Saturday, June 21, 2008
King of Kong
Besides watching plays and hiking canyons, during my little two day escape, we also watched King of Kong (subtitled "A Fistful of Quarters") . I had been looking forward to this documentary for a while, and was just told that it was available on Netflix as both a DVD and as an "Instant Play" streaming video.
King of Kong shows the secret, seedy underbelly of the underground competitive retro-arcade gaming scene. Well, okay, not quite. The geeky competitive retro-arcade gaming scene. Surrounding, in particular, the game of Donkey Kong.
Billy Mitchell is, in this case, the home-town hero who enjoyed his claim to fame in the wild popularity of arcade gaming in the 1980's, and has enjoyed a twenty-year record as the world's best. And he comes across as being pretty ruthless and petty when it comes to using his influence with the tiny 'establishment' to protect his long-standing authority and records. Steve Wiebe is the outsider, the not-so-young gun who believes he's got what it takes to become number one, fighting not only one of the most challenging and popular arcade games in history, but an "establishment" that has invested in Mitchell as their hero, and seems to be unwilling to allow this interloper to dethrone their reigning champion.Petty? Silly? Lame? Laughable? You know, even as a ... well, formerly hardcore gamer and a huge fan of retro-gaming, that was what went through my mind the first half hour of the movie. The posturing and interviews and big talk of aging geeks for whom the golden era of the arcade game never died sounded like a joke, like a parody of sports heroes. But they were plainly, completely serious. At first, it seemed almost like a deadpan "mockumentary," a This Is Spinal Tap style bit of silliness with Twin Galaxies chief Walter Day proclaiming the utter gravity and importance of this competition with the full conviction of over two decades of his life's work poured into it.
But you know what? Fifteen minutes later, we were sucked in. We were still laughing at points, but the meaning started hitting home. Maybe we weren't talking about big professional sports heroes. It doesn't matter if you are talking about the Olympics or world championship Chess tournaments, or a high-school volleyball finals or the regional debate team championship, the story of competition between people who care about can be intriguing, and they can have power to infuse their own meaning into their efforts. And it works.
Yeah, there was drama. The stakes may be small and intensely personal, but they do grow a bit larger when the Guinness Book of World Records gets involved. It's exciting. It's frustrating. It's the whole "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" pitched by ABC's Wild World of Sports when I was a child, but surrounding an upright cabinet of Mario's first game (back when he was only anonymously referred to as the "jumpman.")
And it's all about arcade games.
In the end, I have to recommend the movie highly to anyone with a passing interest in video. Just get it, watch it, laugh at it, and see if towards the end you aren't cheering and pissed and thrilled and even interested in firing up a game of Donkey Kong and seeing how you rank.
My highest recorded score is still only 16,900, so I think Wiebe and Mitchell don't have much to worry about from me at the moment.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:53 PM (Permalink)
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
I also watched the movie recently, and was entertained by it, but I knew going in that there were some people who had real issues with how it was made.
The guy I mentioned previously, Jason Scott, the guy who made the documentary on BBSes and a soon-to-be-released documentary on text adventures, really ripped into it in a couple of his posts, and reading through them it certainly changed my attitude toward the film.
Not only that, but there's also a website run by Walter Day, the guy who was the referee in the movie, where he presents commentary on the instances where the movie distorted the real events that took place. Apparently, the people who made KoK really ticked off a number of people in the movie.
If you're interested, you can read some of Jason's scathing commentary here, here, and here.
The guy I mentioned previously, Jason Scott, the guy who made the documentary on BBSes and a soon-to-be-released documentary on text adventures, really ripped into it in a couple of his posts, and reading through them it certainly changed my attitude toward the film.
Not only that, but there's also a website run by Walter Day, the guy who was the referee in the movie, where he presents commentary on the instances where the movie distorted the real events that took place. Apparently, the people who made KoK really ticked off a number of people in the movie.
If you're interested, you can read some of Jason's scathing commentary here, here, and here.
Those are awesome links!
Yeah, one of the things I've learned about so-called "reality" TV is that they very rarely resemble reality. They edit to color the people as caricatures, and to tell the story they want to tell.
Sounds like that was done in this documentary as well. Although I have heard some other things in other camps as well confirming at least part of the perspective of the movie. So I'm guessing the truth, as usual, is somewhere in-between.
Yeah, one of the things I've learned about so-called "reality" TV is that they very rarely resemble reality. They edit to color the people as caricatures, and to tell the story they want to tell.
Sounds like that was done in this documentary as well. Although I have heard some other things in other camps as well confirming at least part of the perspective of the movie. So I'm guessing the truth, as usual, is somewhere in-between.
Also, last I checked, since the timeframe of the documentary events, Billy Mitchell had beaten Steve's score essentially making the main thread of the documentary moot (that of whether or not Steve's score should be official).
The documentary, though, was a great watch even knowing that it was "massaged".
The documentary, though, was a great watch even knowing that it was "massaged".
I agree, jim, it was a good watch regardless. It is interesting to note that, following the end of the events in the movie, Steve finally did beat Billy's score, and then about 3 months later Billy beat it himself -- and this time, in a live setting. That record still stands.
Yeah, I had to go out to their site and see that one. That pretty much ends any questions of legitimacy of the score (not that it was REALLY that doubtful, though the movie did try to cast a little bit of suspicion on it).
But still - a good show. I recommend. Just remember to take it with a grain (or spoonful) of salt.
Post a Comment
But still - a good show. I recommend. Just remember to take it with a grain (or spoonful) of salt.
Links to this post:
<< Home
