Established in the early 1980's by gaming personality Walter Day, Twin Galaxies began as an organized effort to establish a single tracking authority for the truly best scores on arcade games. Eventually, this effort would expand to include console and other gaming as well, with hundreds of gamers earning their place on leaderboards dedicated to tracking the top marks on these titles.
With the advent of the Internet, and the ease of which communities can now instantly communicate, the supremacy of Twin Galaxies was challenged, both by blatant competitors and in its very philosophy. Despite the ever-widening popularity of video games as a hobby, how many gamers truly look to Twin Galaxies as any sort of real officiating body?
When Walter Day stepped down from his leadership position at Twin Galaxies, some saw this as a severance from the organization's hallowed history. However, arcade enthusiast and subject of an upcoming documentary Richie Knucklez had different plans.
Along with Jourdan Adler, owner of The 1-Up Arcade, and Jon "Exidy" Jamshid, Knucklez bought the Twin Galaxies brand in 2012 with intentions of restoring it to its full former glory and beyond. While the transition has come with some bumps, as any will, one particular hurdle has now been overcome.
Part of Twin Galaxies' singular allure is their vast database of gaming records, dating back decades across dozens of platforms. When the new website was launched, this information was not yet available for public view; however, with a recent update, visitors can now search for records directly from the TwinGalaxies.com main page.
This is an encouraging sign for those looking to retain an aura of authority around their prior records, along with a show of good faith by the new ownership's intent to keep hosting great arcade-gaming events and generally raise the classic gaming status at large.
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Eric Bailey blogs at NintendoLegend.com, where he is reviewing every American-released NES video game. He also serves as Editor-In-Chief of retro gaming features site 1MoreCastle.com, and can be followed on Twitter @Nintendo_Legend.
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