Meet Christian Keilback, a witty and strange guy with a last name we've probably all been mispronouncing for years. The first time we became acquainted was when a bored Quester saw a link for a Twitch stream and gave a what-the-hell click. Upon viewing was a different type of fellow in a Knuckles hat playing 2600 Berzerk and actually interacting with the crowd chatting on his channel. Personally, the main reason I never do the GamerTV thing is the lack of interaction between the gamers and the audience, however, Christian answered every single question fired off. To this day, if asked my favorite gamer to watch stream, it's Mr. Keilback.
Welcome to the couch and try to feel no pressure after that introduction. Let's return the kick-off here and talk about Twitch for a moment. Are you still doing your streams and if so, where can the readers find them?
Thank you! I am happy to be here.
Currently I am taking a small break from streaming, as I am in the middle of a move. The new place does not have internet yet, so until I get internet installed, I won't be able to do any streaming at all. Once the internet is installed and everything is set up, I plan on streaming Atari 2600 games on a regular basis. You can find me at http://www.twitch.tv/mightysquirrel.
Every interviewer has a favorite question and I'm no exception, but in your case, I feel the need to turn it into a two-parter due to your versatility with what you play. What is your earliest gaming memory and were you initially into the entire arcade/console/pinball triad or did one come before the others?
My first gaming memory, was when I was 6 or 7 years old. My dad brought home an Atari 2600, and we had a large 15" black and white tv. The first game we played was Combat. After about 5 minutes, mom yelled at dad for dad to shut off the game, so he did.
My first actual console that I was gifted during Christmas, was an APF-M1000. There were only a handful of games on it, as the system did not last very long. However, I notably remember the Space Invaders clone cartridge, to be much larger than the rest of the games... and not only that, but years later, found out it was the most faithful Space Invaders version, next to the NES version.
Pinball came much later, at the age of 13-14.
I doubt anyone was expecting an APF-M1000 name drop. Something I've always been curious about but have never approached you personally about would be your DJing. My knowledge of your particular genre of music is up there with my knowledge of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, but I did gather that you were incorporating gaming into your sets. Can you touch on what you were doing during these unique performances and the reaction of the crowd?
Get a load of those paws!
Sure!
I LOVE Happy Hardcore. I loved it when I first heard it when I was younger, and loved it when I found the rave scene, even moreso. Nothing makes me smile more than hearing a fast beat, and a melody that you can't help but smile big to, when you hear it.
When I went to my first rave in 2008, I didn't know what I was getting into. It was an eye opening experience, as people dressed up into weird and strange attires, and people knew each other upon sight. I thought it was a super neat idea, so the next rave I went to 4-5 months later (I was a bit shy), I wanted to stand out. Before I knew they existed, I went to FYE and had purchased a few Sonic hats. I figured Sonic was too iconic... too general. I wanted something recognizable, something gaming related, but not as generic as Sonic. So, I went as Knuckles. Everyone liked the hat, I met some awesome people from it (that later stemmed into my friends that love fighting games), and was really happy that the hat broke the ice.
I kept going as Knuckles, and everyone kept on recognizing me.
I had zero interest in DJing, to be honest. I wasn't the type that went to my first rave, seen the DJ in the spotlight, and said, oooh I want to be that guy!
What got me into it, is that a couple local DJ's that played out happy hardcore, decided to quit playing the anthems. The genre was going into a different direction, everything from a drum and bass feel to it, to power stomp (instead of melodies, there was more bass and hard hitting), to dubcore (dubstep instead of the melodies). So, I decided to pick up DJing, because I wanted to play out my favorite tunes.
About the echidna love, what is the most treasured piece of Knuckles merchandise in your collection?
My favorite Knuckles merchandise I own, is a remote control car that was gifted to me. It's still in the box.
So, we've covered gaming and your musical endeavors, what else is Christian Keilback into that can be safely printed?
I used to do Jiujitsu and Kickboxing. I LOVED Jiujitsu. It was human physical chess. There's a counter to every move, and a counter to a counter. The only reason why I am not doing it anymore, is because I had to move to Pittsburgh for my job, and moved away from my teacher.
I love my projects. I miss them. I've built MAME cabinets, refurbished pinball machines, built an arcade in a newegg box (called a supergun), modified Atari 2600's for s-video, painted NES and SNES consoles, I built an Atari into my computer (which the computer won 1st place in an Intel contest), to name most of my previous projects. My next big one that I can't wait to start, is to build an arcade cabinet from the ground up, that will be universal to any console up to Xbox 360/PS3.
Time to take a turn into silverball land. You've been consistently entering pinball tournaments lately and have even beaten a few established names. I've been to a couple of the gatherings lately and it can suprisingly be much more unpredictable of a time than I would've imagined. How about sharing your favorite, worst, and weirdest moments from these competitions lately?
My worst moment, was when I was within striking distance and beating Roy Wils, to go into the top 2 at the 3rd Annual South Side Pinball Open, but fell short due to pure nerves. I was intimidated by the name alone, and I had myself beaten before I stepped up to plunge. That quickly went away after I had realized what I did, to take 2nd at Fairmont, WV Annual Pinball Party 2015.
The weirdest moment came from the Fairmont tournament, as we were competing for 1st place, best out of 5. We were playing Sinbad. 3rd ball, game easily within striking distance. Sinbad has a double set of flippers on each side, with no guide. I got too anxious, flipped slightly too early, the ball flipped up and backhanded into the underneath of the upper right flipper, and went into the drain.
My favorite moment, was during qualifying for the 3rd Annual South Side Open. I had never gotten Do or Die before on Iron Man... and I nailed it. Not only did I nail it (unfortunately not with double scoring going), but during the very quick 35 mil score countdown, I collected it at 33 mil.
Never know, man. That Roy Wils victory is still attainable! Next question, desert Island be damned, we're both destined for an asylum. If the doctor allowed you five pinball machines to line your padded walls with, which five would you roll with?
This is easy.
Iron Man, Twilight Zone, Whirlwind, Hot Tip, and another Iron man in case the other breaks.
I love how simple, yet difficult Iron Man is. Simple to get the easy multiball and have fun, brutally difficult to get Do or Die, and impossible to get Do or Die multiball.
Back to the competitive play for a second, may I ask what your goals are? There is absolutely nothing wrong with either stance at all, but I must ask. Are you going into it to have the proverbial great times, raucous laughter, and blinding rainbows or are you in it to rule the world?
Action figure pose!
I'm going in it to have fun, and the fact that I love the competition. I'm a Capricorn. Nothing gets me going more, than a friendly competition.
I don't really have any goals. Just taking it a tournament at a time, see how high I can place, improve on myself, and learn from my mistakes.
Currently, counting all types of games, what are you working on?
The only thing I am working on project wise, is that I am helping playtest a new game coming out by Thomas Jentzsch, called The Stacks. A demo was available to play at the Portland OR Expo.
Game wise... nothing right now. I plan on coming up with a list of games when the time comes that I can stream again, to go after scores on Twin Galaxies.
This month we are doing a King of the Hill at Pinbash, the Bradish Street Pinball Parlour. All month, we play all of the games, and they are taking the Grand Champ to 4th place, at the end of the month, into a points system. Highest number of points, and you take home all of the money.
Last one and we both have officially lived through this. When visiting the Houston Arcade & Pinball Expo this November, I spent quite a bit of time observing the pinball tournament room and noticed others internally debate entering the tourneys, only to decide against and walk away. Before we ride off into the pixelated sunset, what advice could you give a reader who may be apprehensive about crossing the line and playing in his or her first competition? Are there any pointers you can give an aspiring pinball player?
Just go out and play. No amount of personal play, will ever get you trained on how to deal with the nerves of competition. Just do it.
One more little bit. Have a smart phone handy, with The Pinball Arcade installed. Even if you don't own the tables, you can download the demos and learn the ruleset before you walk up and plunge.
Really valuable advice! Much love to all you readers for joining us this morning and, of course, huge thanks to 2015's final guest, Christian Keilback, who can be found at:
https://soundcloud.com/mightysquirrel (New mixes are coming out once he is moved as well)
http://www.twitch.tv/mightysquirrel
http://www.youtube.com/mightysquirrel
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