If you haven’t seen last year’s documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” (or read Stephen Totilo’s series of stories from last year), turn off the computer and track down a copy (it’s on DVD) right now. You’re missing out.
For folks already keenly aware of the ongoing score battle between “Donkey Kong” rivals Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, and rooting for the game’s “good guy,” I have some bad news.
Twin Galaxies, the organization that keeps record of video game high scores, monitored a match between the two in Las Vegas last week. Despite Wiebe’s multiple attempts to topple Mitchell’s oh-so-close high score, he couldn’t.
Wiebe wasn’t under the scrutiny of a documentary lens this time, but it was still, you know, Vegas. “Possibly the biggest challenges Steve had to overcome were the loud nightclub music, the chaotic environment and the late hours,” said Twin Galaxies’ referee Walter Day on the Guinness World Records website.
To date, the high scores of Wiebe and Mitchell remain only 1,100 points from one another: Mitchell at 1,050,200 and Wiebe at 1,049,100. Wiebe’s closest run in Vegas brought him to the infamous Donkey Kong kill screen — but with only 929,800 points. His second run was far less successful; he died early on and stalled at 579,300 points.
Though “The King of Kong” pinned the duo as good vs. evil, both Wiebe and Mitchall appear to be basking in the fame that’s come with the documentary’s runaway success. During the event, Mitchell produced special bottles of his hot sauce to some of the 1,900 odd attendees, with a label reading “Steve Wiebe Attempts Donkey Kong World Record.”
Better luck next time, Steve.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
did mitchell actually play against weibe this time, live? in a “fist full of quarters”, mitchell never physically plays against weibe. instead, weibe just strives to beat mitchell’s 82′ score. mitchell was never physically seen playing the game in the documentary (coward). wondering if he actually got some balls and decided to man up!
March 13th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Nope, I don’t think Mitchell has ever played Weibe heads up. However Mitchell did the set the current record live so now there’s no video tape drama.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Billy is a bigger chicken than the one he sells.
probably used adobe after effects for that tape.
Stuck up, jerk feels worse inside because he know he has been beat multiple times by steve weebee.
meow meow, billy your a p****
March 14th, 2008 at 2:33 am
billy mitchall always has a plan. but there are some people he’d rather not spend too much time with.
Rickey’s Hot Sauce available online:
http://www.800hotsauce.com/
March 14th, 2008 at 3:29 am
You suck.
Sincerely,
Everyone but you.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I thought at the end of the movie it said that Steve eventually beat Billy’s score and owned the top score for public and taped games? In this story it says that Billy has the top score. Did he beat it again after the movie or am I wrong about what the movie said?
March 14th, 2008 at 11:51 am
@Scoot
Without completely giving it away, stuff happened after the movie. See here: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2007/07/27/filed-at-mtv-news-new-donkey-kong-world-record-set-at-mortgage-brokers-convention/
March 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
They should hold chess matches in Las Vegas nightclubs as well….
March 15th, 2008 at 1:12 am
watching that documentary, if you pay close attention you can actually see billy shaking and trembling,,,,,i think the only world record billy mitchell holds is keeping the same hairstyle for over 25 years.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Mitchell is good at splicing video tape. He should have received the Guinness World record for that, not Donkey Kong.
March 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
That movie is a farce - events were taken way out of context and were totally slanted. The real story wouldn’t have been as exciting. Let’s face it, Billy Mitchell is one of the best arcade players in the world - he has played the only perfect game of Pac Man ever and holds a number of records. He has admitted that he “talks smack” because it would be really boring and nobody would be interested if he wasn’t a character. The guy deserves some respect. Wiebe had been playing on modded boards to set some of his records, and every time he has gone head-to-head with Billy Mitchell he has lost. You tell me who got the raw deal here…
March 19th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The Dude: “Wiebe had been playing on modded boards to set some of his records….”
I thought modded boards would get your score invalidated. How does one set a record on something they can’t set a record on?
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
An awful lot of people are reading way too much into the film itself and are totally brainwashed by it without knowing anything about the actual situation. The film is certainly entertaining, but it’s slanted and loaded with factual inaccuracies (Billy Mitchell wasn’t even the champion when Steve Wiebe first set the record, among other things). It’s pure fiction.
First off, if you want to know why the TG staff was so skeptical of Steve Wiebe at first (and fearful of his association with Roy “Mr. Awesome” Schildt) then you need to read this thread on the Picturehouse forums (particularly the long post at the end by former TG referee Robert Mruczek) and find out more about Roy Schildt’s antics:
http://forum.picturehouse.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=958
It’s been repeated ad nauseum that Mitchell avoided playing Steve Wiebe because he’s an “asshole” and a “coward”. Billy Mitchell didn’t play video games at all for over a decade (from 1987 until 1999 or so). People act as if he should have been jumping at the chance to play some random guy who beat a record he had set in 1982 (which was no longer the world record at the time).
Regarding the claim about Mitchell never playing live…the current record he holds (set on July 26, 2007) was set live in person and witnessed by the TG staff (as all DK record attempts now must be).
Both the TG staff and Billy Mitchell himself certainly mistreated Steve Wiebe (especially at first, a fact Walter Day himself admits), but the way the situation was portrayed in the film is just not correct.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
What the movie portrays clearly is the content of the character of the two rivals. Billy Mitchell, in every scene, comes across like a bad guy from a Disney cartoon: vain, strutting, full of hubris. And in every scene, Steve Wiebe comes across as a humble, earnest, fundamentally decent guy.
Billy’s flunkie, I can’t remember the name, (the guy who tried to head psyche Weibe on the first live Kill Screen), comes across in every scene like one of the henchman in a Disney cartoon.
You can’t blame editing, as I’m sure Billy’s entourage wants to. But for those of us who don’t care about these games, I can only say that if Billy Mitchell retook the record, I believe he retook it with some kind of coniving, some kind of gaming the system. He seems tricksy and false, with life’s real lessons still in front of him.
Wiebe’s the champion, and the one I respect.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
If all future Donkey Kong attempts have to witnessed by Twin Galaxies, that is just another trick on Mitchell’s part, to make it harder to beat him. Tricksy. False.
Have you guys read what Ted Williams did at his last at bat when he was going for .400? Now, THAT’s a champion. That’s a role model.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I dont car what people think or say to justify the acts of mitchell in the movie. The fact is that he had a chance to show his stuff, but he wouldnt cause he has a stick up his ass like half this world!! He felt like his glory would be lost and pulled B.S. tapes out of his ass. Steve wiebe worked his ass of to get it done, i give him props.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Steve Weibes is the one & ONLY champion! Just look at “Billy Mitchell” “the guy is a PUNK” yes, a PUNK!
To me it is pretty obvious that he would do whatever he had to, to win right?
And whats up with saying “I dont want to spend too much time with certain people”? Like Steve Weibe gives a you-know-what!
Even if Weibe scored 10 points he would be 10 times the man of “Billy Mitchell”!!!!
May 6th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Even if Billy Mitchell hadn’t played Donkey Kong in over twenty years he should have at least had the balls to go against Wiebe at the end of the movie, he knew he was f—ing coming!( Wiebe called him before the expected show down) He should have been prepared!
And besides, you can’t talk anywhere near that much smack if (even if it was just acted) if you can’t back it up.
props to Wiebe
May 9th, 2008 at 5:02 am
RCF says: Billy Mitchell didn’t play video games at all for over a decade (from 1987 until 1999 or so). People act as if he should have been jumping at the chance to play some random guy who beat a record he had set in 1982 (which was no longer the world record at the time).
Well he certainly could provide a doctored videotape to attempt to steal what should have been Wiebe’s record at the time.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I LOVE this movie, and appreciate it for what it is. While I realize it’s a bit insensitive to those involved, the subjects of the documentary who have been stirred up like an anthill, I eat the one-sidedness up, with relish. I realize and accept that the film may be edited to depict things in a skewed manner, but also that certain factors made it super-easy to do so. I just sit back and enjoy the ride, because I don’t have a reputation on the line. I actually can somewhat sympathize with walter day in the sense that so much of his life was shaped by this thing, and probably when he set out, it was with good intentions. It’s easy to make bad decisions in life; much harder to sit under the magnifying glass of public opinion and be judged for them. Do they deserve it? Probably, but I do pity them.
That being said, I adore Steve Wiebe, and love to hate Billy Mitchell. But in a good way.
It’s not over yet, of that I’m positive. I’ll actually have lots to say in my blog in the near future…
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
Steve toted his family around the nation to play this game. Everyone knew he was a contender and B.Mitchell showed no respect for the game or the players.
Steve your a class act.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Steve has shown that he is strong morally and in faith. He plays a fair and honest game. Tried several times to play side by side against the other person. To bad the other person couldn’t be as fair and have good sportsmanship and show up. Steve is the kind of guy you want as a role model for your children. Steve is obviously dedicated to doing anything he persues to the best of his ability.
It is to bad that Billy Mitchell can’t do the same. Not only is he to chicken to show up, but when he finally does, he is rude, arrogant and definately the type of person you do not want your kids to role themselves after. I do not believe the movie portrayed Billy badly, just portrayed him the way he obviously is……..Bad sportsmanship and AFRAID OF LOOSING.
In Oregon……..Steve Wiebe is the Donkey Kong world record holder. He plays a fair game and you can trust him.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Steve is the champ, hands down. Like that dumbass mitchell said himself, “If you can’t play when the time comes, then your really not good enough.”
OVER GROW THE GOVERNMENT!!!
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Mitchell tells everyone to guard the tape with their life and then we find out it’s a copy. Was this part of the film slanted? Why did Mtichell choose that time to release the tape? Wiebe (whose name no one could pronounce correctly) travels to the opposite coast to play, but Mitchell makes every excuse not to play yet tells everyone that they aren’t worth much unless they step up when it’s live and on the line. All the idiots at TG talk to this guy everyday and had his name next to Steve’s @FUNSPOT (which you’ll notice was partly covered) on the console. Mitchell wasn’t aware of the promotion? Mitchell couldn’t play that day? Mitchell couldn’t stand next to Steve for a photo op? Yes I read Mitchell’s account that he didn’t want to bother Steve. Why does Steve have to show up and play , but Mitchell doesn’t? Mitchell say’s in the end, “I can’t comment I’m not aware of the situation”, which is obviously a lie. You can’t “doctor” or use “creative editing” to explain away the fact that Mitchell is a cheat submitting that phony tape, everyone at TG is there to pump up Mitchell and TG treated Steve Wiebe and his family with disrespect.