Fallout from the Billy Mitchell Decision Continues To Echo Across the Web
By Zac Cameron ·
With the announcement that Guinness World Records will now be looking at the achievements of Billy Mitchell, the fallout from Twin Galaxies Adjudication continues to spread across the internet.
As we’ve already seen, some online communities are abuzz with the news that Billy Mitchell has had his Donkey Kong high scores revoked here on Twin Galaxies. But this isn’t the only place where discussion on the topic is flourishing, with multiple Reddit threads also dedicated to the initial Twin Galaxies decision as well as the latest news about the Guinness World Records.
A large number of comments on the main r/Games thread paint a very sorrowful picture, with multiple commenters mentioning their disbelief that this scenario would occur. User sigmaseven described meeting Billy Mitchell in person, stating, among other things, that “He was very friendly, congenial, and made it a priority to take time to greet and talk with the fans of the film. My friend and I got to talking with him about our arcade game collections while getting pictures taken and he told us we should stick around and hang out after the event so we did.”
Other users were also quick to share their experiences when meeting Billy Mitchell in person, with most recounting tales of long conversations about Pac-Man, the film the "King of Kong", and his personal brand of hot sauce. A lot of users have expressed regret that in addition to the Donkey Kong record being removed, Billy Mitchell will also lose his Pac-Man run, a sentiment that many echoed.
A large amount of comments in the various threads on Reddit also talked about the way the adjudication process has seemed to breathe life into the process of score keeping, with User MaximRecoil explaining that “The only reason Todd Rogers and Billy Mitchell were banned and had their scores removed is because Jace Hall implemented a score dispute system, which allowed the scores to officially be disputed in the first place”, while user klashe said “TG changed ownership 4 years ago and started reevaluating 100s of questionable scores via tape.This is just the beginning of the cleanup, and because of KoK it’s also the most high profile.I give TG a ton of credit for doing this.”
It should be fair to note that quite a lot of comments do not share this optimism, with many commenters in the r/speedrun thread expressing anger at the length of time it took for this situation to be resolved, as put by user Aarmed who stated “better late than never, but they should have been first to notice, not last”.
The best response to that sentiment is to simply quote the Adjudication Ruling: “Anyone looking into their own past with honesty and a desire to improve will likely find things potentially messy and uncomfortable. Twin Galaxies has experienced a nice big dose of that again with this dispute. However, Twin Galaxies understands that this is required for it to continue its commitment to accuracy. As we all have learned, this cannot occur overnight and must be a step-by-step process. Just as in other disputes, we definitely know that many in the gaming community operate with a general urgency and would have preferred to see this matter resolved more swiftly. However, Twin Galaxies, as part of a comprehensive process and in its position of authority, must ensure due diligence. Our public documentation of our processes and conclusions are intended to satisfy scrutiny for the long term, so in instances where warranted our comprehensiveness must go above and beyond what would normally satisfy.”
While it is inevitable that not everyone will be satisfied with the outcome, you can find the final verdict, as well as the full adjudication thread, in its entirety here. Additionally, Billy Mitchell has made his first statement about the ruling during the Midwest Gaming Classic.