Console Wars (2020) – Review

I can still remember it well. It was the early nineties and the second generation game consoles (from 8 to 16-bit) had just come out. One of the local department stores in the center of Rotterdam had a large electronics section on the second floor and the two systems were displayed behind glass: The Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. It was a time without the Internet where you only heard stories of experiences from those you knew. But these systems were new and what this store had done was put in between the two systems a card with their specifications on it. How many colors the systems could show, what the processor was, etc. It is the first moment I can remember that you had the feeling that you had to make a choice between two systems. Which camp you belonged to. That rivalry in the games industry has never disappeared. You can still see that on almost any gaming forum. And although I now myself buy the systems on which the games I want to play are release (which have been several since), the original source of these wars was in the ‘battle’ between Nintendo and Sega, summarized for me at the time on that little note.

The documentary Console Wars shows how the employees at Nintendo and Sega experienced that time.

Fans of video games, nostalgia and history have little to complain about this year. Earlier this year From Bedrooms to Billions: The Playstation Revolution and the Netflix series High Score were released. Although this documentary is fine to watch on its own, it ties in very well with the Playstation documentary. It shows how Nintendo quickly grew into a monopolist in America and kept tight control, also in the retail field. Stores were not allowed to sell competing systems or lower game prices below what Nintendo imposed on them because otherwise they simply wouldn’t get anything. With more than 95% market share, it seemed almost impossible for anyone else to get into the business. Still, a small team within Sega America decided to try that. After difficult conversations with their bosses in Japan, they got approval to do things their way. The result was an aggressive and eye-catching campaign. The gloves were off. Sega was more daring and faster than Nintendo and they managed to impress not only the youngsters but the teens too.

 Obviously this is a documentary with a lot of “talking heads”, but thanks to archival footage and animations specially made for this series that look like old games, it is an entertaining film to watch. People from both Nintendo and Sega talk, which gives you a good idea of ​​how both camps experienced that time. The focus is a bit more on Sega (an underdog story is of course always more fun to tell), but that shouldn’t spoil the fun. Interesting for when you grew up back then or want to learn more about the history of the game industry.

And what choice did I make between the two systems at the time? I decided to go for the Sega Mega Drive, although I can’t remember if it was because of that ticket, marketing or other factors.

[score7]