Anyone who, "Ready Player One"-like, knows about and enjoys the video games of the 1980s, knows about the game "Donkey Kong." Many of us gamers of a certain age cut our teeth on this debut of the barrel-jumping character who would later become Mario (it’s a me!), but it takes a hardcore fan to know the name of Billy Mitchell. Mitchell was featured in a documentary about old-school gaming and pro gaming and world records, called “The King of Kong.” He was the one who had, unlike anyone else who played the game competitively or professionally, hit the million point mark, and beyond.

He also made his world record mark on "Donkey Kong, Jr.," but now both uncontested, never-before-achieved scores are subject to scrutiny. The whole premise of the documentary was to showcase his prowess as the unquestioned champion of the 1981 game classic, as the king who beat Kong. But did he?

Looks like the answer is nope, at least not within the professional "Donkey Kong" rules of world record-hood, according to Twin Galaxies, an organization dedicated to professional gaming. See, Mitchell has recently been shown to have used an arcade emulator (specifically, the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, or MAME) instead of an actual cabinet, to hit his high scores.

He has been banned for life

The big deal about using the MAME instead of an authentic cabinet is that you can do a lot more things with a MAME than you can with the old equipment.

It becomes not just a matter of analog hand-eye coordination, but the ability to set things up in a way that’s impossible in an old-school knee-jerk game of "Donkey Kong." Which means, in the world of competitive gaming, it’s not fair. And so, Mitchell has now not only had his world record high scores wiped from the game's annals, but he himself is banned for life from the game.

He can no longer compete, nor can he continue to add his high scores to the game's records.

No word from him or from Guinness Book

As of this writing, Mitchell hasn’t responded to the sources asking him directly (namely Kotaku and Nerdist), and it’s not known specifically whether the Guinness Book of World Records will yoink his records from their printings or not.

One would assume so.

What about 'Pac Man?'

Mitchell has also achieved the long-sought perfect score on other hugely popular old-school game "Pac-Man." But did he, on a real cabinet, and not an emulator? Time and further investigations will tell.
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