Retronauts Micro 90: King of Kong Reconsidered (Patreon)

Well, this has been a pretty interesting couple of weeks where this episode is concerned. We've been meaning to record it ever since competitive gamer Billy Mitchell's records were disqualified back in April. We finally happened to have the opportunity to sit down and record Monday of last week, which coincidentally fell a day or two after Mitchell's somewhat strange and hostile press conference, chronicled on Variety's website. A few days later, Nintendo dug up the arcade code to Donkey Kong from the archives for the first time in decades, publishing it as a surprise during E3. And then, yesterday, we finally managed to launch our Kickstarter collaboration for a vertical Switch grip designed to let people play vertical arcade games in handheld format — games like Donkey Kong.

What I'm saying is that this episode is electric. It's dynamite. It's good times for all parties concerned... well, except maybe Mitchell. But we tried to be fair to him as we look back at the documentary King of Kong through the lens of current events. While Mitchell certainly brings down a lot of the criticism he's earned through his actions, we also recognize the editorialization that went on in King of Kong. The movie wants it to be good-vs.-evil, but it's not quite that simple.

In short, this was a fun, fast-paced episode and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Some episodes can be exhausting to edit, but with this one, I was disappointed to reach the end. I wanted to hear more, and I never say that about my own voice. But 48 minutes is all we got, so I pass it along to you now for your all-too-brief enjoyment.

Description: With the recent news that former Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell has had his score records revoked, Jeremy, Chris, and Benj look back at King of Kong, the documentary that chronicled his attempt to defend his records and painted him as a villain.

And speaking of that Kickstarter, I assume everyone who supports this show has already seen it, but: Here's the link, in case you want to get your portable vertical classic gaming on. We managed to hit our funding goal in about 13 or 14 hours, which means tate gaming for all the good boys and girls this holiday season. (If you've already pledged, thanks so much!)