Internet buzz is building about this David vs Goliath documentary about an out-of-luck guy who takes on the might and fury of the world's best Donkey Kong player. Fancy yourself a classic gamer? This might be the film for you.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a real-life doco on one man's quest to beat the reigning world Donky Kong champion. The film details the real people behind the games and the surrogate family the gaming community provides to hardcore competitors, neither of whom draw pay checks from their pursuit.
Billy Mitchell is regarded as the world's best classical video gamer and holds the worlds highest score for what is considered the most difficult arcade game - Donkey Kong, described as 'gaming brutality' where the average player don't last much longer than a minute.
His rival is Steve Wiebe, an all-round good guy and family man, who is laid off at the beginning of the film before he quickly finds quiet solace in the world of Donkey Kong. It doesn’t take long before he is addicted to beating Billy Mitchell's old records (set in the 80s), and we learn through the course of the film that Steve is going to try and do his best to reaffirm the parts of his life that have managed to pull up short.
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| Billy Mitchell, arcarde gaming legend |
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| Steve Weibe trains for victory |
Buoyed by the strong, but strained, support of his loving wife and kids, Wiebe goes on a mission to prove he has what it takes to beat Billy, the former Life Magazine champ of 1982. Eccentric scoremaster Walter Day, who runs the self described official classic game scorekeeping site "Twin Galaxies", plays the father figure to a legion of mismatched classic geek gamers who find comfort in winning at these games either by curse or by addiction.
Billy, a successful businessman, is painted as the obsessed villain in the piece; and his attempts to thwart the mellow and charismatic Steve Wiebe are made to seem downright shallow and Machiavellian.
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| Billy is voted gamer of the century |
The outcome is anything but conventional and this is remarkable in itself, when you consider the subject matter is about two thirty-something video gamers dealing with aging and being past their prime. It shouldn't work, but the film so good natured, you'll want to head straight for the closest classic video arcade.
As a bit of additional info, King of Kong is rumoured to be turned into a theatrical feature starring some of Hollywood biggest hitters, including the names of Tom Cruise for Billy Mitchell, which sounds crazy, but could just work.
King of Kong is an inspirational love letter to classic video gaming and well worth spending a few "credits".
The film is playing in selected cinemas and is distributed by Dendy films.
Check out our 2008 "Geek" Movie Guide, which includes King of Kong, Iron Man, Hellboy II and others.
We also recently reported on the Guinness Gaming Records Book that gives a good glimpse into some all-time gaming records.