The Kings of Kong, Sultans of Sonic, and Dukes of Duck Hunt descended upon Ottumwa, Iowa this weekend for the Twin Galaxies Video Game Festival in honor of the score keeping organization's 30th anniversary.
Twin Galaxies founder and King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters star Walter Day assumed emcee duties for the three-day festival, which featured classic and modern gaming tournaments, a recreation of the 1983 “That's Incredible” Video Game Gauntlet, film festival, Iron Man marathon event, historic displays, the launch of the Twin Galaxies Trading Card set, and world record challenges.
Catering to the modern crowd, Twin Galaxies World Championship events included competitions in Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Twisted Pixel's Gunstringer, Q Entertainment's Child of Eden, Kinect Adventures, and Turn 10 Studios Forza 4, to name a few. Iowa-based Adam Woodson secured one of weekend's top honors by setting a new world wecord for MW3's Stay Sharp Spec Ops mode, cleaning out the area in 20.5 seconds.
For the classic crowd, Twin Galaxies' party included an Iron Man tournament starring a handful of world record holders including Tim McVey on Nibbler, Kelly Tharp on Mousetrap, Ritchie Knucklez and David Cruz on TRON. Competitors were charged with playing their respective game for as long as possible on one credit, which for many of these seasoned gamers lasted well throughout the event.
The festival also hosted a Twin Galaxies Video Game Gauntlet; a relay-race gaming competition based on the televised 1983 “That's Incredible” video game competition. In it, contestants raced each other in a succession of gaming objectives in in Pitfall (Atari), Duck Hunt (NES), Gran Turismo (PSX), SoulCalibur (Dreamcast), Wii Sports Resort (Wii), and Sonic Generations (360). Nearly a hundred attendees competed in the event. Elsewhere, the video game homages continued with a film festival featuring showings of Dr.Kong, High Score, The Kong-Off, and other shorts. Twin Galaxies nostalgiacs were also treated to Star Worlds Arcades gaming room, and fans were given first dibs on the new Twin Galaxies Trading Card series. And yes, there was Billy Mitchell's hot sauce:
“This festival plants a seed because it has now created and launched an official video game film festival, provided a permanent home for Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival, and ushered in a Twin Galaxies Trading card set,” said Day, who opened the Twin Galaxies arcade on Main Street in Ottumwa back in November 1981. Reflecting on the festival, he added: “I'm enjoying it immensely. It's a great big fun event, and a lot of people have come from all over the nation. I'm greatly encouraged by the support we're getting. We're going to see this become a huge event as the years go on.”
Full results from the Twin Galaxies World Championship events are scheduled to be posted to Twin Galaxies. In the meantime, check out our pics from the festival floor: