When it comes to games various documentaries have been released during the past few years. One of the best of them is, without doubt, the King of Kong, in which Billy Mitchell tried to win the Donkey Kong record from Steve Wiebe. It managed to really show what was happening the subculture of old arcade games. A couple of the people in that documentary also appear here shortly, but besides a short history lesson, including interviews with the maker of the first arcade game, the maker of Defender and Robotron and various world record holders, it is mainly about the story of Richie Knucklez.
Knucklez is a big arcade game collector who fully restores them and decides to open an arcade. The movie succeeds in showing how big his passion is for the history of gaming. It’s so big that it is even affecting his relationship which results in him having to choose for either his games or his family.
The King of Aracdes manages to find a good balance between history and the personal story of Richie Knucklez. Having grown up playing games myself it is always fun seeing a lot of them again. If there is one thing which unfortunately isn’t always completely clear it is Knucklez story. This means that you sometimes have unanswered questions when it comes to the decisions he is facing. Although The King of King remains the King in the genre, this documentary definitely is part of his staff.
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