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Console Wars

  • 2020
  • TV-PG
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
Blake J. Harris and Jonah Tulis in Console Wars (2020)
It was 1990: Sega, startup gaming co. assembled a team to take on Nintendo, world's greatest video game co. A make or break conflict pit brother against brother, Sonic against Mario, American capitalism against Japanese tradition.
Play trailer1:23
1 Video
8 Photos
Documentary

It was 1990: Sega, startup gaming co. assembled a team to take on Nintendo, world's greatest video game company. A make or break conflict pit brother against brother, Sonic against Mario and... Read allIt was 1990: Sega, startup gaming co. assembled a team to take on Nintendo, world's greatest video game company. A make or break conflict pit brother against brother, Sonic against Mario and, American capitalism against Japanese tradition.It was 1990: Sega, startup gaming co. assembled a team to take on Nintendo, world's greatest video game company. A make or break conflict pit brother against brother, Sonic against Mario and, American capitalism against Japanese tradition.

  • Directors
    • Blake J. Harris
    • Jonah Tulis
  • Stars
    • Howard Phillips
    • Shinobu Toyoda
    • Paul Rioux
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    2.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Blake J. Harris
      • Jonah Tulis
    • Stars
      • Howard Phillips
      • Shinobu Toyoda
      • Paul Rioux
    • 19User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:23
    Official Trailer

    Photos7

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    + 4
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    Top cast71

    Edit
    Howard Phillips
    Howard Phillips
    • Self - Gamemaster, Nintendo of America
    Shinobu Toyoda
    • Self - Executive VP, Sega of America
    Paul Rioux
    • Self - Executive VP, Sega of America
    Tom Kalinske
    Tom Kalinske
    • Self - President & CEO, Sega of America
    Bill White
    • Self - Director of Marketing, Nintendo of America; VP of Marketing, Sega of America
    Randy Peretzman
    • Self - VP of Sales, Nintendo of America
    Howard Lincoln
    Howard Lincoln
    • Self - Senior VP, Nintendo of America
    Gail Tilden
    Gail Tilden
    • Self - Editor-in-Chief, Nintendo Power
    Peter Main
    • Self - SVP of Marketing, Nintendo of America
    Al Nilsen
    • Self - Director of Marketing, Sega of America
    Ellen Beth Van Buskirk
    • Self - Director of Communications, Sega of America
    Steve Race
    • Self - Marketing, Sega of America; President, Sony Computer Entertainment of America
    Jeff Goodby
    • Self - Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
    George Harrison
    George Harrison
    • Self - Nintendo's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications
    Betsy Aaron
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Robert Abrams
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Bruce Apar
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Minoru Arakawa
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • Directors
      • Blake J. Harris
      • Jonah Tulis
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews19

    7.02.3K
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    Featured reviews

    8coreaderz

    Welcome to the next level!

    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!
    6anfski

    The Story of Sega

    This should have been titled The Story of Sega. Its basically the history of Sega from its beginning going up against Nintendo and its ending with Sony.
    10freddy_at_home

    I got my Sega Genesis for my 12th birthday, it was AWESOME!!!

    The Sega Mega Drive here in Europe, aka Genesis in the US, was a fantastic machine. We used to play it for hours every day. It had no memory, so I would put it on pause the night before I went to school, and then me and my friend would cycle as fast we could after school, back to my home. My mother would then often have cleaned up my clothes and turned off the machine. DUDE, we worked for days to get to the final boss... Sometimes I just hated my mom!!

    I loved Nintendo too, but the Sega just kicked ass. I bought Sonic after being with my mom to the bingo, I won $250 that day, that is like $1500 today. I bought the game for around $65 that time. That was a lot of money for a kid. If you wonder, yes my mother took the rest of the money, her ticket. I didn't care, I was high on Sonic. Man, I had many great days, weeks, month and years with Sega. What a time to grow up. Magical!

    This documentary gave me so many fun flashbacks. Me and my friend, who played at my house back in the day, sat here with me and we smiled, laughed and just loved this documentary. And we had some few beers too.

    Really fun watching this. And to the guy who left a review, saying that Sega really wasn't that big of a deal... Dude, I'll challenge you any day LOL.

    If you ever was a gamer or are a gamer, this is a must watch!! 10/10
    4skidshajmil

    Very cherry-picked and uninformative.

    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.
    7r-m-duffy

    Finally a Documentary About the Console War

    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.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Based on the 2014 book by Co-Director Blake J. Harris
    • Quotes

      Paul Rioux: Whenever you're at war, you always hit the guy in the mouth as hard as you can. If you can't hit him hard, you might as well not even fight. That's the attitude in real war and it's the attitude in business. You've gotta be prepared to take on the competition and win.

    • Connections
      Features E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    • Soundtracks
      Goliath Origins
      Written by Devin Hoffman

      Courtesy of Bleeding Finger Music

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    FAQ13

    • How long is Console Wars?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 23, 2020 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Console Wars: SEGA, Nintendo and the Battle That Defined a Generation
    • Production companies
      • Legendary Television
      • CBS Television Studios
      • Flying Penguin Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 32 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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