South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Gaming legend Mitchell’s records reinstated
The “Video Game Player of the Century,” South Florida arcade legend Billy Mitchell, has been vindicated after a lengthy ordeal that shattered his reputation and questioned the legitimacy of his numerous world records.
A polarizing rock star in the gaming community, Mitchell achieved fame after setting high-score records on Donkey Kong and Pac Man during a spectacular run from 1982 to 2010. The Weston resident, who served as the antagonist in the 2007 documentary “The King of Kong,” later saw his five Guinness World Record feats rescinded in 2018 after cheating allegations.
Determined to clear his name, Mitchell, 54, launched a two-year investigation to prove his innocence and finally achieved redemption this week after Guinness elected to re-instate his records.
“It’s been an arduous journey and I’m very happy with Guinness, Namco, Nintendo, the Hall of Fame,” Mitchell said. “All these organizations who took their own look at the situation and didn’t agree with what the original source said. I’m very grateful to them.”
Mitchell, who runs a local hot sauce company — Rickey’s World Famous Hot Sauce — is once again recognized for his five world
records, including the first perfect score on Pac-Man and numerous high scores on Donkey King. The decision also re-recognized Mitchell as the first gamer to reach the kill screen on Donkey Kong in November 1982 and the first to score 1 million points on the game.
“We re-examined the evidence,” Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said in a statement. “It involved reviewing both the existing evidence and newly-sourced eyewitness testimony, plus some new expert game-play analysis and hardware verification. In the end, we found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support the disqualification across the board.”
Local legend
Growing up in Hollywood, Mitchell began playing Pac-Man when he was 16 and quickly turned into a star in the gaming community. One year later in 1982, he became the first person to reach the fabled kill screen on Donkey Kong. In 1999, Mitchell recorded the first perfect score on Pac-Man, tallying 3,333,360 points. He was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame in 2010.
An icon in the gaming world, Mitchell has cultivated a larger-than-life persona during his career. Known for his distinctive look — a black button-down shirt and American flag tie to match his long black hair — Mitchell has also been an outspoken gaming figure, attracting many detractors along the way.
During his investigation, Mitchell set out to re-create his previous high scores, performing them on the Twitch platform, which allows users to broadcast themselves playing video games online.
Mitchell achieved the feats once again, adding there was some satisfaction in proving his doubters wrong.
“There was a little bit of a ‘in-your-face,’ “Mitchell said. “For 36 years of gaming, there were three million-point scores on Donkey
Kong that they said I didn’t do. And they said I couldn’t do them. So when I did all three in a week — yeah that’s ‘in-your-face’ and you would think that would shut everyone up and I’m sure it did some.
“But some people chose to find other arguments. As we say, they kept moving the goalposts.”
On a mission
Mitchell continued his quest in redeeming his reputation, winning a Donkey Kong tournament in Australia in 2019. Despite the public victory, Mitchell said he still heard from a vocal opposition.
“The detractors that are always in their own gossip train and their own forums and hate messages, they said, ‘Well [he] cheated,‘” Mitchell said.
“Then somebody said, ‘[The event organizer] and all of his people who do this each year and all of the other players there were watching. And all the media was watching it. They all cheated so Billy could win? Is that what you’re saying?’
“Somebody said ‘We have to have a Kongoff and Billy’s not invited.’ And then one guy said, ‘That’s a good idea.’ I said, ‘I think the NFL should have a Super Bowl and not let Tom Brady play.‘”
Mitchell, whose family owns Rickey’s Restaurant and Sports Bar in Hollywood, is no longer a full-time gamer. In addition to the restaurant and his hot sauce company, he serves as more of a gaming ambassador, making appearances at shows throughout the world. While he’s well aware of his public persona and being known as the bad guy in the gaming world, Mitchell said he’s going to continue being himself.
“I can’t let anybody change my personality,” Mitchell said.
“I enjoy what I do. I love playing the antagonist or the villain in the movies. I love it. But I love going to the shows and where people come to meet the villain and they’re apprehensive and when they meet me, they meet the polar opposite. I really, really like that. That’s my favorite thing.”