If you enjoyed The King of Kong (as I did), you should check out this Harper’s article (PDF) about Billy Mitchell and his Pac-Man records. The author talks to Billy and Walter Day quite a bit, and follows a Jamaican immigrant named Abdner who tries to break the Ms Pac-Man record. The author was working on the story while King of Kong was filming, and he was even invited to the screening of Billy’s infamous Donkey Kong videotape designed to steal Steve Weibe’s thunder at Fun Spot. (For the record, the author doesn’t think the tape was doctored.) I think it’s very interesting to get another view of the guy, especially since it was very easy to write off his villainous portrayal in King of Kong as a consequence of editing. The author of this piece is definitely kinder to Billy, but he still admits that the gigantic ego, defensiveness, and scheming are all true-to-life.
