If you are a follower of our games room blog you will already know we are big fans of the documentary King of Kong here at Home Leisure Direct, so when we got wind of a new arcade machine documentary on the horizon, to say we got a little excited was an understatement! This documentary was a little bit different through.
Filmmaker Sean Tiederman found success on Kickstarter, an online pledge system that allows the general public to invest in a diverse array of projects ranging from films to a new idea for a candy bar, managing to secure an impressive $40,000 in funding to give the project the much-needed resources to realise this fantastic dream.
Not only did Sean Tiederman secure the funding, he managed to do so with 16 days left; one of Kickstarter's prerequisites is that you must secure the entire amount of funding within the allotted time. It’s an all or nothing deal which can be risky, but when you have such a rad idea like this, finding people who wanted to help out is clearly not a problem. We’re only envious we missed out on the opportunity as we would have loved to be a part of it.
The King of Arcades started filming back in June 2011 at Richie Knucklez Arcade in Flemington, New Jersey, one of the most phenomenal retro arcades we have ever come across. Richie’s passion for arcades shines through the unbelievable restoration work he does on each of the machines that fill this Aladdin's cave of nostalgia. The attention to detail here is sensational and we will definitely swing by next time we are on the East Coast.
Photo: Inside Richie Knuckles Arcade in Flemington, NJ (Photo By: Tranquility Source Arcade)
From what we have read so far on Kickstarter, the documentary is going to be absolutely jam-packed with all the big names in retro gaming, and of course no proper arcade documentary would be complete without the iconic Walter Day of Twin Galaxies and Ralph H Baer, The Father of Video Games and all-round awesome dude.
The soundtrack to King of Arcades has been put together by Richie Knucklez's Band Knuckle Sandwich and is a cover of the classic 1982 track by Buckner & Garcia ‘Pac Man Fever’.
After listening to bits of this on their video taster, we’re hooked. You’ve gotta love the punk spin on the song and we hope this will be available for download as soon as possible.
Now all I have to do is wait for the release date with bated breath (or keep pestering them on Facebook like the fangirl I am). I have a feeling it will be soon, as there is news online of it just being finished off. I've just got to hope they decide to ship DVDs to the UK for all of us Arcade Junkies this side of the water.
Written By: Michelle Beresford