By Aaron N
Arcades are very special to me. Many of my fondest memories are from arcades. This site is even named after my favorite local arcade that I used to frequent back in the day. So when it comes to video game documentaries about the classic arcade era of gaming there are two that will always be linked. One of these is "King of Kong: a fistful of quarters," and the other one is "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade." "King of Kong" is argueably the more famous one of the two, but I recently watched "Chasing Ghosts" for the first time and I found that there are a lot of similarites between the two. Many subjects are touched on during both documentaries. But they also differ in more ways. "King of Kong" is a documentary that was released in 2007. It follows Steve Wiebe and his quest for recognition in the classic arcade community. This movie is where I first encountered Twin Galaxies. Twin Galaxies is the group that acts as a governing body for world records in video games. The figurehead for Twin Galaxies at the time was Walter Day. Walter Day's prescence in the history of world records, and video games as a whole, is astounding as he basically created Twin Galaxies and the idea of video game world records. His dedication for the industry is unmatched. So Wiebe embarks on a quest to get recognition of his new Dokey Kong world record when his video tape is disqualified. His nemesis in the video game world, as portrayed in the documentary, is Billy Mitchell. Billy Mitchell is widely regarded as the greatest classic video game player in history. He owns various world records including Donkey Kong and he was the first person to achieve a perfect game in Pac-man. This movies does a good job at placing Steve Wiebe as the protagonist, and Billy Mitchell, with other Twin Galaxies representatives, squarely as the antagonist. Steve Wiebe eventually receives recognition from Twin Galaxies by going to various competitions and showing that he wants to compete. It is an enjoyable documentary that shows a small upstart player trying to get recognition against the big machine in the video gaming world.
"Chasing Ghosts" was also released in 2007. This documentary is more about the history of the video game players that are seen in "King of Kong" and about Twin Galaxies. It talks more in depth and introduces you to the players from the famous Life Magazine cover picture from 1982. Walter Day actually organized the meeting between 16 of the top world record holders in various classic arcade games in Iowa in order to take the picture and have a convention of sorts. It then follows what the players have done since and tells of events that directly followed the magazine photo shoot. There were various tournaments and television shows featuring the various players. There was also a planned touring museum where people could come and play against the record holders in their game. Unfortunately nothing succeeded and the classic arcade boom ended. What was interesting was that many of the players ended up being in different situations than their bretheren. Many of them had to go to school and get jobs. Some of them are very well off without even mentioning the video game fame. While some of the others seem like they are stuck living in the past and can not get out of holes that have been dug for them. It is an interesting watch and really delves deeper into the history of video games.
Now time to compare the two documentaries. The main difference is that "King of Kong" is obviously made to be more entertaining than educational. The way it's made to be a "good vs. evil" story is a vastly different way of presenting the information than the straight educational route that "Chasing Ghosts" uses. What I was most disappointed with is that when I did some more research on the events of "King of Kong" I found out that much of the information is wrongfully presented. This is obvious also after watching "Chasing Ghosts". Billy Mitchell is presented in "King of kong" as an evil man who is very pompous and only out for himself. While his self-confidence and eccentric personality are still present in "Chasing Ghosts," it is dramatically less. He even says that one of the other players is the best video game player ever! The Billy Mitchell shown in "King of Kong" would never admit anyone was even close to in his league. Some of the other players are more similarly presented in both documentaries. I feel that after watching "Chasing Ghosts" I had more respect for Billy Mitchell and Walter Day because it showed what they did for the history of gaming. Walter Days' impact is shown in "Kong of Kong", but he is shown as more of a puppet of Billy Mitchell's than the orchestrator of it all. Now I am not saying that everything in "King of Kong" is misrepresented and wrong. It is hard to disprove what is on camera. It is still fun to root for Steve Wiebe because he deserves recognition and some of the actions of Twin Galaxies in "King of Kong" were undeserved. But I feel like things were embellished in the documentary.
Both documentaries are enjoyable to watch. Each one shows a different side to many people and events in the history of gaming. They should be watched together and not separate in order to get a complete understanding. They complement each other greatly as "King of Kong" delved deeper into some of the people that "Chasing Ghosts" didn't. But at the same time "Chasing Ghosts" explained the history that led up to "King of Kong." I would recomend both of them to anybody reading this.
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