Billy Mitchell Deposition Part 3: Pacman and Donkey Kong

TCT is not reporting on the case. Please be kind.

Billy Mitchell's historic Donkey Kong scores of 1,047,200 (the King of Kong Score), 1,050,200 (the Mortgage Brokers Score), and 1,062,800 (the Boomers Score) were originally accepted and posted by Twin Galaxies. These scores were validated through either video tape submissions, live referee verification, or a combination of both methods.

https://unicourt.com/case/ca-la23-wil...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/0...
https://www.twingalaxies.com/feed_det...


On February 2, 2018, Twin Galaxies Adjudication launched an investigation into a dispute claim by a community member. The claim challenged the legitimacy of these performances, asserting they were not achieved on unmodified original Donkey Kong arcade hardware as mandated by leaderboard rules.

On April 12, 2018, following a thorough investigation, Twin Galaxies removed all of Mr. Mitchell's scores and banned him from their competitive leaderboards. This decision was based on technical evidence suggesting that the images shown in the videotaped recordings of the disputed performances could not have been produced by unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware. This conclusion was supported by an independent investigation and detailed analyses by members of the Twin Galaxies community.

Recently, Dr. Michael Zyda, an expert with extensive credentials in Computer and Information Science, reviewed the case on behalf of Mr. Mitchell. Dr. Zyda concluded that the gameplay depicted in the videotapes could have been produced by original unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware if the hardware was malfunctioning, likely due to component degradation.

In line with its commitment to fairness and transparency, Twin Galaxies acknowledges Dr. Zyda’s expert opinion. While Twin Galaxies' role is to verify that submissions meet verification guidelines and not to determine how they were produced, the organization recognizes the importance of considering new expert insights.

"King of Kong" star Billy Mitchell has faced a rollercoaster of accusations and investigations regarding his world-record Donkey Kong scores. These scores have been stripped, partially reinstated, and have been the subject of relentless debate in both actual courtrooms and the court of public opinion. Despite compelling technical evidence suggesting otherwise, Mitchell has consistently maintained that all his records were achieved on unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware.

In a significant development, newly surfaced photos from a 2007 performance by Mitchell appear to reveal clear modifications to the machine used for at least one of these records. This fresh evidence adds another layer to the ongoing, contentious debate over Mitchell's legacy in the history of Donkey Kong score-chasing.