In case you missed the news last week, Billy Mitchell, who considers himself the top Donkey Kong player in the world, was stripped of his high score records at Twin Galaxies, after evidence indicated that he achieved his high scores through a MAME emulator. As a result, all of his records have been expunged, and he is no longer allowed to compete.
Since that happened, he hasn’t said a word, although many people have chimed in their two cents on the matter — including Billy’s main competitor from The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Steve Wiebe.
But today, straight from the show floor at the Midwest Gaming Classic, Mitchell finally posted a response, noting that he did no wrong-doing and that he has “evidence” that indicates he earned those scores fair and square. You can see the video above, but here’s a breakdown of what he says in the quick response:
“I’ve been asked to address things that are recently in the media,” he begins. “The fact of the matter is, now there is a true professional due diligence being done to investigate things that happened as far as 35 years ago, in a professional manner, not in a shock-jock mentality designed to create hits.
“We will show everything that has been done; everything was done professionally, according to the rules, according to the scoreboard, the integrity that was set up, not 2014 forward by the current regime who want to reach back 35 years.
“Everything will be transparent, everything will be available. I wish I had it in my hands right now. I wish I could hand it to you. But it’s taking a considerable amount of time.
“Witnesses, documents, everything will be made available to you; nothing will be withheld. You absolutely have my commitment to that. We’ve been at this since 1982, and it’s not gonna stop now.”
So rather than take some angry, vengeful tone, Mitchell appears to be calm, cool and collected, and vowing to gather his evidence and prove that the high scores are his despite everything pointing to the contrary.
Twin Galaxies hasn’t posted a response yet, and the video is starting to just make the rounds on social media, so we’ll see what everyone says collectively as it gains traction throughout the evening. For now though, we did notice that the video has a much higher rate of thumbs down than thumbs up…
If you want to learn more about the Donkey Kong battle, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is available now on home video.
