The King of Kong
Hi friends, tonight I'd like to talk about the movie "The King of Kong".
This late documentary released in 2006 centers around the events that happened in the world of competitive arcade gaming from 1975 to 2006.
It begins in the world of Twin Galaxy, a world-known organization of Ottumwa, Iowa that promotes and maintains a methodology for verifying, refereeing and promoting competitive arcade gaming. The camera turns to Walter Days, the creator of twin galaxies, and then to Billy Mitchell, the winner of the 1975 world record in Donkey Kong. Billy Mitchell is a winner, and if a challenge comes up to him, he is a man that retreats to the shadows, and figures out a way to win. "I am so lucky to have things work out perfectly for me. There must be some poor bugge for who the screws never fall into place".
Change the scenery to Redmond Washington. In a small house just like any other, a man is playing in his garage. The game is Donkey Kong. A woman describes her understanding of this man's desires for success in life, and lovingly but with a hint of regret that he never reached the ambitions he always strived for. She is his wife Nicole, a look of love goes to her husband as she turns to see him playing the arcade.
Steve Weebe suffers from OCD, he dedicates himself fully to everything that he sets his eyes on. But for some reason, none of the goals he had set for himself could ever materialize. He was never number 1. Ambitions of drumming, baseball, drawing, and piano were areas where he made headway, but he was always number two.
One day Steve decides he wants to be #1 at something, and for him, that something was Donkey Kong. He played tirelessly to reach a personal record after seeing the record of Billy Mitchell which he found online. After much investment, Steve finally beat the 840k record with a 1M+ record. He filmed every one of his games, and this high score, he decided to submit to an organization that spearheaded this record ladder. It was Twin Galaxies.
After much investigation, Twin Galaxies deemed that the tape did not match the rules, because apparently the card used for the arcade could not be trusted. So steve set out for Fun (Land), where Twin Galaxies organized a live arcade tournament. With the support of his family, Steve took a plane to the tournament to beat his record live. And he reached a live record of 870k, beating Billy Mitchell's record. In the meantime, Billy was fabricating a movie to send to the tournament to steal the thunder from Steve Weebe, in which Billy now reached a high score of 1020k. However, it didn't look like the video was real. Nevertheless, 10 minutes after submission, the high score was posted on the ladder. Ashamed, and feeling backstabbed, Steve Weebe goes back home to his family life.
The events then move to months later, where the Guiness book of world records contacts Twin Galaxies, naming them the 3rd party for Guiness to determine records for the category of video games. They were hosting live competitions for Guiness. The 4-day tournament was something Steve needed to join. He and his family, with the support of friends, flew to L.A. for the competition. The night prior to the tournament, Steve asked Billy if he would accept a head to head challenge, but met a voicemail. Billy resided in L.A. As day 1 begins, Steve is at his spot making his way to beat his old high score. People from Twin Galaxy start to see Steve's dedication to the game, and his integrity and participation, and start to wonder where Billy is, and why he isn't coming to the tournament despite living only 10 miles away. 3 days go buy, when the fourth and final day comes. Billy finally appears at the final hours, but pays no attention to Steve, he doesn't even play. Ultimately, Steve does not beat the 1040k record set by Billy at the live event and returns home defeated.
However, the fight wasn't over. Two years later, Steve defeated the so-called score of Billy Mitchell, and submitted a new tape of his achievement, a tape this time Twin Galaxy accepted, after offering an apology to Steve for how they treated him.
This story touched my life. It was incredible to see Steve's integrity faced with the hypocrisy of Billy, to the extent where Billy said audibly to Steve on day 4 "This is the kind of person I want you to spend the least time possible talking to."
Do you have a Billy in your life, someone who always wants to put you down or rob your victories from you? Will you be like Steve and be the better man, and prove your worth by your integrity and actions?
That said, friends, if you can, try to get your hands on the movie. If you have netflix, use the search feature to find it. You won't regret it.
Cheers, and share your thoughts.
~Phil
