You either die a hero…
A lot of people were surprised when allegations came out that Billy Mitchell’s high scores in the arcade classic Donkey Kong may have been faked. This was the man featured in a famous documentary The King of Kong and who was notorious for being a fierce competitor as well as a general gaming heel; this couldn’t be true! Personally, I was completely on board once news broke. When questioned about breaking the high score on Pac-Man, Billy said he’d do it because, “I’m Billy Mitchell,” so clearly being humble wasn’t his strong suit.
In the on-going case of his world record setting high scores at the Twin Galaxies arcade, Billy Mitchell has now been stripped of all of his previous record attempts. The official statement from the company reads, “Twin Galaxies administrative staff has unanimously decided to remove all of Billy Mitchell’s’ scores as well as ban him from participating in our competitive leaderboards. We have notified Guinness World Records of our decision.”
I can’t say I disagree with that decision. While Mitchell may have set a bunch of legitimate scores, the man still felt the need to resort to cheating once someone toppled his efforts. Even if he only did it once, his reputation is now tarnished for eternity. That must suck for him, but I don’t feel an ounce of pity. Maybe he can redeem himself (which would make for a good underdog story), but I’m not sure anyone is going to be so forgiving of years of deception.
A very thorough breakdown of how this new development was made can be read over on Twin Galaxies’ website. This doesn’t shed any new light on what happened, so if you’ve read previous reports, you’ll already know how Billy cheated the system. Maybe he’ll finally admit the truth, but I have a feeling that Billy is going to get on his high horse and claim wrongdoing.
Dispute Decision: Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong & All Other Records Removed [Twin Galaxies]
