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[Draugoth]

The long, drawn-out legal fight between famed high-score chaser Billy Mitchell and "International Scoreboard" Twin Galaxies appears to be over. Twin Galaxies announced Tuesday morning that it "shall heretofore reinstate all of Mr. Mitchell’s scores as part of the official historical database on Twin Galaxies’ website."

The statement comes days after Courthouse News reported that Mitchell and Twin Galaxies had reached a confidential settlement in a defamation case surrounding Mitchell's 2018 removal from the Twin Galaxies scoreboard.

In its statement, Twin Galaxies relies on recent testimony from Dr. Michael Zayda, who was presented as an expert at the trial. Zayda's testimony concluded that Mitchell's submitted gameplay "could in fact depict play on original unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware if the hardware involved was malfunctioning, likely due to degradation of components."

That finding runs counter to those of the score-chasing community Donkey Kong Forum, which removed Mitchell's scores in 2018 after discovering what it said were telltale signs of emulator use in the video of some of Mitchell's high score performances. Twin Galaxies relied heavily on that evidence in its 2018 investigation, which found that three of Mitchell's high-scoring Donkey Kong performances between 2007 and 2010 were not "from an unmodified original DK arcade PCB [printed circuit board] as per the competitive rules."

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Karl Jobst just put a video on this.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

 

[ReyBrujo]

We are all "satisifed" with that.

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

He was but he wasn't, you understand.

 

[Three]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

Seems a little weird to me:

Zayda's testimony concluded that Mitchell's submitted gameplay "could in fact depict play on original unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware if the hardware involved was malfunctioning, likely due to degradation of components."

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Karl Jobst just put a video on this.

 

[DJ12]

At least Peter Dinkliage admitted it and then saved the world.

 

[nowhat]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

He was and is, Twin Galaxies are a bunch of spineless pussies even with the change in management.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

When your best achievement in life is crowning yourself video game player of the century.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Seems a little weird to me:

Zayda's testimony concluded that Mitchell's submitted gameplay "could in fact depict play on original unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware if the hardware involved was malfunctioning, likely due to degradation of components."

Similar to the conclusion about that Mario 64 glitch that was supposed done because there was some kind of solar flare that modified a single bit of RAM while a speedrunner was playing which made him skip a section of the level by relocating Mario. I fear we might be seeing more and more of these justifications.

 

[TransTrender]

What a travesty.
This chump is still a cheater.

 

[SCB3]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

Yes but also no?

I mean more importantly why the fuck is this so important, Donkey Kong isn't even that good a arcade game

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

edit: the thread title should be changed. His scores are placed in a archive list that is not recognized as current records. He is still banned and still a cheater.

Karl Jobst just put a video on this.

Karl explains it well.

 

[AJUMP23]

Does he probably have a legit record, Yes, did he cheat to stay at the top, yes he did. Should he be eligible for the baseball hall of fame. No. But Pete Rose should.

 

[SCB3]

Similar to the conclusion about that Mario 64 glitch that was supposed done because there was some kind of solar flare that modified a single bit of RAM while a speedrunner was playing which made him skip a section of the level by relocating Mario. I fear we might be seeing more and more of these justifications.

Is that true? If so thats incredible or one of those lies so big that you're inclined to believe it

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Malfunctioning hardware should not be permitted for use in world records.

 

[badblue]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

He might be but there isn't any evidence due Zayda's statement about possible component degradation.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Speedrunners, Is there a more retched hive of scum and villany?

 

[RoboFu]

Or just maybe all of this is just manufactured drama to push book and live appearance sakes from all parties?

 

[rofif]

one just needs to look at him and hear how he talks to know he is full of bs

 

[Chuck Berry]

Every time I go to his hole in the wall tavern down here to try and meet him he's never there

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Still a cheater, and the scores are only restored in a legacy page of Twin galaxies, not the actual, up to date one, according to Karl Jobst.

He was and is, Twin Galaxies are a bunch of spineless pussies even with the change in management.

Trials are costly, and Twin refused to loose even more money over this. Karl is still suing so his lawsuit is still going to trial.

 

[wipeout364]

I actually think Billy Mitchell would have been a great replacement for Bobby Kotick at Activision.

 

[Bernkastel]

Billy Mitchell (gamer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Whats interesting for me is the Wikipedia article calling him a "gamer".

 

[bender]

Trials are costly, and Twin refused to loose even more money over this. Karl is still suing so his lawsuit is still going to trial.

It doesn't help when your lawyer makes illegal contact with two of the plaintiff's witnesses.

 

[nowhat]

Billy Mitchell (gamer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Whats interesting for me is the Wikipedia article calling him a "gamer".

It says that now. Don't be surprised to find his entry calling him a pretentious wanker in short order.

(far be it from me to vandalize Wikipedia)

 

[Muffdraul]

I hated Billy Mitchell so much the first time I watched King of Kong. Then I watched it again and realized he was kinda deliberately playing a character and was actually not a bad guy. Then I found out, no, he really is a piece of shit. Now I guess I'm supposed to think he's OK. What a roller coaster ride!

 

[Shakka43]

Talent always wins.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Is that true? If so thats incredible or one of those lies so big that you're inclined to believe it

Well, it was the accepted answer for Mario 64 and we know old PCB decay in old arcade games so it's possible that such decay could happen while playing although happening several times in a row is sus...

As a sidenote, I was once playing Chrono Trigger in Ayla's stage and I remember that while in a battle suddenly the game glitched in a very similar way to Relm's Sketch bug in FF6. I had already abused that FF6 glitch so I immediately tried to escape the battle to see if anything happened to my inventory but I couldn't, the screen looked just as glitched as with Relm and couldn't see anything so I had to reset the game, fortunately keeping my save. I tried for months to replicate that bug and could never get it back, and I have never seen anyone ever reporting something like that so I had to accept that it was a one-in-a-life situation (current drop, solar flare, whatever).

 

[PrimetimeKnight]

 

[SpiceRacz]

He definitely cheated in that Donkey Kong footage. It's been analyzed to death by hardware/mame/DK experts enough that it's indisputable at this point. It's worth pointing out though, he's hit over a million in Kong live and on Twitch on more than occasion since this happened. He's legit at the game.

I hated Billy Mitchell so much the first time I watched King of Kong. Then I watched it again and realized he was kinda deliberately playing a character and was actually not a bad guy. Then I found out, no, he really is a piece of shit. Now I guess I'm supposed to think he's OK. What a roller coaster ride!

The movie was heavily edited to make him appear like the bad guy. Even Steve Wiebe admitted that.

 

[nemiroff]

So was he a cheater or not? I'm confused.

Idk, but considering what was explained in the Karl Jobst video I think it's safe to say he played on emulators, which is AFAIK not allowed for official scores.

 

[The Stig]

can someone clue me in?

IF I recall correctly, didnt his score magically jump up from one frame to the next and he was accused of cheating?

and now the premise is that maybe the old hardware glitched so the record stands?

 

[SCB3]

can someone clue me in?

IF I recall correctly, didnt his score magically jump up from one frame to the next and he was accused of cheating?

and now the premise is that maybe the old hardware glitched so the record stands?

If thats true, then yea leave that has his record but with an asterisk, then the next record as the true one (which is his as well?)

 

[Muffdraul]

He definitely cheated in that Donkey Kong footage. It's been analyzed to death by hardware/mame/DK experts enough that it's indisputable at this point. It's worth pointing out though, he's hit over a million in Kong live and on Twitch on more than occasion since this happened. He's legit at the game.




The movie was heavily edited to make him appear like the bad guy. Even Steve Wiebe admitted that.

I know they edited it to make it look like Billy and his wife snubbed Steve at the Florida arcade, when supposedly they actually had a nice chat there. Like I said, I was able to suss out on my own that Billy wasn't actually that much of an asshole, at least not in his personal dealings. He was very sweet to the Q-bert lady, But he's clearly an egotistical cock and apparently he's a bona fide cheater.

 

[digdug2]

At this point, I just wish that Billy Mitchell would go away. It's already been proven that he's a cheat and a hack. In order for Twin Galaxies to not go bankrupt due to legal fees, they probably just relented and put him back on the scoreboard.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Winners win

 

[SidViscous]

Solar flares hit just the right memory bits to give him perfect random and sudden score jumps. Amazing odds

 

[mitch1971]

What a sad sad man.

 

[DJ12]

Karl Jobst just put a video on this.

To summarise:

He's been restored to the historical list, where all the other known cheaters are, he's still banned, twin galaxies still think he's a cheat and his 'record' will state as much when it is back up.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Should he be eligible for the baseball hall of fame. No. But Pete Rose should.

Key takeaway here, fellas

 

[violence]

Weird, I just finished watching this.


His direct feed highscore videos clearly had Mame "finger prints" if you really understood things. The courts likely don't, so Twin Galaxies got lawyered.