King of Walkthroughs 

Finally, a film that challenges “The Wizard” for cinema's best representation of a video game tournament.* King of Kong is a glimpse at the real way video game tournaments work; they are small affairs within a close-nit community and are set in dingy arcades with fading carpet and nacho snack bars. These retro arcades seem closer to “video Armageddon” to me.

The King of Kong is a fantastic documentary and should be recommended simply for making the act of watching someone else play video games exciting. Go see it. It is touching too so you can take a girlfriend and she will like it.

As a walkthrough author I can’t end this post without mentioning the film’s brief interview with Steve Sanders, author to The Video Master’s Guide to Donkey Kong. The original guide (out of print and selling on eBay for $89.99) was based off of Billy Mitchell’s 1982 record setting strategy. After seeing King of Kong I am totally inspired and if he asks, I would volunteer my time to be the personal strategy scribe for Steve Wiebe. I would even include his white, grease pencil diagrams for how to dodge the killer springs. 

Notes:

*Interesting that both tournaments feature Mario games