Once the thrill of finishing the first level of Pac-Man is gone, and capturing the high-score at your local arcade is a distant memory, what does the repetitive challenge of the game offer us? After three hours of continuous play, that "wokka-wokka-wokka" has to being doing some kind of damage, and for what, a new cut-scene? Carpal tunnel syndrome? Or really, REALLY, does anyone think they're gonna get famous? Get rich and retire on Pac-Man $$$? This isn't golf or billiards. It isn't chess, the "Sport of Kings". The Video Game is the sport of Teen's, Freak's, and Loner's, not Kings, not "the Jet Set", and not "the Best People".
"Pac-Man Machine? Ha-ha! Sorry, it's just, well, we don't play that here Mrs. Torrance"
Billy Mitchell is that kind of bro. The "King of Quarters", the Pac-MAN, proclaimed Video Game Player of the Century in Tokyo in 1999. And the first to record a perfect game of Pac-Man, meaning, every available ghost, every available fruit, every single point WITHOUT LOSING A SINGLE LIFE. Over six-hours of wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka. Say what you want, that's just an incredibly mind blowing achievement. Yet, Billy Mitchell is not a household name. He'll never be considered an A-List celebrity. And as far as I can tell, his main source of income is from hot sauce not Pac-Man. "Ricky's Hot Sauce". It doesn't even carry his own name.
Mr. Billy Mitchell
I hope you understand just exactly what was involved in executing the "perfect game" and why I feel his achievements are, ahem, overlooked.
Here is a link to a website that breaks down the ins and outs of modern day Pac-Man theory. Yes, I said THEORY:
Now, the creator Toru Iwatani, and his team of developers, they are the originators of just about everything that IS Pac-Man. They devised the concepts, rules, and laws that drive the game, and they buried them within the code of the game. Maybe embedded is a better word. The point is is that they programmed everything into the game play that would be extracted and written into the modern day "cheat sheet". If it's in the game its because Toru and crew put it in there. Kinda like a movie director.
"Hey asshole, I got next game."
As the Pac-Man playing universe took shape, it became apparent that some people were better than others, but why? Reflexes and simple hand-eye coordination? More time and more quarters? Probably.
But even then the highest level players with the most highly refined physical skills started to separate from each other. The elite video game player started to emerge.
What made someone an elite player? What did the elite see that no one else could see?
Patterns. Rules, Laws. Concepts. A map buried within a maze, a mathematically precise knowledge embedded in the game. It turns out that while most of us are running away from and chasing ghosts, Billy Mitchell and the elite players are CONTROLLING the ghosts.
I don't think that Toru Iwatani and crew knew that this was possible. I don't think that this was "programmed" into the game as the ultimate game playing goal. Pac-Man was a game of cat and mouse, where the power shifted between Pac-Man and his pursuers. It wasn't designed to be a game where the ghosts had all the control, especially not a game where Pac-Man had all the control. What fun would that be?
Room 256 was Overlooked
Level 256 wasn't "programmed" into Pac-Man, it was DISCOVERED by elite players with incredible vision, discipline, and patience. Players with extreme will power and confidence. Okay, maybe too much time on their hands, but hey, we all have hobbies. Elite players racking up millions of points soon began stumbling into Level 256 and realizing "Pac-Man is not in Kansas anymore."
In 1999, 19 years after Pac-Man was released, Billy Mitchell did the absolutely unthinkable. By scoring the 3,333,360th point, he not only navigated all 255 standard levels of Pac-Man perfectly, he even navigated that Joycean clusterfuck of Level 256 perfectly too. Think of the trial and error that occurred, the dedication to traverse all 255 preliminary levels, perfectly, just to deconstruct and master that 256th. It's fair to assume that it would be enough to drive a person completely insane.
But I only assume that because I am not in control of the ghosts. I run and I chase, I live and I die, I struggle and I fight to just get past the next level, and I always come up short of perfection.
Jack Torrance isn't in control of the ghosts either.
Level 237 at The Overlook
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka- All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka-
Hmm…I wonder….what 19 plus 237 is?
Billy Mitchell inhabits a similar position to the Rex Nemorensis, which is why one must dethrone the King of Kong in order to become the new King and become a priest of Ms. Pac-Man.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
ReplyDeleteThe longest game of tournament chess that did not end in a draw took place in 2007. There were 237 moves, and it was won by a female.
ReplyDelete"You're going to take my Queen?"
ReplyDelete