I’m not usually a big fan of documentaries, because they have a tendency to be dry, boring, and full of too many details that I don’t care about. There are exceptions, to be sure, but most become too uninteresting to be withstood for two hours at a time.
SiCKO was one of the rare exceptions, because whether you agree with him or not, Michael Moore is a fantastic film maker who really manages to engage viewers for the full length of his movies. Michael Moore had nothing to do with The King of Kong, to my knowledge, but this documentary turned out a heck of a lot better than I was expecting. Who knew that talking about a couple of geeks fighting over a Donkey Kong high score could be so epic?
And epic it was. Billy Mitchell was known to be the best retro video game player on the planet. He held a number of records on classic games and over the years, all but one of these was overcome by other video game addicts. He set what appeared to be an unbeatable record in Donkey Kong, the first Nintendo game that featured Mario, back in 1982. And the record stood for 25 years.
That is, until Steve Wiebe of Redmond, Washington (home to Microsoft) came into the picture in 2007. Laid off from his job, he became increasingly depressed and distraught. Eventually, he came into a classic Donkey Kong arcade machine, set it up in his garage, and the obsession began. He saw Billy Mitchell’s record as a challenge, and it was a challenge that would see Wiebe (pronounced wee-bee, sort of like Wii-bii) travel to several locations across the United States to prove his worth as a premiere Donkey Kong player.
I know. I realize that the premise behind this movie sounds pretty lame, but you have to believe me when I say that it was absolutely captivating, inspiring, and thoroughly entertaining. Yes, it’s just some high score, but it was a high score that would be published in the Guinness Book of Records, and we know how far people will go to get their names published in that book.
The King of Kong certainly feels extreme at times; in fact, for the first 20 minutes or so, you’d swear it was a mockumentary because of its utter absurdity. These are grown men with real jobs and real families, obsessing over a game that is over 20 years old. They draw out diagrams. They map out strategies. And this is for a 2D game that involves little more than avoiding barrels and climbing ladders. Where you really start to realize the epic proportions is when they talk about just how good these guys are.
When Billy Mitchell — who is depicted to be quite the prick in the movie — set the Donkey Kong record in 1982, he played for about two and a half hours on a single credit. By contrast, the average gamer is said to last no more than a couple of minutes. The game really is that difficult, and they say that it is far more challenging than any modern video game. It would be interesting to see Billy Mitchell take on Fata1ity in something. On a side note, Steve Wiebe (shown above) is depicted to be quite the determined hero in the movie and I’m not sure if the contrast between the demeanors of Wiebe and Mitchell is fact or simply the result of some creative movie-making.
If you’re a fan of retro video games, or just video games in general, you absolutely HAVE TO watch King of Kong. It is that good. This film delves into the underbelly of video games in so much depth, it’s scary. You can feel their obsession. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some games to play…
4.5 Stars Out of 5
This mario, kingkong game was way back when i was a kid,it was a hot trend then and billy was my hero!
Oh god, those old retro games were so hard. Way harder than games now. And it sounds like a very interetsing documentary – I think a high score becomes a challenge purely for the sake of a challenge, and in a way that is a good thing.
I was playing this kingkong game when i was 3 years old. It was the most popular game at that time and I really loved it and i was spending nuts of time playing it!