6/02/2005
Arcade Marathon Record Broken
Oregon man survives the Death Star for 50 hours.
From 8:00 A.M. on May 16 until 2:10 P.M. two days later, 25-year-old Brandon Erickson of Portland, Oregon blew up the Death Star over 1,500 times, raised $800 for the Portland Schools Foundation and broke the arcade marathon time record for Star Wars Arcade on a single quarter.
There was almost no time to breathe for Erickson. "Star Wars only let's you rest for about 7 seconds between levels. The gameplay is absolutely relentless," he said. "If I had left the controls for even 30 seconds, it would have been over. It's the most mentally and physically exhausting thing I've ever done."
35 hours after he started playing, however, the machine's controls started malfunctioning, forcing Erickson to quickly adaptor his playing style or kiss his record goodbye. Despite his fear of imminent doom, Erickson managed to survive for another 20 hours.
The previous marathon arcade record was also for Star Wars Arcade. In 1984, Brooklyn's Robert Mruczek survived for 49-1/2 hours.
There was almost no time to breathe for Erickson. "Star Wars only let's you rest for about 7 seconds between levels. The gameplay is absolutely relentless," he said. "If I had left the controls for even 30 seconds, it would have been over. It's the most mentally and physically exhausting thing I've ever done."
35 hours after he started playing, however, the machine's controls started malfunctioning, forcing Erickson to quickly adaptor his playing style or kiss his record goodbye. Despite his fear of imminent doom, Erickson managed to survive for another 20 hours.
The previous marathon arcade record was also for Star Wars Arcade. In 1984, Brooklyn's Robert Mruczek survived for 49-1/2 hours.
