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[Maiden Voyage]

New technical analysis confirms the evidence against Billy Mitchell

perfectpacman.com

Hot off the heels of the new Billy Mitchell testimony published on Friday, perfectpacman.com is proud to publish a new 48-page technical analysis by hardware engineer and Donkey Kong expert Tanner Fokkens. Fokkens is a moderator and longtime member of Donkey Kong Forum, and co-founder of Snektronix Incorporated (producer of the popular arcade direct capture device “Mr. Video”). In addition to his technical qualifications for this project, Fokkens’ research into the Billy Mitchell case goes back years before even the public score dispute at Twin Galaxies in 2018.

This independent analysis represents months of work by Fokkens and others to assess the evidence published by Jeremy Young in February 2018, demonstrating that Mitchell’s historical Donkey Kong score submission tapes were an exact match for the emulator MAME, and were not congruent with actual direct feed recordings from an original, unmodified Donkey Kong arcade machine. (Recall that, while MAME is a legal platform in high score competition, submission standards are different. Thus, MAME scores which are passed off as coming from original arcade are disqualified.)

Example of transition screen comparisons from “The evidence against Billy Mitchell”

In this new analysis, Fokkens expertly takes the existing evidence a step further, by dissecting exactly why these different transition screens appear the way they do on both the arcade and MAME platforms. This includes a line-by-line look at the graphics code within the original Donkey Kong ROM program, as well as programming instructions found in the MAME source code.

Fokkens’ analysis is reposted below, however the original document can be downloaded here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HRyhZNHDvWNHfVvDr432F4foWiB56Eo

The document also comes with six expert verification statements from the following qualified community members:

• John Kowalski (hardware engineer, game developer)
• Barry Rodewald (MAME developer)
• Jeremy Young (Donkey Kong Forum moderator and DK killscreener)
• David Race (Pac-Man world record holder, investigative researcher)
• Wes Copeland (Former Donkey Kong world record holder)
• Carlos Pineiro (Arcade technical expert, former tech for Billy Mitchell)

This independent analysis is likely to play a significant factor in the ongoing legal battle between Mitchell and Twin Galaxies. While Mitchell continues to rely on witness statements from his friends (such as Todd Rogers), the technical evidence proving Mitchell’s tapes could not have been produced as he has always claimed keeps piling up. Mitchell’s defamation lawsuit against TG, and TG’s counter-suit against Mitchell and Walter Day for fraud, are both headed to a trial tentatively scheduled for March of next year. You can keep up on all the latest on this case right here at perfectpacman.com.

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48-page nerd fight being fought in the courts next March.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm surprised this analysis took months of work. My method is much more efficient.

I present to you, my evidence that he is likely full of shit.

Spoiler

The prosecution rests your honor.

 

[azertydu91]

Ahhh the billy mitchell story ...For anyone interested watch king of kong sure it is outdated by now but it's still great.

 

[Saber]

"Donkey Kong expert" is a thing now?

 

[kanjobazooie]

(Pac-Man world record holder, investigative researcher)

 

[Maiden Voyage]

"Donkey Kong expert" is a thing now?

 

[Deleted member 1159]

You mean to tell me a well known sue happy douchebag who’s all talk and bullshit had the gall to lie and fake his record?

 

[AJUMP23]

He has the BBQ sauce industry to fall back on.

He has played DK at a high level live. But you just can't cheat and get away with it forever.

 

[Meicyn]

I was picturing the Army Air Service when I saw that name, was disappointed to see this weirdo.

 

[nkarafo]

I'm interested to read this analysis, not because i care about the case but because i'm interested in the differences between real hardware VS MAME and how accurate the later is.

 

[ReBurn]

Steve Wiebe was robbed.

 

[ReBurn]

I'm interested to read this analysis, not because i care about the case but because i'm interested in the differences between real hardware VS MAME and how accurate the later is.

Similar analysis was done in the past. That's why Mitchell was stripped of his titles. Frame by frame analysis showed that Mame drew the screen differently than an arcade cabinet and Mitchell's VHS tapes matched the mame pattern. The theory was that Mitchell used save states to redo levels he failed at.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

He has the BBQ sauce industry to fall back on.

He has played DK at a high level live. But you just can't cheat and get away with it forever.

Oh yeah, he is going to be fine, just some bruises to his ego. The guy is obviously very talented at DK but his need for attention outweighs his moral code.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

He has the BBQ sauce industry to fall back on.

He has played DK at a high level live. But you just can't cheat and get away with it forever.

That’s kinda what’s funny about this. There’s still respect and notoriety to be gained from playing at the level he was clearly once capable of, but not satisfied with that he had to lie and cheat, so he’ll go down as a liar and a cheat.

Narcissists are entirely slaves to their egos at the expense of any other considerations

 

[AJUMP23]

Steve Wiebe was robbed.

He was so much fun in King of Kong.

 

[SportsFan581]

One of those what am I reading moments.

Crazy to go through all that trouble for a record you'd know yourself was always fake.

 

[RoboFu]

Someone with that hair cut can never be wrong.. #TEAMHAIR

 

[Joramun]

Update from Twin Galaxies:

Recently, on behalf of Mr. Mitchell, Dr. Michael Zyda, an individual who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer and Information Science from University of California, San Diego, a Master’s of Science in Computer and Information Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Doctorate of Science from the University of Washington School of Engineering, and who has been qualified as an expert by California and federal courts, concluded that the game play on the subject tapes could in fact depict play on original unmodified Donkey Kong arcade hardware if the hardware involved was malfunctioning likely due to degradation of components.

Also, the following closing statements:

In fair consideration of the expert opinion provided by Dr. Zyda on behalf of Mr. Mitchell, and consistent with Twin Galaxies' dedication to the meticulous documentation and preservation of video game score history, Twin Galaxies shall heretofore reinstate all of Mr. Mitchell’s scores as part of the official historical database on Twin Galaxies’ website.

Additionally, upon closing of the matter, Twin Galaxies shall permanently archive and remove from online display the dispute thread titled “Dispute: xelnia - Arcade - Donkey Kong - Points [Hammer Allowed] - Player: Billy L Mitchell - Score: 1,062,800” located on the TwinGalaxies.com website, as well as all related statements and articles.

Seems like Billy paid an "expert" to confirm his cheating as not cheating.

Only if Twin Galaxies has enough funds to hire a forensic expert on their behalf.

Source: https://www.twingalaxies.com/feed_details.php/6194/twin-galaxies-statement/5

 

[BouncyFrag]

Someone with that hair cut can never be wrong.. #TEAMHAIR

He’d be a good heel manager back in 80’s professional wrestling in one of the obscure territories in the South with a Donkey Kong mallet for his prop.

 

[RaySoft]