Can the world famous — and infamous — gamer Billy Mitchell jump over this barrel?
The Donkey Kong champ — whose rivalry with Redmond, Wash. schoolteacher Steve Wiebe was documented in the 2007 release King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters — is embroiled in scandal. The official gatekeepers of Donkey Kong history, Twin Galaxies, last week disqualified Mitchell’s high scores and banned him from future competition after finding evidence that he used emulating software, opening up the possibility of cheating in any number of ways, rather than an unmodified arcade game that is required for official high score record keeping.
Mitchell stayed quiet following the initial news but released a statement to Old School Gamer Magazine over the weekend at the Midwest Gaming Classic. In it, he said due diligence is being done on an investigation in “a professional manner, not in a shock-jock mentality designed to create hits.”
Mitchell was declared the first player to score 1 million points on the classic arcade game, but with the ruling last week that honor now goes to Wiebe. Both have since been passed by another player, but Wiebe told Variety last week he feels a sense of vindication in the decision from Twin Galaxies.
“I’m not the champ any more, but getting recognition for being the first to a million is a great consolation,” Wiebe said. “That’s what I was really bummed out about 11 years ago.”
