Donkey Kong Documentary

[Sideshow Spock]

And the fact that he's a weasel.

[MegoSteve]

It's Mitchell, not Fisher.

Of the two guys, Wiebe comes off as a nicer, more normal fellow, but I can also imagine someone like Billy Mitchell coming off badly largely as a result of having people like Brian Kuh and Steve Sanders putting their heads up his butt all the time.

[Adam West]

This movie came out here in Austin a couple of months ago, and garnered very amused reviews. I'll probably rent it on DVD, as it looks like a laugh and a half.

I'm pretty good at 80s video games, but always had a super hard time with DK; I could never master its subtle timing and broad jumps! I used to make it to the third screen, and that would be it for me.

I am a world-class TEMPEST player, though (I've scored over a million points and got to the INVISIBLE level); and my Ms. Pac Man is nothing to sneeze at (I routinely score 60,000 - 80,000 points). Other arcade favorites I've mastered are JOUST, ELEVATOR ACTION and the cartoon-animated BADLANDS.

I also love DEFENDER and STARGATE, but I'm terrible at them for some reason!

They did say in the documentary that most people can not get past the 3rd screen. Apparently there are 26 levels and they have what is called a kill screen. Some explain it as a glitch in the game, others say it is the part where the game literally hits its limit with memory and Mario just dies about 5-7 seconds into the last frame. The only way to beat the world record is to accumulate more points until you get to the kill screen and from the documentary they only know of 3 people in the entire world who have ever made it that far.

The extras in the documentary were interesting. Most of these hardcore gamers who break world records have something wired in their brains that is completely unlike anything normal. In other words, most of us could sit and play Donkey Kong every day for the rest of our lives and never get to the kill screen no matter how many times you play it. Apparently Steve Wiebe has a musical talent and literally hears original music scores play in his head at night that he writes down the next day.

Like I said, I had no idea who Bill Fisher was prior to the documentary but no doubt this guy has a brain that just thinks and works differently from most people. Apparently, he was the first person to get a perfect score in Pac-Man literally grabbing every prize, ghost, everything, without getting killed.

The filmmakers talked about how they zeroed in on the Donkey Kong story and that they were looking at a bunch of different stories related to classic arcade games but this particular story was more than just a story about breaking the World Record and as was already stated, an interesting look into a community of players who continue to play classic arcade games, the interesting double standards that were applied to Bill Fisher who apparently is a classic game icon vs. Steve Wiebe who no one had heard of prior to his quest to break the world record.

I was really interested in seeing how the story behind the story would unfold which is what made it such an interesting movie.

[Wee67]

I did end up seeing this a few months ago with another Museum member. I thought it was a pretty well-done documentary. As with most documentaries, the director is limited by what actually happens (rather than staging scenes to promote a certain theme), but he did a very good job if getting his point across.

It also held many parallels to our little world. It looks at a fringe community, obsessed with somethingfrom their childhood past, there are small groups that develop within the community that can (unfortunately) create tension. Now, I do believe that we have a pretty good little community here, but the film really shows how things can get cult-y. I thorough recommend this film to people here.

[Sideshow Spock]

There was a tiny family-owned store/deli in my neighborhood that always had a couple video games, and my friends and I stopped in to play most every day on our way home from school in the 80s. I got good at all the predictable games there.. Joust, Tempest, Ms Pac Man, Satan's Hollow, Gyrus.. They had DK Jr. too, and I spent a LOT of time at that machine. Some of the strategies Wiebe talks about in the movie I remember well, particularly about timing and trajectory. I have no idea what scores I ever got, but I know I went thru quite a few levels.

[Vortigern99]

This movie came out here in Austin a couple of months ago, and garnered very amused reviews. I'll probably rent it on DVD, as it looks like a laugh and a half.

I'm pretty good at 80s video games, but always had a super hard time with DK; I could never master its subtle timing and broad jumps! I used to make it to the third screen, and that would be it for me.

I am a world-class TEMPEST player, though (I've scored over a million points and got to the INVISIBLE level); and my Ms. Pac Man is nothing to sneeze at (I routinely score 60,000 - 80,000 points). Other arcade favorites I've mastered are JOUST, ELEVATOR ACTION and the cartoon-animated BADLANDS.

I also love DEFENDER and STARGATE, but I'm terrible at them for some reason!

[Sideshow Spock]

I posted a couple days about it:

The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters out on DVD - Mego Talk

..And I watched the dvd over the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed it. MegoSteve pointed out that Twin Galaxies has a forum where they list some of the film's inaccuracies:

Twin Galaxies Forums :: View Forum - The King of Kong - Official Statement

..which were certainly interesting, but didn't really take away from the film for me. I still think Billy's a weasel.

And I don't think I've ever wanted to punch someone in the gut so much as I did Brian Kuh when he was on the phone to Billy when Billy's million-point tape was playing. "Everyone is watching. There's a huge crowd here. We're all transfixed. I don't think there's anything in the world that could distract us all at this point." BLAH BLAH BLAH. Just shut the hell up already, you damn toadie..

[Adam West]

King of Kong documentary just came out on DVD last week. I tried to rent it at a local video store that has the best selection of DVD's around and carries even really obscure stuff that you would never find at a Video Store chain.

They didn't have it so I decided to buy it.

I highly, highly recommend this. It is such a well made documentary and as was stated by the other poster who said they had seen the documentary, although the story centers around a guy who makes an attempt at breaking the Donkey Kong world record, the story has a lot of twists and turns and that really transcends the game itself.

I won't reveal too much and am really not a big follower of video games but have always had a special place in my nostalgic heart for Donkey Kong. I had no idea who this Billy Mitchell was prior to the documentary and the serious cult following of classic video gaming, the rivalries and hatred that exist among various serious gamers and the double standard that was being applied to Steve Weibe as he attempted to break the World Record in Donkey Kong and wasn't part of the cliques that existed inside the gaming world.

I also never knew that there is a point in a lot of these games, where the game has a definitive end but not as we think of in today's games, but essenitally a part in the game where the computing power ends up running out of memory and the game just ends.

The story does not end with the Donkey Kong documentary and the saga continues. Yes, Steve Wiebe is in the 2008 Guiness Book of World Records only to have been one upped again...apparently he has been trying to break the record again. With that said, it appears that he and Bill Mitchell are the two best Donkey Kong players in the world and the documentary definitely portrayed one as a good guy and one as a villain. The special features were really good as well and it is the type of movie that I would watch again so I don't regret buying it rather than renting it.

[batgirl]

Oh yeah? what about the old activision tv game with the 2 oblongs as bats and a square for the ball, woohoo cutting edge tennis!(now i feel really old)

[Adam West]

I am feeling really old because I don't remember any handheld games except that Football game (by Coleco maybe) with the little red blips.

That game was the best.

[huedell]

I remember telling him how stupid that the name was and accused him of making it up!

Reminds me of one of my favorite FUTURAMA lines...Fry says: "I know that monkey.
His name is Donkey" and the Professor replies:

"Monkeys aren't donkeys. Quit messing with my head!"

[batgirl]

Oh yeah! My sister had the mini arcade galaxian, and she would never let me play it. i had to do it on the sly.........
But thats ok i, wouldnt let her use my electronic mini pinball machine.....
To have a games room with all the good old stuff would be great, with , of course, a jukebox with all the classic tunes!!!

[VintageMike]

I remember the handhelds that were made up to look like the actual games. My mom insisted I let one of my cousins have them when he was in the hosptial and I never saw them again, other than Ms. Pac-Man which I still have somewhere.
I remember when Donkey Kong came out.. I was in the fith grade, and my best friend called me saying he had played a new game at one of our hangouts called "Donkey Kong". I remember telling him how stupid that h name was accused him of making it up! I loved DK and in line with trest of my nostalgia I love classic video games. Some the best bargains out there the
classic games compilations they going for 20 bucks.
One on my biggest dreams is to someday have my own game room.

[batgirl]

Yeah i loved pacman too, and also space invaders, galaxian. Do you guys remember the portable hand held games of donkey kong, oil panic, etc made by nintendo?I remember at school during recess we would all be behind the buildings madly playing, usually a different one cause we would swap...
Looking out for the teachers cause they were banned and getting busted with one meant CONFISCATION!!!!!!!

[Evel KMego]

Love Donkey Kong. I've got DK Jr. down in my game room along with my KISS pinball machine.