2026 Interview With Steve Wiebe! (Multi-Time Donkey Kong World Champion)

​‪@stevewiebe722‬ is a professional arcade gamer who achieved world record scores in Donkey Kong and its sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. His attempts to get the world record was documented in the cult classic film, "The King of Kong"! In this interview, I ask him almost everything you'd want to know about his Donkey Kong scores and his appearance in The King of Kong! I also ask him about the music he's written over the years, the other movies he's starred in as an actor and his day job as a teacher. We also speak about Steve's newly released memoir, "The Space Between Wonder and Why" and his recent appearance in a LEGO Donkey Kong advert. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did! [CHAPTERS] 0:00 Intro 1:16 How did Steve get into video games? 2:33 When did Steve first play Donkey Kong? 4:21 Why did Steve decide to become a competitive Donkey Kong player? 8:43 When did the filmmakers start shooting "The King of Kong" documentary? 15:04 When Steve was interrupted in the middle of a Donkey Kong record run by his son... 16:17 What Steve was thinking when people "broke in" to investigate his Arcade PCB... 20:19 Why did Steve go to Funspot to achieve a Donkey Kong world record? 22:25 When Steve got overnight recognition after "The King of Kong" documentary was released 24:30 When Steve got a Kill Screen run live on G4 TV at E3 2009! 27:14 When Steve got the Donkey Kong Jr. World Record 29:46 The "Double Donkey Kong Board" that got cut from "The King of Kong" 30:39 How does Steve feel that his Donkey Kong records are still amongst the best of the best scores all these years later? 33:14 How the Donkey Kong meta has changed over the years 36:51 Steve's personal best run at Donkey Kong 37:19 When Steve streamed on Twitch 38:08 Who Steve thinks could potentially become the next Donkey Kong world champion 38:54 Would Steve go for a Galaga record or a Perfect Pac-Man score? 39:46 Would Steve try beat his Stampede personal best? 40:44 How did Steve get into multiple films as an extra? 45:50 Is Steve to Seth Gordon what John Ratzenberger was to Pixar? 45:56 How did Steve get into the recent LEGO Donkey Kong Advert? 48:31 How did Steve get into writing and performing his own music? 51:56 Would Steve write music for a video game? 53:36 When Steve had a drum solo at a My Chemical Romance concert?! 56:54 Can Steve Wiebe play the Donkey Kongas?! 58:10 Did Mr. Awesome's comic book inspire Steve to write his memoir? 59:11 The REAL reason Steve wrote his memoir, "The Space Between Wonder and Why" 1:04:16 How Steve made the cinematic version of his memoir? 1:08:24 What is Steve's most favourite chapter in his memoir? 1:10:17 What does Steve's students and colleagues at his school think of his extra-curricular activities?! 1:12:09 Steve does RAP SONGS in class?! 1:14:35 What is Steve's plans for the future? 1:16:48 Will Steve do appearances at arcade's in Europe? 1:17:56 Outro