The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

There'll always be the argument

that video games are meant to be played for fun.

Believe me, some of it's a lot of fun.

Video games are meant to be played at home,

relaxing on a couch amongst friends.

And they are, and that's fun.

But competitive gaming,

when you wanna attach your name to a world record,

when you want your name written into history,

you have to pay the price.

With this, it's just like me and the machine.

l can--lt doesn't matter if you, you know--lf you let me down

or someone else, it doesn't come through.

l can always go out there. l'm in control.

And l'm glad you touch on this.

Do we have enough tape? This is important.

Everybody, even Grandma,

games--meaning checkers, cards, if not now, in the past.

Show me even a freakin' nun or a hermit

who hasn't done cards or checkers.

l don't drink. l don't smoke. l don't do drugs.

l play video games,

which l think is far superior an addiction

than any of those other ones.

l wanted to be a hero.

l wanted to be the center of attention.

l wanted the glory. l wanted the fame.

l wanted the prem girls come at me and say,

''Hi. l see that you're good at Centipede.''

l had somebody draw an analogy for me once

that l always remembered.

The top French pilot in World War l shot down 24 enemy planes.

The top American pilot-- you don't know his name, do you?

Nobody does. But it's Eddie Rickenbacker.

Shot down 26 enemy planes.

The German Ace, the Red Baron.

Everyone knows who the Red Baron is.

That's 'cause he shot down 87 enemy planes.

l mean, he was the best.

There's just--There's a level of difference between people,

and it translates into some games.

Donkey Hong and Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man

and Galaga and Defender,

these are the games that caught the public eye.

These are the games people cared about.

And so if you wanna be known as being world-class,

you gotta master one of those games.

l like the simplicity of it,

and that's what you'll probably hear

from a lot of people that like retro games

is that it's the simplicity.

Those games challenge eye-hand coordination,

mind-body coordination, fast reaction time,

and comprehensive thinking,

on a level that modern games don't.

Memorization and pattern recognition is key.

Because for you to get a single point further

in an old game from the early eighties

meant a tremendous increase of skill.

lf you do not know the next pattern coming up

in a Tron light-cycle event, you will lose your life.

Only the die-hards who, for some reason,

really love those games, continue to stick with them.

But what we've done is had the mayor tie off the entire street

so that LiFe magazine could come to town

and photograph the world's greatest video game players,

who've been flown in

especially for this LiFe photographic session.

All these great superstars are coming from North Carolina,

California, Canada, many other places,

to be photographed as the official world champions

on many different games.

That was the first time two world-class players

went head-to-head for a competition was LiFe magazine.

_ Without a doubt l met players

that were amongst the best in the world

and maybe even would say or do whatever they could

to make people believe they were the best in the world.

Well, at that time,

he was the world record holder on Centipede.

But also at that time,

he was the world record holder on Donkey Hong.

But we didn't know that, because someone else

was invited there from Hansas City

who, because of a claim they had made,

it was presumed that they were the Donkey Hong champion.

Donkey Hong was the one that l first lied about.

But he had submitted a bogus score,

and l finally met him there at LiFe magazine,

and l finally sat down to play him.

We had not been there long, and Bill said,

''Come on. Let's play.''

l went in the arcade and sat down with Donkey Hong,

and l beat him to a pulp.

Well, l was better than the best.

And l got-- l got 200,OOO against Bill.

Bill got 800,OOO on his first man in that game.

He shellacked me. He shellacked me.

Basically, he walked away with his head down and humbled,

and that brought him to the truth.

And from there, we worked together.

Well, the Bible-- Proverbs says,

''As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.''

Bill made me a better person,

and did so by basically making me confess.

l've pointed out to Steve that he's the person he is today

because he came under the wrath of Bill Mitchell.

ln front of the 19 top players in the nation,

actually North America,

he did the highest Donkey Hong score possible

and also found out that the game ends on the 22nd board.

Since, l so-called debuted on the scene

at LiFe magazine in 1982,

there hasn't been anybody who's played even close.

When Billy Mitchell walks into an arcade,

you know, everything stops.

There's electricity around Billy Mitchell.

Everybody wants to crowd around him.

Everybody wants to see him.

You know, everything about him is perfect, you know?

Billy is just that person. You know, he wants to represent.

lf you could hack into the machine

and program it to play itself,

you couldn't even program it that well.

There's a glamour to Billy. There's a specialness to Billy.

He was the first. He was the first great, great player.

The fact of the matter is,

Bill is the best classic arcade gamer of our era.

lt's actually carved a part of my personality

that benefits me every day.

l mean, a burning passion never to settle for what l have

in my business, in my family.

That's what competitive gaming has done for me.

He's a winner.

Billy Mitchell is absolutely a winner.

lt's sort of like being in a maze,

but everything you see is actually sauce.

The all-around most-seasoned person

in the hot saucelchicken wing industry--yeah, for sure, me.

There's a production end of it. There's the preparation.

When there's the sales end of it,

there's not somebody who encompasses

all of those areas like me that l've ever met.

He sells his hot sauce, he sells himself.

Because he's so charming and such a good ambassador

for all gaming because he's positive,

there's no reason, in my opinion,

why Billy Mitchell couldn't end up on a Wheaties box someday.

The video arcade classic has finally been conquered.

On July 4, at a New Hampshire arcade,

34-year-old Billy Mitchell became the first person

to master Pac-Man by recording the first ever perfect game.

# Billy Mitchell primo joystick dude #

# Amazing in the maze, he ain't gonna lose #

To get through every board, getting every dot,

every energizer, every ghost that's applicable,

to reach to the final 256th screen without dying?

That's--lt's impressive in its own right.

The success of this was not just because

someone got a perfect Pac-Man score,

but because Billy Mitchell got a perfect Pac-Man score.

# Blue man in the corridor singing the blues #

# A perfect game goes down #

# Billy's on the move #

lf l have all this good fortune, if everything's rollin' my way,

if all these balls have bounced in my favor...

there is some poor bastard out there

who's getting the screws put to him.

When l got laid off and l had time on my hands,

l was thinking, ''Well, what can l do

''to kind of feel like l have control of something,''

so l looked at Twin Galaxies.

l just--well, l typed in Donkey Hong world record,

and some spreadsheet came up, and l saw what the score was.

lt was held by Billy Mitchell, and it was, like, 874,OOO.

l go, ''Hey, l can beat that.''

Almost there.

l mean, l'm not the kind of wife that's needy

that l need him sitting on the couch with me every night.

l don't need that.

What l need is him in the house helping me with the kids

or l need him being with the kids.

So he would want to come out here and play,

and that would drive me crazy, 'cause he is definitely OCD.

When he is obsessed on something,

he is so focused, and l have to be like, ''Hello.''

Um, so then l just said, ''You have to do it at night.''

ls level 2 easy?

Yeah, it's prem easy.

l've dreamed of, you know, being a musician for a living.

That's what my dream was.

He was brought up to be that he was smart,

he was an athlete, he was talented,

and for whatever reason, he could never get those to fit.

Steve was one of the original starving grunge bands

here in Seattle, just starving.

The only people who came to see him was us.

With his music, it's almost like

he didn't want people to know he was doing it.

He's a total paradox that way.