"High Score", a six-episode Netflix documentary about the “golden age of video games” is premiering on Wednesday, Aug. 19

[ghibli99]

Watched the first episode last night. Cool stuff in there I'd never known about before, or at least completely had forgotten about. Love it when video game documentaries surprise me with that kind of information. Nicely produced too, and glad each episode is 40~45+ minutes for some breathing room.

 

[dogbox]

I'll watch some for the Martinet, at the very least! Forgot this had come out already.

 

[Scuffed]

Watched the first episode and I really liked it.

 

[Nephtes]

Watched the Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat/Night Trap episode and I cannot take the documentary seriously at all when it referred to Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat as "Fight Games" continuously.

WTF!
Who calls "fighting games", "fight games"?

If you Google "fight games" it literally asks "Did you mean 'fighting games'?"

Edit: I also have to question the validity of everything in the series as they also suggested Street Fighter (1987) was the first 1v1 arcade fighting game.... but I'm pretty positive Karate Champ has 1v1 fighting and was around in 1984.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

he even modded his coregrafx-mini to be like the PC-Engine LT.

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Maybe that's what I saw. It was kind of grainy. Very cool either way.

edit - never mind, you meant the current mini, not the original CoreGrafx.

 

[litebrite]

Watched the first episode last night. Cool stuff in there I'd never known about before, or at least completely had forgotten about. Love it when video game documentaries surprise me with that kind of information. Nicely produced too, and glad each episode is 40~45+ minutes for some breathing room.

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Agreed, that's what made it interesting for me. Not to mention I was friends with the guy who's father pioneered the commercial video game cartridge and had no idea.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Really cool to see Dylan Cuthbert.
He used to be at GAF (participated a lot in The Tomorrow Children thread).
Wish he would have transitioned over here. Super nice guy.

Really liked this little series. I hope there is a S2 and they dig into add-ons, the rise of Sony/fall of Sega, MS joining the ranks, etc.

 

[Vinegar Joe]

Two episodes in, it's nice enough, but a little bit too US-centric.

 

[N_Cryo]

5 episodes in. Other than the weird editing and focusing on many different aspects of gaming you cannot cover in a small amount of time, I like it.

I found it funny they used stock dragon noises for when the Skyrim dragon roared, guess they couldnt use the ingame audio.

 

[Viale]

Watched 2 episodes, and it's okay, I suppose. There are some neat segments, but it jumps around quite a bit and is rather broad with the only real underlying thing being the time period I suppose.

Definitely some interesting bits though like the original creator of the cartridge.

Did amuse me that the American version of the NES was their way of "sexying" it up though lmao.

 

[ghibli99]

Agreed, that's what made it interesting for me. Not to mention I was friends with the guy who's father pioneered the commercial video game cartridge and had no idea.

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I didn't put Bill/Rebecca Heineman together in my head at first. I was like, "Cool that they have Bard's Tale I & III in the background! Good taste!" And then as the story progressed, it finally clicked. I felt like an idiot. Interplay was my first industry job and those games (plus Wasteland) are why I started working there.

 

[SpotAnime]

Agreed, that's what made it interesting for me. Not to mention I was friends with the guy who's father pioneered the commercial video game cartridge and had no idea.

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That's cool. That segment was absolutely touching. We always hear about Ralph Baer who was the inventor of the console, but the story of the Channel F is rarely told. Even more so, that the inventor of it was a black man who was an EE in Silicon Valley. That his story was eclipsed by the Atari and he was largely forgotten is upsetting. I'm glad they focused on him, his contributions to the industry and his family.

I didn't put Bill/Rebecca Heineman together in my head at first. I was like, "Cool that they have Bard's Tale I & III in the background! Good taste!" And then as the story progressed, it finally clicked. I felt like an idiot. Interplay was my first industry job and those games (plus Wasteland) are why I started working there.

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This was another great direction the doc took, in respecting women in videogames in general and their tastes in arcade games. But more so about Heineman and how she identified as a woman, and how important Space Invaders was in making her feel welcome in her own skin.

I got emotional hearing about both individuals. These two segments were great, heartwarming tales I feel are as important to the industry as the games themselves. Glad they were told and given the respect they deserved.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Watched the Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat/Night Trap episode and I cannot take the documentary seriously at all when it referred to Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat as "Fight Games" continuously.

WTF!
Who calls "fighting games", "fight games"?

If you Google "fight games" it literally asks "Did you mean 'fighting games'?"

Edit: I also have to question the validity of everything in the series as they also suggested Street Fighter (1987) was the first 1v1 arcade fighting game.... but I'm pretty positive Karate Champ has 1v1 fighting and was around in 1984.

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Boy I hope someone was fired for THAT blunder!

 

[a Master Ninja]

Nephtes, I feel ya. I'm still bothered by the factual errors in Wikipedia's QTE entry. Having a lot of knowledge about something ultimately trivial can be a curse.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Finished the first 2 episodes, seeing Kirby, the family of the dude that invented the cartridges and the dude that made E.T. was great.

 

[Deleted member 13560]

I enjoyed it. But every time I heard "fight games" it felt like my soul was getting punched.

 

[Tagg]

Watched the first episode and it was decent but I really don't give a shit about the early tournament scene. Just take me behind the scenes of how these games were made.

 

[Nisaba]

I got SO HAPPY when it showed who was narrating this during the intro ahhh <3

Beginning my watch now and going to see how I enjoy this, but already off to a good start lol

 

[Lego]

Enjoyable enough, but king of awkwardly put together. Felt random what they focused in on.

 

[HustleBun]

I'll watch some for the Martinet, at the very least! Forgot this had come out already.

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...is your avatar Smuckers the coughing dog from Seinfeld? Because I love it.

Watched the Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat/Night Trap episode and I cannot take the documentary seriously at all when it referred to Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat as "Fight Games" continuously.

WTF!
Who calls "fighting games", "fight games"?

If you Google "fight games" it literally asks "Did you mean 'fighting games'?"

Click to shrink...

That's actually pretty bad. No one calls them "fight games" and anyone working on the doc series should have corrected this. I hope someone comments on it or explains why they made up a new category.

 

[dogbox]

...is your avatar Smuckers the coughing dog from Seinfeld? Because I love it.

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The one and only! Good eye haha.

"May cause panting and loss of fur?!"

 

[TheLastOfPizzaCrUSt]

It was like it was written by someone chowin down on some adderall and wrote 6 episodes with random focus.The last episode especially goes from Star Fox to Doom to the invention of the internet/online gaming in like 10 minutes like what the fuck lol. Mario narrating the violent stuff in the last 2 episodes was kinda jarring too
The NES wasnt even on in the last episode showing Mario 3 (it was nasty upclose too during the power buttons like did anyone think of cleaning the console first before filming?), and lots of it feels culled from clips on youtube and skimming wikipedia.

 

[Dr. Collins]

Ok that show sounds cool, but can we agree that we're all in the golden age of gaming right now, though? With the quality and diversity of indies, console AAA, PC, and mobile

 

[ReginaldXIV]

Ok that show sounds cool, but can we agree that we're all in the golden age of gaming right now, though? With the quality and diversity of indies, console AAA, PC, and mobile

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I agree with this, we're living in the golden age of video games right now.

 

[Josh5890]

Ok that show sounds cool, but can we agree that we're all in the golden age of gaming right now, though? With the quality and diversity of indies, console AAA, PC, and mobile

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I can't fully get on board since AAA games are often littered with loot boxes and microstransactions. That is pretty much the one thing that sours me with gaming today (besides the toxic culture but that has always been around to some degree)

 

[JABEE]

Two episodes in. Not sure I'm feeling it. Seems like the content was determined by who they could get to be in the documentary instead of trying to do something comprehensive. That's what I'm looking for.

It reminds me of the Toys and Movies documentary series. I wish someone would make a well-researched Ken Burns style history of video games in a way that uncovers and reveals information about how games were made and marketed beyond the perspective of the nostalgic "gamer."

Cultural importance and success is measured by having a Saturday morning cartoon. There are better people who could put stuff into context and it feels immature.

The game tester stuff was interesting, but the series feels like it's all over the place.

 

[illmatic22]

I don't really care that they referred to them as fight games lol


I'm so glad that Gayblade was found all these years later.

 

[FFNB]

I just finished episode 2, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

I mean, I'm a child of the 80's, and the only reason I'm a game designer today is because of falling in love with the NES when it released here in the US back in '85, playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time.

This series so far, is definitely hitting my nostalgia centers, and the stories they've chosen to highlight thus far have been compelling. I'm not an esports person, but it was nice to see how far back "esports" roots actually go. I remember reading about those competitions and always dreamed about participating, but as a poor kid growing up in Wisconsin, I couldn't really afford to do such things. Hell, my mom couldn't even afford to buy me the few games she was able to buy for me.

 

[krae_man]

Was I seeing things or was that guy in the hotel room before the Rock the Rock Sega final "practicing" on a PC Engine LT?

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Nephtes, I feel ya. I'm still bothered by the factual errors in Wikipedia's QTE entry. Having a lot of knowledge about something ultimately trivial can be a curse.

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I'm sorry, but you don't get the narrative pay off of "first 11v11 football game" or "first sports game w/ POC" when NFL Challenge, One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, 4th & Inches, Tecmo Bowl, and Tecmo Super Bowl exist. If nothing else, that way they could've spent more time on more hilarious football vs soccer memes.

EDIT: Adding example games as I verify them.

 

[dead souls]

Ok that show sounds cool, but can we agree that we're all in the golden age of gaming right now, though? With the quality and diversity of indies, console AAA, PC, and mobile

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Nah, the golden age of gaming is long gone.

 

[LifeLike]

We saw Romero but I was hoping to see Carmack in there... Well...

 

[MiDoZ]

I really enjoyed it and thought it was well done. Sad to hear that its not very accurate. But some stories were really amazing.

 

[Arebours]

Disposable crap.

 

[FFNB]

Finished episode 4. While I can understand the complaints, I also think it's kind of a nice, bite sized, snappy chunk of gaming history that, if anything, could potentially encourage curious viewers to dig deeper. The series definitely doesn't get bogged down in all of the minute details of the history of the gaming industry, and I think that's okay. As a 6 part, 6 hour dive into the 50 year history of the medium, it does a solid job of hitting the main points, and covering some of the shifts in the industry.

If I were a casual viewer that had a passing interest in the history of the medium, I'd think this was pretty entertaining.

As someone who's been gaming since 1985, I'd most definitely recommend this to those casual viewers that don't really need to have 3 hour documentaries covering the development of Super Mario Bros. I mean, I love those types of documentaries, lol, but I understand that not everyone does. This reminds me a lot of the Toys that Made Us docuseries, which I also loved.

I feel like depending on your particular affinity for a genre of game, you may not like how much time was spent on that genre. Like, I'm not a fan of sports games and fighting games, so the episodes that focused on those weren't really my thing (though I still enjoyed seeing the history of those genres development in gaming), whereas, I'm a huge fan of action/adventure and RPG games, and wouldn't have minded more coverage of those genres. Go fig. XD

I'm watching episode 5 now, and so far, I think this is a good series, and I'd love to see more seasons, where they cover even more of the history of the industry, perhaps dedication multiple episodes to a particular era of gaming, and not just splitting eras into individual episodes. Not necessarily a whole season about a single year of gaming, but maybe have longer seasons, with half a season covering the 70's in more detail, then the other half covering the 80's, then another season with half covering the 90's, and half covering the 2000's, then perhaps have an entire season covering 2010 to the present.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but I give this a thumbs up.

 

[JABEE]

Yeah. I think I may have been a little too harsh on it. I think it does what it's trying to do and there have been some pretty good stories. For someone who doesn't have any knowledge of the history of the gaming industry, or who only knows about it through playing games, this is a nice documentary. I think what I want from it is not what it was trying to deliver.

 

[mute]

I'm about 1.5 episodes in and it is better than expected. It is US-centric so far, but they are trying.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

• Let's just slip in the biggest spoiler of all video gaming in a montage.

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Which one? Watching this with my wife who is getting a good history lesson in games but hasn't played a ton of the classics herself.

 

[Nezacant]

Which one? Watching this with my wife who is getting a good history lesson in games but hasn't played a ton of the classics herself.

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FF7

 

[Shatty McKracken]

FF7

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I haven't played FF7, was waiting for the remake to come to PC.

While I was watching that I was thinking....hmmmm I bet these are spoilers, but honestly I don't know enough about the story or characters to figure out what was being spoiled. I think its probably ok.

 

[Dr. Collins]

Nah, the golden age of gaming is long gone.

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Agree to disagree! I can't look at the sheer breadth and quality of the games available right now vs anytime in the past and think that they've somehow gotten worse. There have never been so many excellent games from so many developers, with the introduction of indies, etc, now that business models are more flexible, and not every game has to justify itself as a $50-60 retail box.

 

[Glio]

Ok that show sounds cool, but can we agree that we're all in the golden age of gaming right now, though? With the quality and diversity of indies, console AAA, PC, and mobile

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Golden age many times is not used for the best stage if not the first major stage.

Just like Silver Age comics were much more popular and influential than the Golden Age of Comics.

 

[Proteus]

Two episodes in. Not sure I'm feeling it. Seems like the content was determined by who they could get to be in the documentary instead of trying to do something comprehensive. That's what I'm looking for.

It reminds me of the Toys and Movies documentary series. I wish someone would make a well-researched Ken Burns style history of video games in a way that uncovers and reveals information about how games were made and marketed beyond the perspective of the nostalgic "gamer."

Cultural importance and success is measured by having a Saturday morning cartoon. There are better people who could put stuff into context and it feels immature.

The game tester stuff was interesting, but the series feels like it's all over the place.

Click to shrink...

Check out Gaming Historian on Youtube if you haven't already. He definitely tries to go for the Ken Burns style with his larger videos. The Tetris video is fantastic.

 

[halcali]

I saw Aerith's death and Sephiroth's face!

 

[JuicyPlayer]

I'm kinda annoyed they didn't mention Dragon Quest during the RPG episode.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I briefly had hope that Phantasy Star would be covered when they showed a second or two of footage of it.

 

[TCG276]

This doc is really freaking good! Much better than I anticipated. A must watch for all gaming fans!

 

[Cactuar]

It's strange that all gaming documentaries that get this kind of attention are about the NES generation or earlier, especially arcades, pinball, etc. I'm much more interested in documentaries that cover the two generations after the NES. Aren't those old enough by this point to be worthy of analysis too? I also find it strange to call this the Golden age of gaming. Isn't that a more worthy title for the PS1 or PS2 gen?

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There is a PlayStation documentary and it's coming out Sept. 7.

 

[yckmd_]

I can understand why it's not for everyone, but I actually kind of enjoy the scattershot nature of the episodes.

The last thing I wanted from this is any episode-long takes about Atari or E.T. other stories we've heard a million times. I like that they're summarizing things like the E.T. story in fun ways (actually really liked the animation for that segment) but not dwelling on it so long that it becomes a chore for someone who's already watched multiple things about that story. I think there's enough lesser-known-ish stories - Channel F, Gayblade - to keep people interested outside of the broad strokes of the rest of the show.

Is it amazing? No, but I went from "ugh, do we need another one of these?????" to "hey, it's not that bad" after the first two episodes.

 

[AdamE]

It's okay. The Gaming Historian has spoiled me.