Squandrous

There are few real-life villains that are disliked as much as Billy Mitchell — or, at least, that seems to be the case with everyone I talk to that has seen King of Kong.

And really, you can’t blame them: in that documentary, Mitchell was the quintessential bad guy, doing everything he could to tear down the underdog and all-round nice guy Steve Weibe. I’m sure Mitchell is a very pleasant person, but in King of Kong, he was really easy to dislike.

That’s why I’m not surprised that I’ve seen dozens of links and read dozens of articles celebrating the fact that Steve Weibe has once again reclaimed the Donkey Kong points world record. Mitchell stole the record from Weibe a couple of years ago, and after losing it briefly to Hank Chien, he held it until last week, when Weibe won it back — much to the delight of everyone that loves arcade games and everyone that has watched King of Kong.

I’m sure Mitchell will steal it back fairly soon, but for now, we can all rejoice in the fact that the nice guy, the underdog, the character we all sympathize with, is now number one.

And for those of you who haven’t seen King of Kong just yet, add it to your Netflix queue now. It’s incredibly compelling — and definitely not what you’d expect from a documentary about people who love arcade games.

(photo and article via ned hepburn)