Console Wars

Lots of pointless pixel-arty segues (bizarrely ALL with vertical scan lines) and some interesting interviews with key '80/'90s figures in the industry. Other than that this mainly plays out like an account of Tom Kalinske's Sega marketing career.

The interviews are probably the best thing about this, all the other information is scant (no verbal mention of the Master System, 32X, Sega CD or Dreamcast at all?!?!) and no details at all about the Saturn or even pictures, just a brief mention of it at the end.

Anyone who is interested in this subject already, will already know more than is revealed in this program. As stated previously the only interesting content is the interviews with people like Howard Lincoln from Nintendo and Tom Kalinske from Sega. Otherwise you could get all the info in this show (and a lot more) just by reading the Sega and Nintendo pages on Wikipedia. I get the feeling this was not made by people who have any genuine love for the subject.

I grew up in the 80's and my first console was a Nintendo 8 bits, and I think it was the most successful present received from my dad in my entire life.

I discovered the NES from a friend and it was magical. A magnificent entertainment system and using colors! That was the starting point to became a Nintendo fan.

But after having the successful NES I started dreaming about having the Sega Mega drive and it was even better! I remember Sega a the best console at that time.

But, again Nintendo beated Sega with the Super Nintendo. One of the best consoles ever. And I bought it too. The 90's were fantastic. Pure Nostalgia... This documentary explains everything from the point of view of people who created those dreams. Interesting to know what happened to Sega and why. If you're around your 40's now you're going to enjoy this documentary as a kid.

It's a pretty enteraining story about the rise and fall of Sega. A bit (16 bits??) too sentimental however. Sega games and hardware were never all that, and it's pretty obvious that they never had a chance after their cowboy marketing strategies were eventually exposed by a lack of quality titles. If they ever even had one.

To say that it was all the fault of a jealous Japanese executive is pretty cheap and I wouldn't be surprised if that golden guy from SOA blast-financed this whole thing, just to get even. :)

A lot of people say that this documentary covers the story of SEGA, and while that's mostly true, it doesn't do a good job at it either.

Documentaries don't usually require linearity, but for something regarding the advancement a whole industry, they really missed out on it. Failing to cover the more important aspects from the Japanese perspective, and rather just villainizing them, and not to mention completely avoiding talk about the deal between Nintendo & Sony for the Nintendo PlayStation, and how they shot themselves in the foot.

The documentary also does not, even for once, acknowledge the contributions of Yu Suzuki of Sega into helping make leap into 3D gaming consoles, but has the audacity to showcase his creations such as Outrun and other scaler-sprite based games.

This documentary does not do the homework for you, YouTube videos does it better.

As the kid gamers of the 1990s now edge closer to 40 years of age, the topic of the Nintendo/Sega console wars is an oft-covered one. Despite being based on the Console Wars book from a number of years ago, I feel like this is the third iteration of such material I've seen on various streaming platforms in the last year or two alone.

As such, your mileage may vary depending on your level of knowledge coming into the viewing experience. If this is your first go-round with the 90s console wars, it will probably rank a bit higher. If not, however, there really isn't much new here that I hadn't already read/seen elsewhere.

Probably the hallmark of this film is its unique visuals, using a 16-bit motif on numerous occasions and to nice effect. What it may lack in out and out originality it somewhat makes up for in presentation.

Overall, I enjoyed watching "Console Wars". I am 100% the target audience for this sort of thing (about 10 years old when this was all transpiring), so that certainly helps. The combination of being largely beaten to the punch by other avenues, yet looking so slick, makes me settle on a solid--not spectacular--7 stars here.