A five-year legal battle has finally culminated in a rather anticlimactic ending. But despite the mocest conclusion to such a saga, a formerly revered retro gamer desperately and hopelessly still scrounges for as many future victories as he can.
The story of Billy Mitchell–a once celebrated top-level retro gamer whose legitimacy eventually came under heavy scrutiny–has dragged on for over half a decade. Within those years, Mitchell put in futile effort after futile effort in order to reclaim his lost reputation, even going as far as filing suit against Twin Galaxies, the high-score database that removed his Pac-Man and Donkey Kong scores from their leaderboards.
Unfortunately for Mitchell, the evidence against his alleged world records could not stop crashing down on him. His lawsuit was looking more and more like a predetermined failure, and on January 11th, 2024, Mitchell settled his case. However, as part of the settlement terms, Twin Galaxies did reinstate Mitchell’s scores onto an unofficial, historic leaderboard.
While there was speculation about Mitchell’s intentions behind such an agreement, the cumulative result was still a loss for Mitchell. User ersatz_cats, the creator of the website perfectpacman.com and a long time vocal opponent of Mitchell, said it best.
“No matter what you may have heard, and no matter what the official statement said, Billy Mitchell’s cheated Donkey Kong scores were not reinstated. This isn’t rocket science. Go to TG’s Donkey Kong leaderboard. They ain’t there!” ersatz_cats proclaimed. “That was the whole point of Billy’s lawsuit, was it not? To get his scores put back on the leaderboard alongside everyone else? So right there, Billy has lost.”
However, the complexities of this convoluted and protracted legal battle have already been detailed by none other than ersatz_cats in two separate reports. The first discusses the history of Mitchell, a recap of everything that occurred before January 11th, and the many details surrounding the settlement itself, including some extremely shady information about one of Mitchell’s expert witnesses.
The second report highlighted many of the legal technicalities on Twin Galaxies’s end, commented on the immediate reactions of the media and the rest of the gaming community following the January 11th settlement, and looked forward towards the future of Billy Mitchell, Twin Galaxies, and what the retro gaming community could take away from this infamous legal battle.
But most importantly of all, ersatz_cats wrote a reminder to all those who were anticipating a climactic ending to this so-called “saga.”
“It was never designed to be a story in the first place. It was a series of real events, starting with DMs, moving to a shoutbox, then to a forum, and then global gaming media, and finally the courthouse. It was a series of lies, each bigger and more preposterous than the last, to form a narrative fueled by a narcissist who valued phony gratification above all else,” ersatz_cats explained. “Billy Mitchell clearly lives by the old adage, ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’ But in cases like this, I think people would be wise to take the inverse at heart: “Never let a good story get in the way of the truth.”
While Mitchell’s legal battles still haven’t quite concluded, the amount of support he still holds has dwindled to next to nothing, and his so-called “accomplishments” have been ripped to shreds, with the most recent technical analysis being done by a YouTube channel known as Veritas.
In addition, Mitchell’s remaining lawsuits, filed against YouTuber Karl Jobst and Pac-Man high-score competitor David Race, likely won’t yield any better results. In fact, Jobst even pointed out in a video on January 16th, 2024, the dire consequences that would follow if Mitchell were to abandon the lawsuit, since Jobst resides in Australia.
“Billy cannot escape his lawsuit against me, and when I say that, I mean he literally cannot escape,” Jobst emphasized. “If Billy dropped his lawsuit against me, he would instantly lose and would instantly owe me hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
But when the dust settles after Mitchell’s remaining lawsuits, the final result will likely still be the same–Mitchell will have lost every last bit of his notoriety, credit, and perhaps even money, all as a result of betraying the trust of the retro gaming community for years. When that time comes, perhaps ersatz_cats’s advice should be heeded–all eyes should turn away from Billy Mitchell, for the attention is what he wants.
The story of Billy Mitchell has intrigued, fascinated, and haunted the gaming community for years. But thanks to the combined efforts of notable opponents such as Twin Galaxies, Karl Jobst, ersatz_cats, David Race, Robbie Lakeman, Steve Wiebe, and many others, the spotlight can finally start shifting as this saga reaches its final notes.
