain in my left wrist.
- Jonathan McCourt: First inspired me to take up the game and push my skills to new heights. Iron sharpens iron, and without this initial rivalry I would never have hit 1m in the first place.
- Vincent Lemay: Indirectly taught me how to play the game not-stupidly from the videos he had posted on YouTube. Most of my basic fundamental mechanics I assimilated from Vince before lifting things off Robbie, Hank, and Dean.
- Shanoa Miller: For supporting this masochism for the last two years and promising to continue doing so.
- Jeff Harrist: Was gracious enough to sell me a hugely-discounted board from Alaska that he himself killscreened on and used in competition.
- Phil Tudose: My dear friend, and probably the most underrated DK player in history.
- Ethan Daniels: Pushes his gameplay to new heights every day and remains a trooper the entire time -- a true inspirational mentality.
- Jeremy Young: His contributions to the DK scene are immeasurable, he's like the modern-day RTM.
- Mark Kiehl: Another good friend and inspirational figure. Might not have been the first to beat Billy and Steve on both DK & DK Jr., but was certainly the first to crush them.
- Chris Psaros: Motivated me to get off my ass and force him to write some articles.
- Allen Staal: Provides a stream that shows I'm not the only one who suffers in agony for hours on end while playing this game.
Believe it or not, this score wasn't as difficult on a mental-level or emotional-level for me to achieve as my first 1.1m game was. To achieve 1.1m on a single man is absolute justice and redemption for me in that regard, and might speak more to me on a personal level even than breaking the world record.
I have already called and congratulated Robbie for his incredible game. It was a long time coming, and I have no doubt things will continue to intensify. The bar for competition will continue moving higher and higher in the future, of this I have no doubt. While we might have seen the occasional 1.1m in online or live tournaments, I believe they will begin to become more commonplace among the absolute top-tier players.
When I first announced that I wanted to go for my first kill screen, while many were supportive, I did receive a fair share of cynicism and skepticism. I did it in a little over two months and proved the doubters wrong. When I mentioned I wanted 1m I heard a similar chorus -- a wave of support from many and strong skepticism from a handful. I proved those folks wrong too. The exact same thing happened when I said I wanted 1.1m... and again when I said I wanted the world record. I intend to take the record back, regardless of who is holding it before I do, and at this point, I hope I've proven at the very least to those cynics and skeptics that I'm difficult to bet against.
That bottle of Dom Perignon was the first I'd ever had, and it was quite good. I am looking forward to opening another one.
