Console Wars

A great summary docu about video gaming consoles in the last century.amust watch for old as young.

The Console War refers to one period in history where two companies, Nintendo and Sega battled it out for market supremacy. Nintendo long held a stranglehold (ie monopoly) on the industry due to both innovation and monopolistic practices. Sega of America sought to open the market through... well, watch the documentary and find out how they did it!

I enjoyed how Console Wars built up Nintendo as a villain, then gave them credit for saving the fallen video game industry. But unlike other documentaries, this one doesn't pull punches and mentions some of "cute" Nintendo's cut-throat practices. War was declared and strategized by the upstart aggressor - Sega, which means the documentary focuses on Sega. There's not much nostalgia or other video game history here, just the story that the documentary seeks to tell - about THE Console War and the two companies that took part in it.

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.

This documentary nicely done and awesome! entertaining and at the same time very insightful. it is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as well which means it's full of jokes and fun editing. highly recommended to watch, even if you've never played a videogame in your life!

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.