Billy Mitchell Threatens To Take Legal Action Against High-Score Sanctioning Bodies

Put THIS way Once A Cheat Always A Cheat and when caught be a MAN and admit you screwed up.

he looks like a serial killer! What a evil looking man.

Wow..this is just dumb..
I don't think I'll ever understand why people go to such lengths for something so..small.

Imo this just proves he did use emulation. Instead of sueing he could just redo it except he cant.

@607jf How're you gonna redo a world-first record? Invent time travel? And how does defending one's claim prove their claim is false?

Oh no. What a threat to humanity! 😂

do people really care about this stuff?

This guy is really creepy looking

You know, when I saw King of Kong I thought Billy was a bit arrogant and all this really doesn't help him either.

Besides, he never got his score with a toddler screaming in the background so there's that

@607jf The article explicitly says he has live streamed million point games & provides a link to one example, so he obviously can "do it".

The problem is "when" he did it.

I'm not a fan of Ol' Evil-Eyes Mitchell, but if he does have valid evidence, he should be given a chance to provide it. At least that might quieten him down.

Maybe I just dont understand something, but I'd much rather be known/remembered for more/bigger/better things than just being good at a couple of videogames (in a now ocean of titles).

This sentiment of mine is always why Im not keen on e-sports and the idea of careers around them (not to knock those in it) so there might be a bias, but this a way more extreme form given the ever shrinking interest in such a scene like arcade high scores. If not the generations after the 90s, then definitely the generations now and going forward dont nor wont care, where games have more goals & incentive than points.

But whatever, if its really this tremendous a matter to Mitchell than fight the fight I guess.

It's sad really. He's someone who has the skills to be a top competitor, but he let his inability to see someone else pass him push him to throw it all away for a lie. Him trying to sue anyone who says anything bad about him (this isn't a new thing for him by any means) shows just how weak his personality actually is. Sure, he livestreamed himself achieving the scores he claimed he could do after the fact, but that was never going to undo the damage he did to his reputation with the previous lie. He showed his lack of integrity and got punished for it. Game over. You can't use your videogame scores to sell your hot sauce anymore.

the evidence that he cheated is conclusive.

My bad I haven't followed this in depth.

@PaperLucario being the best of the best at something, whatever it is, is as "more/bigger/better" as it gets.

Man, if a guy ever needed a new selfie for his profile pic.

He looks like Vlad Dracul on acid.

@JamesJose7 Note I say this about a couple of videogames and not being best at something in general.
It's Subjective sure (as I say aswell, not knocking those who do care), but this ranks low on the Acheivement Totem Pole for not just me, if the comments here are of indication.

@Xelha aaaaand that's my coffee all over my keyboard. Thanks!

Whatever happens, I think it’s safe to say Mitchell will never win that Nobel prize for arcade game scores now.

So this man got some world records on some games, but he supposedly cheated?
And now he's suing, because he says he didn't cheat? What hard evidence is there, that he cheated?

@MrBlacky I'm not fully versed in all the details, but the short version is that last year it was deduced by people in that community that a certain run of his for a Donkey Kong high-score was actually done on an emulator called MAME instead of a genuine arcade set-up, the former can be tweaked and manipulated to cheat said scores.

@MrGawain @brunojenso @Lizuka @PaperLucario @mist @quinnyboy58 @Shade_Koopa @suikoden

The juvenilia on display from all of you is beyond embarrassing.

Firstly, what world records do any of you hold? Are you good at anything at all?
Who are you to judge what does and does not count as being ‘worthwhile’?

When you are the best in the world at something, maybe offer an opinion. Until then, get a grip.

What is football? What is golf? What is any endeavour in the end? A game. Nothing more.

This man has poured hours of his life into something that matters to HIM, and he has achieved something none of you will. You know his name. He will never know yours.

Also, what he looks like is completely irrelevant to anything. Learn to stop assessing people based on your own derogatory judgemental nonsense.

Honestly, what age are you guys? Are you in Nursery school yet?

Every one of you needs some intensive real-world experience. Some manners wouldn’t go amiss either. Or humility.

@MrBlacky Recordings. My understanding is there is a very subtle difference to how the original arcade machine would load screens versus how an emulator would. Something like one would load the display in left to right and the other the other way. The recordings of the record were looked at and weren't consistent with how an original Donkey Kong board would work.

The issue then with emulators is the game has some random elements to it. An emulator not only isn't 100% identical to a standard unit, but in theory could have the random number generation tweaked to benefit the user.

It's worth noting in all this that if he was on an emulator and if it was tweaked to provide an advantage (no guarantee it was that I'm aware), then it doesn't remove the fact it still took a lot of skill to get where he did even on the emulated copy. It's not like god mode was turned on, and he has subsequently broken the million point mark in other attempts. That said, cheating is cheating and apparently those with a lot of knowledge have proven that he wasn't on legit hardware when he got the record.

There is from this an argument or accusation that an emulator couldn't have been accidentally used and it would have to have been deliberate, although I'm not privy to how that was determined. I vaguely recall that one of Billie's arguments is they people disputing his record don't have evidence of him switching boards as thats not in the recordings, although others point out that even if he hadn't swapped them himself the record itself would still be invalid.

@Shade_Koopa
I'm pretty sure clearing up his cheater stigma is a bigger deal in this.

If you lose your Record, you are no longer a celebrity. Celebrity = easy income...

@HappyMaskedGuy I enjoy these kinds of comments that attempt a moral high ground while condescending others at the same time.

@PaperLucario Hey—if the shoe fits. Behave like a toddler, expect to be treated like one.

Every move this dude makes cracks me up. He’s the ultimate heel, and a half decent businessman who’s been working that brand for a long, long time. He’s the villain, the black hat of the arcade. We need Billy Mitchell in our lives. I love every goddamn second of it.

@HappyMaskedGuy numpty, most people on here couldn't give a toss about this kind of rubbish. some exclusive game news on the other hand well that's why most of us are here!

@HappyMaskedGuy well said. Anyone who can devote that amount of time to something deserves to feel proud of what they have done.

@quinnyboy58 Okay. So why exactly are you here whining about it?

@HappyMaskedGuy you tagged me and said a lot of hilariously ridiculous things. maybe you are this guy? i don't know. good luck if you are but you aren't as famous as you think! and no i don't know this guys name. like most of the people who play nintendo games won't know his name, he is hardly worth knowing about!

@DinnerAndWine

Ah yes. ‘Special’. An underhanded way of insulting people with disabilities. Very tasteful.

@quinnyboy58 My question stands.

Yeah I saw the movie about this. At least he did save us from alien invasion.

Petty. Yes, I think that is the word. Petty.

So did Phil & Grant have anything to say about this? 😁
On a serious note, if he really was that good or ever had that skill, why can't he just go to break the record again?

@Roronoa11 Because Twin Galaxies, the hub that kept these sorts of records banned Mitchell when this event happened last year. Think of it like being banned in sports for doing steroids on a much lower scale.

@DinnerAndWine Funny that you only seem to point out disabilities of a physical nature in your response.

So tell me: what exact do you mean by ‘special’?

What a spinelessly dishonest rebuttal.

@HappyMaskedGuy

People with no lives who post manifestos in comment sections on topics of no real importance

@DinnerAndWine So you’re saying that it isn’t possible to have a ‘life’ (I’d like you to elaborate on what you mean by that too) and opinions on many different things at one time, even something as inconsequential as this?

I find it very hard to believe that you are ignorant of the term ‘special’ when describing the mentally disabled in patronising or insulting terms.

As I said. You’re spineless. Dishonest too.

Everyone here:
https://www.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1-57-800x382.jpg

@DinnerAndWine Shame you refuse to take responsibility for your own words, but I can’t say I’m surprised.

@DinnerAndWine
You're best off not dealing with this guy.
It's unfortunate, but some people cannot be reasoned with.

@PaperLucario

Haha I can tell!

'He' seems to be 'unstable'. It's quite 'sad', actually.

@PaperLucario It probably doesn't help, but I doubt most esports players will be remembered for very long by very many for being good at a couple video games. Considering that only a handful of sports players are remembered 80 years after their careers. Same could be said of congressmen, artists, authors, most people in general.

Legacy is a messy and random thing. I don't worry about it much myself, because I expect I'll be too dead to care about what people think about me after I'm dead.

@HappyMaskedGuy

The salt is strong with you my friend. Pour some lemon juice on yourself, oh and welcome to the internet.

@HappyMaskedGuy

Mitchell broke the rules of Twin Galaxies to get some of his scores by playing on emulation software which makes the game easier. That’s not someone who is proud of his achievements, that’s just someone who wants to be recognised. I also think athletes who use steroids shouldn’t be allowed to compete any more.

I’m much happier being someone that is proud I do my best day to day than lying to make other people think I’m great.

@HappyMaskedGuy Dude, whilst I admire your sticking up for the guy, I just took the Mickey out of a very bad photo, that's all. I like being juvenile here – it's a website about video games, not future economics!

It's not like I suggested he's inherently ugly for goodness sake. I've not read the other comments you're opposing because frankly this particular soap-opera has been going on too long and was dull at the beginning – but by the tone of your comment me think's you take it all a bit too serious. Sure, care, but chill a bit too.

I'm sure Billy would be very likable if I met him down the pub – just like your good-self – but if I'm total honest I don't value his achievement much, and I don't feel obligated to see he gets the right recognition. It'll be nice if he gets his name cleared etc... – but it's not like it'll upset the balance of the universe if he doesn't.

I'm probably the best Spelunky HD gamer in the world but nobody gives a cr*p, and I'm ok with that – because it's not actually important.

@MrGawain I don't know, the Nobel Peace Prize organisation is totally corrupt if you look into it.

@DinnerAndWine you understand which when you say "Quadriplegics and those with degenerative eye conditions are the ones most interested i arguing about it" and which "just people with no lives care about it", by the amount of comments you did, you are the person who fit most in who care about arguing about it, right?
If so, I am happy which nintendolife give you something of your interest to pass your time.

@brunojenso

Nobel isn’t just a peace prize! Also for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, economics, and best haircut that improves humanity’s way of life.

@MrGawain

@suikoden Your profile depicts you as an anine character, therefor you must be not entirely real.

@FlashBoomerang

I'm not sure you have a clear understanding of what I said, but that's ok

@Roronoa11 Did you just reference Eastenders on a gaming site with a worldwide community?

I 100% agree with Billy on this.

Sure, ban any of his records that are proven fake and maybe put any others that are seriously in question on hold for now, but I do not for one second agree with them removing/deleting records that have plenty of direct/TV/video/news evidence proving they are entirely legit.

Wiping someone's past achievements and greatness from history just because they may or may not have done something bad in the present is not something I agree with, at all. And, as a random similar example for context, I would say the same thing to any of the seriously misguided people claiming all of Michael Jackson's amazing work should be removed from airplay and store shelves and so on just because he allegedly did some pretty bad stuff.

Convict/charge/sentence a person for any crimes they are guilty of, sure. That's how you punish criminals--not by rewriting or deleting the actual great parts of history that they were directly responsible for and indeed many rational people still love and appreciate on their own merits.

Whatever the case with some of his newer scores, Billy has earned the right to have his multiple legit original world record scores recorded and displayed proudly in the history books.

Lol, I didn't know Twin Galaxies was still relevant.

It's laughable to see so many people acting like this is no big deal and claiming they don't understand why someone would be so bothered and obsessed with such minor achievements and so on.

The dude literally broke world records in something I would presume most of us in here have a lot of love and passion for (video games), was on national and international news because of it, was in newspapers because of it, starred in a movie about him and his rival because of it, probably had books written about his achievements because of it (or he was surely mentioned in multiple gaming books), was in the Guinness Book of World Records because of it, is being talked about on gaming sites across the world as I type because of it, created a hot sauce empire because of the exposure and popularity it afforded him, made a lot of money over the years because of it (the opportunities it brought him), probably led to him finding the woman he is married to in many ways because of it--how many of you have done that?

This is precisely the kind of thing most people on the planet only dream of achieving in their life's in one way or another--being truly great and the best and something, and being recognized across the world for it, and being famous enough and continuing to make enough money off it or profiting from it in one form on another that you can live the rest of your life pretty much sorted, etc.

Leaving a genuine legacy is one of greatest and hardest things any man or woman can achieve in this life, and that's why so very few of us will ever achieve it.

Of course you fight for that!

@Darlinfan And Billy 100% accomplished all his old original records prior to the ones the controversy is around. His original achievements are not in question, and I'll try go find some old '80s-'90s news footage to prove it...

See that little clip of him leaning on the arcade as a teenager from some local-national news channel . . . that was taken from a time when all these champions were playing on machines right in front of everyone else and any kind of cheating via emulators and the like didn't even exist.

The dude achieved those records live in front of crowds of people, as did everyone else you see there, and regardless of the accusations against him now, he should not be robbed of the historical truth and have it be insidiously wiped from the records and memory as a totally fake rewrite of actual history.

The dude deserves the recognition for the amazing things he achieved back in the day--what may or may not have happened in recent times should be a separate thing--he's earned it.

@Darlinfan No, most of his fame is predicated on his actual evidenced genuine achievements. And some of his more recent fame may or may not be based on dishonesty. THAT is the objective truth.

@607jf So basically, if someone is innocent, they should plead guilty because defending oneself is an indication of deception?

@Darlinfan @Darlinfan And I'm just saying what you are saying is irrelevant when it comes to whether his original undisputed scores should be recognized and recorded on the official sites and publications that do such things for posterity, which is what the legal action mentioned in the article above is about. All his original and undisputed records really should be restored on both Twin Galaxies and The Guinness Book of World Records--end of.

@Darlinfan What rabbit hole are you diving down here?

I do not give a flying crap about any of that.

The dude legit achieved those original records, and they really should be restored on both Twin Galaxies and The Guinness Book of World Records--end of.

Everything else that's being said, by whomever (including myself), at least in the context of this article and what the content of it is about, is basically meaningless fluff.

Best wishes, Billy, on getting those original and totally legit scores restored to where they belong and where they will and deserve to be recognised for a long time.

@Darlinfan Hey, if you're not disputing that his legit scores should be officially recognised then we have no disagreement. If you are then I'm saying you are probably very misguided and/or misinformed about such things. And when I say "you", I really mean the royal "you". Oh, and also, anyone not quite getting what the big fuss is all about, why these high scores being officially recognised is such a big deal, is probably just pretty ignorant of such things imo, or maybe just trying to sound all "cool" and stuff. That's about as simple as it needs to be and as far into it as we need to get as far as I'm concerned.

@Darlinfan hello there! Sorry to interrupt the quarrel, but your name tends to come up quite regularly in the alerts for swearing.

I see you’re doing a conscious effort to hide some of them, so thanks for that. It’s just that there’s still quite a few of them going through.

@impurekind if we wanna say that holding a world record is important then we should treat it as such. in pro sports when a player is found to be cheating they generally don’t get any MVP nominations and won’t make it into the hall of fame, even if they weren’t cheating when they accomplished whatever it was to get them the potential nomination. He made (allegedly) a conscious decision to use an emulator for a run, knowing that it’s not allowed. pull the scores i say.

I would posit that Billy wins no matter what happens to his records. Google “Billy Mitchell Legal Action” and look at all the publications that are picking it up. NL, Resetera, Polygon, Wired, Tech Spot, and so on and so forth. Dude knows exactly what he’s doing.

Edit: He’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to Twin Galaxies and everyone knows it. Who the HECK would be talking about Twin Galaxies right now if it wasn’t for Billy Mitchell? Who would be talking about any of this, if it wasn’t for Billy Mitchell? Steve who? A spotlight on Billy is a spotlight on retro gaming and that’s awesome. Every story needs a villain. I find myself becoming a bigger and bigger fan the more I rant about it.

#FreeBilly

He lied about a key factor used to determine eligibility for a record. It's no different than when the Chinese lie about the ages of gymnasts to get a potential leg up over the competition. At the end of the day, whether he's capable or not is moot: he broke the rules and then lied and gaslit his accusers. To me, that stinks of a lack of sportsmanship through and through, and the response was proportional and reasonable.

It's amazing people defend this idiot lmao, some of the top comments have +5 dislikes. It's sad honestly

Sounds like a story line from Eastenders

@HappyMaskedGuy they’re juvenile,but a grown man suing people because they won’t let him cheat at donkey Kong is totally normal.

Let me check my watch to see if it’s time to care... nope, not in the slightest.

The guy needs to let it go, stop digging your own grave.

People don't seem to be connecting that this is largely connected to his livelihood. Whether he cheated is pretty much irrelevant to the motivation for filing the suit.

While Billy has always come across as a bit of an arrogant jerk (at least half of which is due to a combination of how he's been portrayed along with him leaning into the "wrestling heel" thing at times), i'm kinda on his side here.

It's good that Twin Galaxies has taken steps to clean up their record-keeping (the Todd Rogers thing was a huge deal in the community), TG has never been the same since Walter Day sold the site off, and will never really be what it once was again.

@the_shpydar I’m glad you said that. Playing a heel is exactly what he does. The movie cast him as that and he dove right in and now doesn’t seperate the character from reality.

I met billy mitchell literally one week before he was proven to use emulation and such. He was a

Lol @ the defensive Billy Mitchell fans. The guy cheated, get over it.

@Doofenshmirtz Yeah if you are going to have a hero at least have it be someone worthwhile. This guy is just some incredibly arrogant gamer who got busted cheating when trying to set a bragging rights high score, not exactly the kind of guy people should look up to.

@JayJ "Lol @ the defensive Billy Mitchell fans. The guy cheated, get over it."

That's the sad fact of his life. Regardless of previous records he by cheating once tainted his life records. Even if those were through blood and sweat all it takes in the Gaming World is Cheat one and your Done. Get it now Trolls. All your accomplishments were destroyed by a SINGLE CHEATING. But I already know "SORE" LOSERs Big "L". Those Trolls need to get over it CHEATING is CHEATING there is no higher or Lower Moral Ground then this in the Gaming world.

@607jf - He did score a million points this year I guess to prove he could. But this doesn’t prove he could have years ago and didn’t cheat.

“Why must there always be a problem?! You’d think just once I could get a break! God knows I earned it with that score!” -George Costanza/Billy Mitchell

@Doofenshmirtz mm hmm. And yet some top comments of the other side of the spectrum have or about to have 5+ dislikes. Ive seen this enough times in other articles here in this site. Once that crosses over, someone will say “see, we dont care about your opinion. More than 5 people disagree with you, thus the whole world disagrees with you.” They love to hide behind that threshold, since its easy to reach.
...
Altho, i notice the cheater bashers arent doing their job right here if they are leaving the dislikes below 5 on some comments, so something noteworthy is happening here.

@SwitchForce Real question, are you Billy Mitchell?

@N1ntendodo Yeah welcome to the inevitable clique toxicity that you get with a dislike system that counts them in any way. Youtube got around this by simply not displaying them, but it's basically just something that only users can see and only a specific kind of user clique really cares about using it against people. I guess it's better than that awful reputation or "karma" based systems they have on some other forums, but it's still pretty bad and it leads to stuff like this.

I met billy mitchell in real life at comicon, hes a pretty humble and down to earth guy, I even have a poster

@PaperLucario I know you where referring to video games. I was acknowledging that it takes an incredible amount of effort to beat everyone else and become the best regardless of what it is. Don't get me wrong I respect your opinion. I'm just fascinated by what people can achieve when they set their minds into it.

I don't think anyone will ever argue whether he is capable of achieving such high scores, he did prove that he could perform really well legitimately last year after this was called to attention. The thing is though it just makes his supposed cheating that much more egregious.

Like you have the skill to be one of the best, yet you still pulled this stunt where now you'll always be labelled a cheat and heavily questioned from here on out on any scores you mad or make in the future... Why? Hell even If we give Billy the benefit of the doubt and he truly didn't know he got that score on original hardware, then sadly that's a baffling oversight especially when a guy like him knows just how particular and anal they are about the rules on whats allowed and what isn't.

Either way this is a blemish on Billy's high score reputation and no amount of suing is ever gonna get rid of it, if anything it's just gonna make it that much bigger if you ask me.

@JayJ "Real question, are you Billy Mitchell?"
Who is that? I wish. If Billy was really on here just say it trying to hide just goes to show a cheat is always a cheat. You cheat and get caught "Grow UP". Whinning and lashing out biggest evidence one cheated. He has yet to give the hardware he used to verify that in itself is the biggest clue if that was the case.

At least he's got that Olympic torch relay for London 2012 to brag about.

Not that Billy Mitchell? Oh...

@SwitchForce So in other words you are Billy Mitchell. This is just sad.

If I remember correctly he was caught "cheating" by submitting a score from non-standard arcade equipment. It didn't seem like he ever admitted to it though there were a few tells from the video that it was emulation. He needs to man up and own up to what he did and earn some cred back. I don't doubt that he's a good DK player (may or may not be the best), but once your caught cheating it's a slippery slope that people are always going to be looking for him to slip up again. The saying comes to mind, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."

@607jf He did re-do it....the article mentions it.

There's no denying he has Mad Gamer Skilz, but at the rate he's going the only title he will be remembered by is Guy Who Spent The Most Time Annoying Everyone So He Could Stay In The Spotlight.

I truly feel bad for him because that original record is real and he deserves something for it. Unfortunately, he messed everything up all by himself by submitting scores from an emulator, which is definitely, no doubt, no two ways around it, cheating. So I feel bad for him the same way you feel bad for any garden variety idiot who had the world in his hands and decided to screw it all up by lying about stuff.

@DanteSolablood I completely agree. He deserves at least that.

@SwitchForce Unless you have proof that you’re not a cheat? If he didn’t have sufficient proof, there isn’t a lawyer alive that would take his case. Sounds like he has a reasonable burden of proof, so you might want to consider that piece of information before being so stubborn!

@JasmineDragon Using an emulator is only cheating if the emulator isn’t a 1:1 recreation of the hardware. And considering how good emulation is, and considering he live-streamed the record, I think we can put down any accusations.

@Mr_Muscle His "world-first" 1-million point score in Donkey Kong was submitted via videotape, not livestreamed, and proven to be running on emulator. He could have easily used save states and stitched the footage together before putting it on tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=234Y76_3YPE

There's evidence of him threatening people who questioned his scores, and he also threatened to sue this youtuber for exposing him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI6Zf_XPFdA&

Having a 150+ page evidence list is also sketchy, when all Billy has to prove is that a single frame, believed to be only replicable on emulator, is in fact possible to see in an actual arcade, which he hasn't.

@_aitchFactor Having more evidence is sketchy? Weird. Most people think that have more evidence makes for a much more solid case, but you do you I guess.

Threatening to sue an entity that records high scores of video games. You're really doing that?

For a brief moment I thought I was on IGN lol

@HappyMaskedGuy Didn't know this guy's name till today. But I'm not going to remember it. Not worth the effort. Like many here, we just care about what games are coming out. Not the political or legal factor headlines such as these.

I do find it funny how serious you take all this. And how contradicting you sound for saying WE are juvenile. Kudos for the entertainment at least.

@Mr_Muscle Of course more evidence is good, but throughout the 150 pages he never proves that the offending frame is replicable on an arcade cabinet. Billy instead provides the signed witness testimony of a technician he hired to determine the validity of his tapes. However, there’s a catch. The technician has since retracted his legal declaration that the tapes are genuine; he claims that he Billy and his legal team manipulated him into signing it.
https://youtu.be/p1BMk1dJbg4

So, I might’ve gone on a little tangent, but if you’ll skim through the evidence package that Billy himself has uploaded, I think you’ll find that despite 150 pages of evidence, not much of it really, definitively proves he didn’t cheat when we already have decisive evidence that he did cheat.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BMbW-_fSwCFQ1Kzl59pj7TnoQiuAdgcJ/view

Any "king" that demands a crown and uses ("legal") threats, cannot and will not ever be a king of mine.
On topic: who even is he and why should I care? Don't answer those questions, I know the face and saw the previous drama "headlines". Doesn't change that -at least this part of- his life and personality mean nothing to me, the rest is unknown to me and I wish him the best, but this isn't it, and it isn't the way to get it.

WOW that's some high level threat. This dude is high-larious.

@impurekind How does anyone know he didn't cheat on his old scores in the 80's? We dont, those were merely put together and verified by Twin Galaxies, they said it happened, so it did.

@_aitchFactor There's not really any decisive evidence though. Circumstantial, sure (and anybody can make that, given enough of a vendetta), but decisive? Hardly.

Also, uh, disclaimer, didn't waste 48 minutes of my life on the Carlos video, but... The description says he stands by his original work and final findings. AKA that it is legit.

The whole issue with this debacle is that there was never really any
decisive proof of wrongdoing or decisive proof of no wrongdoing. It's literally just been a match of "who can provide the best circumstantial evidence because Billy didn't think that maybe he should take precautions against people accusing him of cheating back when he achieved the world record".

Personally I find it all to be laughable. The dude said he could do it, he did it, again, and that's all there is to it. Case solved.

Whether or not there was wrongdoing, he's the King of Kong. The witch hunters dared him to achieve the results he did back then, and he did it. Nothing more to it.

Pixels (2015 film) goes live! :,D
Billy here really reminded me of Eddie "Fireblaster" Plant....
A quick look to Wikipedia gives me this:

"Peter Dinklage as Eddie Plant, Sam's brash former video game-playing nemesis and a member of the team.[10] The character's physical appearance and personality is styled after real-life Pac-Man and Donkey Kong disqualified champion[11] Billy Mitchell.[12]"

Would you look at that..... lol

@Blizzia his original findings were that the tapes were not recorded from a legitimate arcade cabinet. Sorry about the confusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI6Zf_XPFdA& This video's a little over ten minutes if you're interested. Whether or not he can do it, he still cheated initially, hasn't disproven the evidence against him and it would be a lot easier to let him go if he just admitted it instead of suing people for defamation.

If you're interested in proof he did in fact cheat, you might also want to watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=234Y76_3YPE
Thanks for hearing me out.

I will weigh in on this one only once because I have argued this endlessly elsewhere. I do not know Billy but I have know of him as I have spent time on the circuit. He seems like he could be an unpleasant person based on what I have seen and heard. Anyone who has spent anytime in competition and the arcade environment is normally aware of Twin Galaxies. If you do any type of research you will discover that Twin Galaxies and Billy had more than a casual relationship and were in fact business partners involving several things. This was not well known in the day but it was rumored that Twin Galaxies had changed considerably from the earlier days and now had problems with conflict of interest with more than Billy and the referees were not following proper procedures in verifying scores.

Billy Mitchell's reputation as a player was not sterling and there were rumors about him as well. Most of these, of course, came from those that lost to him but some came from within Twin Galaxies. Guinness World records is at fault here as well because they failed to independently verify any records and took Twin Galaxies at their word that they followed protocol to verify every score.

Okay, that being said Billy Mitchell may have cheated but at this point no one knows absolutely because all of the evidence I have seen is easily manipulated and only seen on line. Twin Galaxies is probably guilty too because they were worried that the complicated personal and business relationship they had with Billy Mitchell would come out and they would lose any credibility they had left.

Let us look at the evidence. The MAME video is compelling if you take it at face value but who knows if this is really authentic. All the proof is online and easily manipulated. The screen glitches they they claim are proof it is not a DK board also fails verification. I have personally seen the redraw issues on cabinets that have aged and it looks the same as the MAME issue.
Did he swap boards for one score? Perhaps but again no independent verification is possible because the evidence is all online and the video is grainy and possibly altered by somebody.

The real issue here is Twin Galaxies lack of true verification. In Arcade high scores you need an an actual verification by a trained referee. Not someone who personally knows the player and has a history, good and bad, going back several years. Guinness failed because they also failed to perform independent verification. Twin Galaxies, in my opinion, is just as much the issue here as potentially Billy Mitchell is. They should not be allowed to be the arbiter of these high scores until real changes come about. They need to untangle the relationships they have and get rid of the people who fail to meet muster.

@Zidentia honestly, you've made me look at this at a far more impartial light than I ever could see myself. Great read, and great insight.

@Zidentia this 👌🏻

@impurekind his legacy will live on in the internet anyways. I don' t completely disagree with the point you wanna make by saying that "previous legit records" should be kept/restored. But you speak only what you think is right, which I agree with, however, the companies that hold the records have terms and conditions, and if one of those conditions states that cheating will result on erasing previous records, then we don"t have much to complain about.

That said, I have no idea if that condition exists.

I won't comment too much on the situation itself. There's not much I can add that hasn't already been said. The point of interest to me is that when you build your brand around your name, be it as an artist, entertainer, or celebrity, public perception means everything. Rightly or wrongly, legal challenges are a powerful means of intimidating people who are a threat to your image.

@DinnerAndWine As opposed to people who start arguments and denigrate total strangers in the comment section of a videogame fan/news site?

Just... stop for a minute and take a look in the mirror, dude. Think about all of the time you have now spent behaving like an arrogant fool here and how that relates to the insults you've been hurling at the rest of us, particularly about "having no life".

I don't know a whole lot about Billy, and from what I do know about him I'm quite certain I dislike him quite a bit.

However, everything I've seen in this case tells me there's been a witch hunt for him precisely because he's so unlikable. There's no real proof, evidence or anything more than hearsay on either side. Why challenge and remove a previous record from something if you can't really prove it was invalid but have beyond some clues that hint in that direction? It's not a reigning top score or even top 3....it's an old record. And in the absence of proof of wrongdoing, the fact that the same player has achieved the same score additional times should be sufficient to let the old record stand as within the abilities of the competitor. Finding proof of cheating is one thing. But this isn't proof, it's suggestion, heresay, and trying to find some way to nail him down to something.

The guy isn't very likable, but I'm not sure all these vultures are any more likable than himself...

@Zidentia

Great reply. I agree. It's likely he cheated. But at this point it's too hard to verify anything. Twin galaxies lost the tape and the one online could have been tampered with as TG lost control of the source material.

The rest does read as a smear job trying to sell that he's guilty. The tape evidence is real. But they spend alot of time playing up lots of coincidences as proof that Billy deserves a lifetime ban.

It really bothers me how much people like to trash Billy Mitchel because of some definitively inconclusive evidence that was provided by some random people on the internet. It really doesn't matter what his personality is.

Seriously, if someone tried to take away the most important achievement of my life, I would spend every waking moment and use every available resource trying to get it back. It really is unfair that they didn't even let him defend himself or provide exonerating evidence. It's even worse that they don't even have the Original Documentation to review. It awful convenient to "lose" a critically important piece of evidence and then decide to destroy a persons career without a second thought anyway.

"It's just a game" is not a fair assessment. This is a Guinness Book of World Records Title that was stripped from him. That matters to people well beyond the scope of gaming.

@Shambo Sadly, its the only way to get it because the organization that stripped him of his records without evidence also blackballed him. The only recourse he has is to sue.

@KcebEnyaw

I don't think it's a stretch to say Billy has made millions through his businesses and appearances because of those records. So it's easy to see this is a very big deal to him.

I wish Nick Cave would just let it go and make another album.

Also, he has to know that picture is super creepy right? Has no one told him?

People can be so stupid Just pure stupid people.. none of you are but that guy is one..

@Tandoori

I'm more of a butter chicken guy myself

@Ryu_Niiyama I suspect that's why @Liam_Doolan picked it.....

I don't think he deserves those records back.

If cheating only invalidated the times that can be identified as cheating then he'd have no reason to play fair.

@PaperLucario If you're known for one thing and people take it away (fairly or not) you would fight for it. Even if it's just high scores in an old video game.

@cleveland124
Absolutely. He may have cheated but the issue is deeper than what has been presented and the evidence is difficult to prove on both sides.