The classics, as they say, never die. Despite the fact there more games are being made now than ever before, a certain segment of the game playing populace still gravitates those from the golden age. And many of them are still playing to beat their high scores. Some have managed to stand the test of the time as well.
Case in point: Missile Command, an arcade classic in every sense of the word. The high score of 80,364,995 points, achieved by Victor Ali, has been upheld for over thirty years. One that was finally defeated over the weekend, by Victor Sandberg, whose how holds the highest score of 81,796,035 points total.
To achieve such an incredible point count, Sandberg had to play the game for more than 56 hours in a row. There are some out there who believe such a feat is ridiculous, even impossible. Well, in the case of the latter, all doubts should simply head on over to Sandberg's Twitch.tv channel, where the entire live broadcast can be viewed.
Arts Technica has all the details, including how a person can play a game for so long without any breaks. The answer is simple: Sandberg's skills are so good that it allows him to create a buffer, in the form of extra cities. Which are destroyed whenever Sandberg has to step away from the machine (as if it needs to be said, but there is no pause button).
It was said that Sandberg could conceivably take upwards of a half and hour break, but chose to only take much smaller ones, just four to six minute in length, instead.
At the moment, Ali’s previous point total is still the official record. Twin Galaxies, which officially authenticates video game high scores, still needs to conduct their verification process.