Skip to main content

The King Of Kong(A Live Analysis)


The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters, a 2007 documentary about competitive classic arcade video game players is a time capsule of a dying culture and showcases a watershed moment in gaming. Watching this over ten years later, is quite ironic, considering how one of the main players, Billy Mitchell was recently outed this year as a cheat. The very thing that he called out another player in the Life magazine competition in 1982. I think that Billy was at one point a legitimately great classic arcade gamer. But now he is just a disgraced hot sauce chicken wing guy. And now his image and his perfect games are covered in asterisks. And if you ask me it couldn't have happened to a better guy. Billy was arrogant and a prototypical asshole from an 80's movie who wants the ruffians to get off his country club. He even wears a member's only jacket for Christ sakes.

Now that Mitchell has been taken off his pedestal, the underdog throughout the entire film that I and so many people rooted for in the film comes away victorious and retains his title and the world record. Steve Wiebe is now the King Of Kong again and a big reason why is because of this documentary whose special features on the DVD helped nail Mitchell for good for use of emulators to cheat Donkey Kong. Steve represents the kind of champion that you want to see held in high regard. I got two words for ya Billy Mitchell...

SUCK IT!

#dtc476

Steve Wiebe's sacrifice and rituals while playing his vintage Donkey Kong cabinet are always fascinating and interesting. How he can come of a heavy drum session and then right into the Kong is simply amazing. And it is equally amazing that the game itself despite it's simplicity and archaic graphics for today's day and age is so difficult to master. Even Dark Souls isn't as difficult as Donkey Kong. And that's just mind blowing.

#dtc476

Walter Day is a character. Dresses up like an NFL referee, practices meditation and speaks like he's some god of classic arcade games. The ego of this man is crazy. But it seems like big egos are common in this particular culture and group of people. For them and their small but loyal community, their accomplishments, work and actions are more important than anything else in their life. There is also a distinct gender and race gap in this group. There are no people of color here, or women. It's a boys club. And just like any other boys club or group like this, there is beef with other grown men that has lasted for years.

And with the case of Roy Schlitz aka. Mister Awesome, because Steve had a replacement board he was sent to by Roy, Steve's initial world record was removed. Over very slim evidence of cheating on Steve's part other than some gummy substance on the board. Which didn't seem like it was that obvious of an example of cheating. But because it was provided by Roy, that was enough for the folks at Twin Galaxies to toss Steve's record in the trash. But because of this, Steve now has the rare chance to beat Billy at his own game live and in person in front of the few hundred classic arcade game competitors that still existed in 2005. And as an added note, there was finally one female that was introduced on film, but the older lady who was competing to break the Q-Bert world record was an outsider. So wasn't a part of the Twin Galaxies club, despite Billy's endorsement and support of her.

#dtc476

The majority of the classic arcade gamers featured in this documentary are what most people would call "nerds" or "geeks". This film does nothing to erase the common stereotypes associated with gamers which is very interesting to see. I wonder how much if any this particular culture has changed since the release of the film. I am also curious if it has even less devoted members since Billy the previous King Of Kong and classic arcade game celebrity has fallen from his perch. Will this culture survive? Or will it die off like so many other similar cultures have in the past? Time will tell. I personally feel that with the advancements in gaming technology and with the evolution of gaming culture as a whole, this culture will have fewer and fewer members. And there won't be many people who will want to sit and watch tapes of game play footage for hours on end to verify the validity of a score, or watch these competitions in person.

In the heyday of these kind of games there were even entire TV shows centered around competitive game play of classic arcade games. But those shows are no longer on the air or in the public's consciousness. Other than this documentary, most modern gamers don't have memories of playing these classic games. Their classics are completely different. I can see competitive matches of NES or SNES games or even Genesis games taking the place of the classic arcade game competitions at the Funspot.  Or competitive classic gaming is almost erased entirely and replaced by DOTA, Mortal Kombat or other games that are already being played on the competitive stage.

#dtc476

The biggest thing that resonated with me with this film other than how much of a dick Billy Mitchell is, was how much a lot of these classic gamers and the people who were in their lives were attached to the games as a part of their identity. Steve Wiebe was one of the exceptions. He had more in his life than just the world record for Donkey Kong or other classic arcade games. He has a wife and kids, and he is a school teacher. Billy Mitchell and his associates and friends seem to rely upon these classic arcade game achievements like they do the air they breathe. Without the games and the competition they don't know who they are. They suffer a loss of identity and confidence in life as a result. If the games were taken away completely and all of their accomplishments were deleted, would they be able to recover?

Sure. Some of these individuals like Billy Mitchell who have already spent years building their egos like Mount Rushmore, will be able to survive this kind of catastrophe, but a lot of them wouldn't. What would Walter or Rob do without Twin Galaxies? And who are they? Who is Billy Mitchell? Is he the result of the games and the records he set? Or is he something else entirely? If and when Billy and his gang dies, who will remember them and what they did? Will their achievements and work truly last forever? My guess is no. Steve will have friends, family and relatives that will carry on his name and his legacy about not only Steve the video game player, but Steve the man. Not the myth. Or the legend.

#dtc476

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Halo Memories

Halo was a watershed game for me when I was a teenager. It was the first time that I was playing a game that was actually a legitimate part of cultural lexicon. Before I had only been playing games that were no longer popular or not as popular as they once were. But when my step dad bought an x-box and introduced me to Halo, that finally changed. I played it religiously with my step dad after school on the Campaign mode and sometimes by myself and I was blown away by the game. I had never seen anything like it before. The graphics were stunning, the controls were varied but not too complicated, and the story was just as well written as the best sci-fi films. Halo was also a landmark for me in the sense that it was the first video game I remembered beating and finishing to completion. So many hours of my teenage years were spent playing Halo and it will always have a special place in my heart and it is one of the few games that made me feel a sense of euphoria and elation up...
Post a Comment
Read more

What I Am Playing(Day 2) | NES

Now, I am playing with power. I actually grew up with an NES in the 90's. The SNES was all the rage and so was the Genesis but my parents didn't have the money to get me one of those consoles or if they did, I never really asked for one. I wasn't what you would call a hardcore gamer. I was casual to the core. But when my Aunt got me an original NES, I really became infatuated with the console. I didn't have that many games. I only had a small bag full, but I played the heck out of all of them. I would have gotten more games and played those too if it wasn't for my cousin not following my directions and taking the game out of the slot while the system was on. He broke the system, my spirit and my will to buy another console let alone more games. In honor of my late NES, I decided to head over to a friend's house who had a Retron-5 and play the games of my youth. I started out with a true classic. Super Mario Bros. This was the game I played the most. I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Machine Acts

There are two types of Machine Acts in video games. The diagetic and the non-diagetic. Here are a couple examples of the two. The loading screen for any level on Halo: Combat Evolved is an example of a non-diagetic machine act because you cannot skip the loading screen, nor can you interact with it in anyway and it does not change the form of gameplay or the way you play the game. As for a non-diagetic machine act, a prime example of this is the kill animation. There are kill animations in multiple video games. But the one that comes to mind most of the time is the Fatality animation from the Mortal Kombat series. The kill animation forces the player to just sit there and watch the animation as the machine plays the code and the animation to the player.
Post a Comment
Read more