The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

It's always interesting to see the lengths people will go to defend and maintain the status quo, their legacy, their pride, etc. when it's put on the line in a film. Sometimes the more underhanded methods of some only encourage you to cheer on the others to prove that justice still exists in society. This suddenly becomes a very sad story when you realize that "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" isn't scripted; rather, it's a documentary of legacy and how the power of the few can trump the good intentions of a single man.

This documentary follows the events of one Steve Wieve, a newcomer to the competitive classic arcade gaming scene and his main competitor Billy Mitchell, most know for holding the top record scores in games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Centipede for various times. Steve comes from a modest past, being proficient drums, baseball, and mathematics. However he has, as everyone who knows him will tell you, has always come up short: he he long gave up on performing as a profession, his baseball career ended in high school when an injury kept him on the bench for the state championship game, and had recently been laid off his job with Boeing now working as a science teacher.

One of his few hobbies he has is the Donkey Kong cabinet he has in his garage, a game that he had been honing his craft and strategy on since reading of Billy Mitchell's record 874,300, a score held since the 1980s. When he does eventually beat this score with one of his own (an impressive 1,006,600 points) and submits a tape of his playthrough to Twin Galaxies, the official record holders of arcade video games, he opens a huge can of worms as Billy Mitchell, a true puppet-master, maneuvers the game to his advantage to have Steve stripped of his new found title and have him jump through several hurdles to try to reclaim his the top score.

At the start of the film you are introduced to Billy Mitchell as this prodigy child of arcade games, one who put some the highest scores of all time in a short amount of time. He did so while keeping a standard of integrity and good sportsmanship, as seen in his friend Brian Kuh who originally lied about his high scores but was called out and inspired by Billy Mitchell to play and live honestly. Billy Mitchell would go on to run his own restaurant chain and corresponding spiced sauce franchise, a true American success story.

ALL OF WHICH ARE AMERICAN DREAMS!

Unfortunately, all of this would apparently be undone if his claim to fame, the high score for classic Donkey Kong is bumped down to #2 in the world. As he put it: "[in reference to 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!" The price Billy Mitchell had to pay, I can only suppose from watching this, was his humility. Through his claims that a live game is the only real way to ascertain ability and the fact that Steve happened to get the machine circuit board from Billy Mitchell's apparent archenemy gives Twin Galaxies enough doubt to eventually deny Steve his record. And despite Steve's best and honest efforts, Billy Mitchell becomes adamant in not ever speaking to or accepting any challenge of Steve's for reasons that are beyond me. The hypocrisy of claiming live challenges are important and not even accepting live challenges when your opponent flies hundreds of miles to do so is not lost on me.

"Fistfull of Quarters" does nothing to sugarcoat Billy Mitchell's shady tactics and really makes you feel for Steve who just wants to have something he worked so hard on recognized for once. Certainly worth a watch if you don't mind watching big dog Billy Mitchell and his crooked antics. You get a real feeling for classic gaming competition and how an unhealthy obsession can lead to a downfall of character.


Final Judgement: 8/10