The King of Kong that fell never was King...

[Maniakkid25]

*in best Jim Sterling impression* Strap yourselves in, kids; this one gets tasty.

Okay, so here's a quick recap for those that don't know what I'm babbling about with this title: in the annals of video game history, there was a man who stood above all others as the pinnacle of gamerdom. He held high scores in legendary games like Donkey Kong, and was even crowned Video Game Player of the Century. That man was William James Mitchell, and everything was fine. Until 2018, when it was discovered that he faked his million point scores on Donkey Kong via an emulator, despite submitting it in the arcade board rulings. This instantly stripped him of all his records, and left him a disgraced gamer.

And Billy didn't like that. Not. One. Bit.

So, in 2019, he filed a lawsuit against Twin Galaxies (case number 19STCV12592, to speed up your searches), the adjudicator that stripped him of his records, citing defamation, hoping to get Twin Galaxies to kneel under pressure, and make them put back up his scores in order to make this all go away. There's just one problem with that: Jace Hall. See, in 2014, he bought Twin Galaxies, and he isn't gonna play that game.

They first filed a move to dismiss under anti-SLAPP rulings (basically, they were saying the suit was trying to get them to shut up and play along). This actually failed, and so they had to start digging in preparation to defend themselves in court. And now, we get to the juicy part.

Currently, this is only a request, but on November 4 of this year, Twin Galaxies submitted a request to file a "cross-complaint". Basically, they had their own lawsuit they want to file. AND BOY, IS IT DAMNING FOR MITCHELL!  See, in their investigations, they basically found out that Billy Mitchell has fabricated HIS ENTIRE CAREER, with help from Walter Day and Twin Galaxies, which he co-owned with Day. You name the achievement, they say he fabricated it. They are suing for fraud, breach of contract (the original sale was under the stipulation that there was no falsified information in the database), and F***ING RACKETEERING! That last one actually legitimately impressed me; you were such a scumbag that lawyers are throwing the RICO laws at you! BRAVO, GOOD SIR!

Again, this is merely allegations currently, but DAMN if they aren't swinging for the fences here. It's pretty clear that Twin Galaxies is in this for more than just to clear their name. They want to purge their entire history of Billy Mitchell and his cronies, and will not rest until it's done and dusted. You know, I once said that I thought Billy Mitchell had the skills to actually be able to complete his records if he tried. Now, I'm not so sure, but I do know that I'm getting a lawn chair ready. Dis gun b gud!

[ShiraNoMai]

Billy Mitchell is a name I hope dies to the history books and is never spoken of again in modern times for any relevance. He's a shitstain on the gaming and competitive community and I hope these newer suits put him down for good.

[Moonface]

The fact that he keeps pushing to be legit with his scores despite probably never proving he can do it is already bad and enough to make the opposing party consider doing whatever necessary to make him fuck off. But to then discover that the company you bought was actually involved directly in fabricating his entire career and you wasn't told shouldn't be met with anything less than taking him and anyone else necessary to the cleaners.

I hope the guy isn't outright forgotten so as to not have someone else consider trying to pull what he did in any capacity, plus being famous for this sort of thing will haunt him forever, Obscurity is certainly a good punishment too, but that leaves the chance he can just hide it from people who aren't aware of this stuff already when it should be something people can discover about him easily the second they go putting his name into a Google search.

[Maniakkid25]

To me, this whole thing is a perfect example of the Streisand Effect, mixed with echoes of the Silicon Knights lawsuit. For those that might not know, the Striesand Effect is when the attempt to bury the knowledge of something simply amplifies the knowledge of that same thing. The Silicon Knights lawsuit refers to a silly thing that the makers of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem did. Long story short: they sued Epic Games (yes, THAT Epic Games!), Epic counter-sued them when it was found out they illegally used their Unreal Engine to make their games.

Had Billy just shut up and laid low, none of this would have come to pass; if you read the documentation, they explicitly state they had no intent in persuing this matter had the Anti-SLAPP motion succeeded. But now, Twin Galaxies is airing ALL of their dirty laundry for the public record. And there's nothing quite as sweet as a douchebag being hoisted by his own pitard.

[Moonface]

Not sure if it fits here but seeing it reminded me of this thread since it's about someone being caught cheating records: https://www.ign.com/articles/top-guitar-...-for-years

I doubt it'll end as badly for them as the instance this thread was originally made for and it's crazy to think this guy would still be doing it if someone else hadn't broken down his videos to catch him out. I've not watched that video yet but I'm definitely interested.

Also did anything ever happen to Billy? Since things were in progress last time this thread was in use right?

[Maniakkid25]

The suit is still on-going with Twin Galaxies, and in the meantime, Mitchell has spent the downtime suing pretty much everyone! Weirdly, he sued Twin Galaxies in two different states: California and Florida. California is the active suit; the Florida suit is dead due to Mitchell being a lazy bastard. Guinness, the spineless peckerwoods that they are, bent the knee and re-recognized his achievements after legal pressure. If the information I'm finding is correct, the cross-complaint that started the topic was granted, but it's hard to tell amongst all the noise.

[Maniakkid25]

BILLY MITCHELL: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING!

So, Billy is in a new pot of boiling water, and this time it's something that could legit see him get prison time. See, Billy Mitchell, despite being a verified cheater according to investigation, has actually had people with credibility vouch for him. Specifically, the current record holder for Donkey Kong: Robbie Lakeman. He famously claimed that the luck shown in Billy's play tapes was not indicitive of cheating or faking play in and of itself (which is a CAREFULLY worded statement, as was literally pointed out to me in the video where I got this news). But it seems that Mitchell is such a scumbag, he can't even keep his supporters on his side.

In a public message (that is sadly only viewable in this form with a Twin Galaxies account, but can partially be viewed in this video), Robbie Lakeman outright accuses Mitchell and associates of extortion. Right out of the gate, that's a serious allegation, and Lakeman is keeping his trap rightly shut, and is in contact with Twin Galaxies' lawyer. He also publically stated that "[Mitchell] used MAME, but he did not cheat[.]" Which, despite what it sounds like, is not an extreme reversal. See, while there are indeed allegations of things like video footage splicing on the table, the only thing everyone agrees on is that Billy didn't use an original arcade board, which is the reason he got banned. It seems that Lakeman, even while on Billy's side, at least recognized what his fellows saw, and knew he wasn't playing on an original board; he just didn't think this was cheating.

But yeah, if this allegation has any traction, that could seriously lead to legit jail time for Mitchell. In the immediacy, however, this is going to wreak all sorts of havoc with Mitchell's lawsuit, given that one of his most credible witnesses is now seemingly contradicting the testimony given in Mitchell's lawsuit. This is truly the gift that keeps on giving...

[Moonface]

@Maniakkid25: What would Lakeman have that could be held against him to be extorted by Mitchell?

[Maniakkid25]

I don't know, the details haven't all been made public. As I said, Lakeman is rightly keeping his mouth shut on the issue, and probably the only people who know right now are Twin Galaxies' lawyers. Whether or not this is just hot air or not remains to be seen; this is all a little too early to call.

[Moonface]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/02/d...igh-score/

Just randomly stumbled upon this and I guess this is where things are going with this these days. Seems the short and narrow is Mitchell's defamation case is gonna get questionable with this new photo evidence of a machine clearly not following the rules set by Twin Galaxies.

[Maniakkid25]

It's wonderful, isn't it? Just keep digging, Billy; you'll hit rock bottom eventually!

For those of you wondering, and don't want to read the article, the photo shows a Donkey Kong machine that has clearly been modified, using a non-standard joystick, which is against the Twin Galaxies rules. Instead of telhe distinctive black ball on a short stick, it's a red ball on a long red stick. Why does this matter? Well, it's likely that the modified stick is an 8-direction joystick, not 4-direction. If it is, this means that Billy has an unfair advantage because he can make simultaneous inputs that are not possible on original hardware. How Billy thought he could pass such a shoddy fake past the experts that know the hardware inside and out, no one knows. Also, good to see that Todd Togers (that was intentional) is continuing his streak of showing Billy how to do stuff poorly!

[Maniakkid25]

After 4 long years, the suit is finally over.

Recap time: Billy Mitchell was suing the high score adjudicator Twin Galaxies for defamation, after said company stripped him of all his records. And then things started to really go downhill for Bitchell.

I'll gloss over the vast majority of the details, and focus in on last year, when Billy Mitchell gave his deposition. If you don't know, a deposition is basically a pre-trial interview, where you are asked questions and expected to tell the truth under oath. These are almost always recorded nowadays, and this was no exception. This is where I'd link the video, but it's actually protected under copyright of Twin Galaxies' lawyer. ARCHIVE.ORG ALWAYS HAS YOUR BACK, BABY! Anyway, the point is that Mitchell stated several falsehoods. And not, like, "this is disputed" falsehoods. I'm talking "You are dead wrong and I can prove it!" Karl Jobst has been doing a bang up job keeping track of them, and with good reason -- he is ALSO being sued by Billy, and is working with Twin Galaxies' lawyers!

This all culminated in a motion to sanction Billy Mitchell for giving false information under oath. But, just as that was getting finalized, Billy and Twin Galaxies came to an agreement. The settlement details have not been made public, though I will be surprised if any of it involves Billy being reinstated.

Amazingly, when asked about the settlement by the news article writer, he literally said "I'm sorry, I don't know you!"

Simply put, though, this is a win for Billy, no matter what happens next. Twin Galaxies had his ass dead to rights for committing perjury, and he was able to weasel out of it. What an utter scumbag...