Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler

Dir: Tim Kinzy, Andrew Seklir

2015

*****

Seth Gorden’s 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is one of my favourite films of all time. It’s uplifting, it’s real and it follows the feel good formula of triumph over adversity and good overcoming evil. It’s not one of those films you could ever repeat, or at least, I didn’t think so. There is very little difference between The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler as far as content is concerned, but it certainly feels like a fresh take on the same story. Some of the characters are the same but everything is a little different, I would say A Fistful of Quarters is Star Wars and Man vs Snake is Star Trek, you can love both equally and I love them both dearly. King of Kong saw Steve Wiebe take on Billy Mitchell’s long standing high score on Donkey Kong, in Man vs Snake we find Tim McVey (no, not that one) haunted by a record he set back in the early 80s on a lesser loved game called Nibbler. It was the summer of 1983 when McVey happened to walk into Twin Galaxies and saw Ms. Pac-Man champion Tom Asaki try and attempt to be the first person to record a billion points on Nibbler. No one really loved the game but it had something rare that most games didn’t; firstly, it had a nine digit score counter, meaning it was possible for a player to achieve a score in excess of one billion points; secondly, due to the games mechanics, it was possible for hardened gamers to take breaks during play, meaning that the high score was possible for those willing and able to marathon a gaming session over several hours/days. Twin Galaxies was the only place recording high scores at that point and McVey saw an opportunity. Asaki didn’t quite get the billion and walked away, McVey wandered in and just started playing. He didn’t leave until he blitzed it several hours later. He walked home and slept for two days. He was given a Nibbler machine by the game makers as a reward but promptly sold it, something he regretted ever since. Since then another player in Italy has claimed to have beaten his score and others are looking to do the same. Now in his forties McVey is unable to hide his regret and his longing to once again be champion, so he buys a machine, and with the support of his wife, sacrifices all of his spare time trying to do so. A Fistful of Quarters had a strong element of good vs evil, a hero and a villain, but Man vs Snake is all good. Okay, so referring to Billy Mitchell as a villain is maybe a little harsh, he certainly redeems himself in Man vs Snake and Walter Day comes across as far less of an unorganised (but lovable) idiot. What’s really great about it is that while there is rivalry, this time everyone is encouraging of each other and the only real enemy is time and stamina – not to mention old arcade machines boards and calluses. This is like watching the nerd Olympics, accept the athlete competing is just like us and his competition is himself. McVey is incredibly likable, and the world of competitive gaming (the old school that is) is full of brilliant characters. The old footage of the gamers, who were like teenage superstars back in the day, is phenomenal. Everything that wasn’t filmed back in the day is recreated with brilliantly witty animation, and each character is given their fair share of screen time to shine through, whether it be from the early 80s or 2015. It’s a feel good film for sure, easily digested, even if you’re not into computer games, old or new. Nice is a word now considered underwhelming, which I think is a shame, as nice is exactly the right word for Man vs Snake. It’s refreshing, it’s uplifting and it’s engrossing. It’s the nicest film of 2015, and there is nothing underwhelming about that.