The once-high-score record holder for Donkey Kong, Billy Mitchell, is fighting back, after having been stripped of his accolades over cheating accusations. In 2018, Twin Galaxies--a leaderboard for arcade games--investigated Mitchell's world records, coming to the conclusion that he didn't earn those high-scores by playing on official hardware, and thus removed him from their leaderboards. Following that decision, Mitchell claimed he would take legal action against Twin Galaxies, unless they re-awarded him with his records once more. Now, it's been revealed that Mitchell has come through on his claim, filing a defamation lawsuit against the company in April 2019, where it was then officially served to Twin Galaxies in February of this year. News outlet Ars Technica obtained the court documents, which contain the original suit, alongside an amended and updated complaint as of March 12, 2020.

In the legal papers, Mitchell states that Twin Galaxies acted with "oppression, fraud, or malice", causing damage to both his reputation and his business, and did not justify or prove the decision behind removing the world records. In a demand of trial by jury, Mitchell will seek monetary relief from the defendant. Twin Galaxies revoked Mitchell's record over the score being, according to their testing and research, impossible to replicate on official hardware. Though it was never stated as such by Twin Galaxies, many took it as an implication that Mitchell achieved the scores by playing an emulated version of the game, or possibly even cheated. Both parties will present their case to a judge on July 6th.

21. That the statement expressly accused Mitchell of cheating is further evidenced by 6 the news commentary that followed. Variety, for instance, pulled no punches in describing Twin 7 Galaxies' decision as follows (with emphasis added): 8 9 10 11 12 13 Famed high-score gamer Billy Mitchell, best known for his role in "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" documentary, was officially stripped of his "Donkey Kong" and other video game high scores and banned from submitting scores to the world's largest tracker of video game world records following a decision that he cheated, Twin Galaxies announced today. 14 See https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/king-of-kong-stripped-of-title-1202751358. 15 22. In short, the statement accused a professional video game player of not achieving 16 his records through fair means, removing his undisputed records from other games from the 1 7 scoreboard, and banning him for life. 18 23. But in fact the April 12, 2018 statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or 19 with reckless disregard for its truth. The most cursory, unbiased investigation would have revealed 20 beyond doubt that the record-breaking Donkey Kong scores were not played on emulation 21 software in private places, but were actually played on certified arcade boards in front of hundreds 22 of people. To date, more than 25 of these witnesses have signed sworn affidavits testifying to their 23 observation of Mitchell achieving his scores on arcade software. 24 24. But the investigation was not unbiased; it was pre-ordained. During its 25 "investigation" into Mitchell's scores, Twin Galaxies under its new ownership did not act as an 26 impartial arbiter, but rather as a biased observer intent on generating publicity and internet "clicks" 27 by accusing Mitchell, the most visible of all video gamers, of cheating. Twin Galaxies performed a 28 deliberately one-sided, biased investigation, with the sole goal of convicting Mitchell through its: 4817-3070-6615.1 6 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT 1 1) failing to contact key witnesses; 2) intentional disregarding evidence in favor of Mitchell; 3) 2 deliberately burying evidence in favor of Mitchell; 4) selecting an openly-biased third-party 3 investigator; 5) refusing to provide equal evidentiary access to Mitchell, 6) failing to fact check 4 information; and 7) failing to retract its defamatory statements. 5 25. In Twin Galaxies' investigation, new owner Jace Hall advised Mitchell that only 6 "scientific" evidence would be considered, rejecting all witness testimony out of hand, no matter 7 how credible. Specifically, Hall stated to Mitchell, "I don't care what anybody says." Even after 8 Mitchell's retraction demand, which provided dozens of sworn witness affidavits, Hall ignored 9 them.

Source: Ars Technica

 

[arcanine]

his dick must be really small

 

[Jayro]

The movie Pixels had this as sort of a subplot around this real-life cheater.

 

[MrCokeacola]

Video games are serious business.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Imagine going this far to defend a fake record instead of just setting an actual record. If his record was legit, he should be able to replicate it.

Funny you should put it that way. I was at the MGC in 2018 (or whichever year he attended, I know this wasn't long after the whole controversy started), and I had caught and recorded a video that wasn't very good admittedly of him playing Pac-Man. I can't remember if it was a legit machine or not, but he did some trick to get the ghosts to merge together from what I remember.

 

[64bitmodels]

Jesus christ
First the gamevice people are still trying to sue nintendo, now billy mitchell is taking a score from a fucking video game of all things to court. (which isnt even a legit score, everyone knows hes a retarded fraud)
Like, God, i get everything's supposed to be part of your plan and shit, but did your plan have to include human beings being so fucking retarded

 

[Deleted User]

relevent

 

[Deleted User]

Isn't this the big headed guy from regular show?

 

[Rabbid4240]

>"I got the highest donkey kong score ever"
>"lol no you dont"
>"ILL SEE YOU IN COURT FOR THOSE WORDS!!! PREPARE FOR WAR!!!"

 

[GBAer]

I've heard from a very good source that it's not actually Billy Mitchell that is filing the lawsuit, it is his mullet.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

First world problems. If he wants a jury desicion, he should bring the cabinet to court and show off. XD

 

[Lodad]

Honestly, couldn't he have just played it again to grind out the record legit with witnesses and an uninterrupted recording of him actually playing?

 

[Waywatcher]

As soon as I read this I thought about Eddie Plant from the movie Pixels

 

[samcambolt270]

What exactly is the harm he's suing for? You don't have a right to have your record displayed, whether you legitimately got it or not, completely ignoring the fact they there's plenty enough doubt that he didn't get it legitimately. It's their publication, they can remove if you so much as called the boss a dickhole, even more so when you lie multiple time and are caught doing so.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I honestly don't know what to say here; I'm not entirely familiar with the world record holders in video games. If Mitchell didn't cheat, then his motives can be justified and the company should give him his title back (should, but will they? Mitchell has little control over this, even with a lawsuit in place). If he in fact did cheat, then it was foolish of him to sue the company.

Either way, I say drop the case. It's not worth it.

 

[tova]

well this is gonna be real fun to watch

 

[PrincessLillie]

Imagine suing an entire company over fake video game numbers. Couldn't be me.

 

[ChiefReginod]

I'm just guessing this is a case of "bad publicity is better than none at all", mainly for the purpose of triggering hot sauce sells. The world record probably isn't as important as the attention it draws to his products.

 

[lordofcombo]

Are we gonna criticize Bitchell and forget about his cuck slave Brian Kuh.
I've seen all sorts of minions/henchmen/cuck/dog on a leach but Brian Kuh has reached the bottom of the bottom.
im sure he blows Billy before any DK doctored mame session.
What a waste of oxygen and space this Brian Cuck.

 

[Bladexdsl]

As soon as I read this I thought about Eddie Plant from the movie Pixels

you need the fireblaster!

 

[shadow theory]

Can someone who actually knows the law tell me if this even makes sense? Twin Galaxies is a private business which just keeps track of records. For a lawsuit to take place, there needs to be damage, and in a defamation case like this, there would need to be some kind of ill intent. Otherwise you could just sue random award agencies for thinking they made a mistake in their judgement of a competition.

I am a lawyer but admittedly I don't do civil litigation.
From what I have gathered, (I've seen the headlines and watched a video or two, but haven't read the complaint put out by Mitchell, or read what Twin Galaxies put out), Mitchell's claim in court is that in the declarations made by Twin Galaxies in invalidating his score were defamatory, in that the logical inference from the statement is that he is a cheater. As I recall the statement, I do not believe Twin Galaxies refer to him as a cheater, but do say that evidence of his score was impossible on original hardware. I assume in this case Billy Mitchell makes a portion of his income by being the King of Kong guy, the guy known being this famous arcade gamer. By being branded a cheater, he can attempt to claim damages for the loss of income that results from the damage to his reputation.

For example, if Mitchell lost sponsors, lost appearance opportunities in the wake of this publication by Twin Galaxies, he can claim those as damages. He can also try to quantify the loss in reputation/goodwill, but that's much harder to prove. Punitive damages can also be sought, but again, harder to quantify and really depend on the facts of the case.

States vary on the exact specifics of how some of the elements are construed. Generally, Mitchell would need to show that Twin Galaxies published something purporting to be a fact (another hurdle as defamation law does not reach merely faulty *opinion*), that Twin Galaxies was negligent in doing so, and prove his damages.

Because Billy Mitchell is a public figure, he would also have to prove "actual malice" which just means he would have to show they published it knowing it to be untrue, or recklessly disregarded whether the published material was false or not.

Again without having looked at the particulars, just on the overall picture I get from reading headlines, it appears Mitchell's case has hurdles. It's my understanding that Twin Galaxies did a thorough investigation before making this ruling. You can disagree with their conclusion all you want, but it will be hard to show that they knew what they published to be untrue or that they were reckless, if they were so careful to try to get try to get it correct.

So does it make sense? It makes sense as a legal claim. It doesn't sound like a winning legal claim though. I largely think they hoped to bully these organizations into giving in to avoid the cost of litigation.