Netflix’s video game docuseries High Score premiered back in August. Utilizing interviews with developers and other industry veterans, it takes its audience through its perceived genesis of the video game industry back in the late ‘70s through the console wars of the ‘90s. Spanning six episodes, the series alternates between giving a general timeline of video game history and providing a deep dive into the origins of specific genres of games.
Reviews of the series have been mixed. Critics state that it tries to fit too much material into its six episodes and condemn it for not having a more competent focus or structure throughout. Others note that it views the video game industry through rose-colored glasses, ignoring the long hours and unrealistic deadlines that have plagued the industry from the very beginning. Even if its parts are more than their sum, there’s still a lot here gamers in particular will find interesting. Here are four reasons to add High Score to the Netflix queue.
The entire series is narrated by Charles Martinet. Martinet is an actor and voice actor with 198 credits to his name, per IMDB, but of course, he’s best known for being the voice of Mario. He has been voicing Mario and other Nintendo characters since Mario 64 back in 1996.
Much to the disappointment of everyone watching, Charles does not narrate the whole thing in Mario’s voice. In fact, that it’s him narrating at all could likely go over the heads of anyone that misses his name in the opening credits. Still, it’s hard to think of anyone better suited to narrate the history of video games.
Yes, the queen of adventure games graces this docuseries with her presence. Roberta Williams and her husband Ken are responsible for the creation of Mystery House, the first computer game with graphics, which came out back in 1980. They’d go on to create Sierra On-Line, which put out some of the most popular adventure games of the time, including King’s Quest and Leisure Suit Larry.
Rebecca discusses her personal history of playing text-based games and how she helped bring about the advent of graphical computer games. While this isn’t groundbreaking information for anyone with more than a cursory knowledge of gaming history, it’s intriguing to hear Roberta tell her story in her own words. The real shame here is that aside from a few seconds of gameplay, Phantasmagoria isn’t covered at all.
What did gamers do when they were stuck in a game before there was an internet? Back in 1987, Nintendo set up a telephone hotline where gamers would pay-per-minute to speak to a real-life game counselor that would guide them through the level. High Score tracked down a former game counselor by the name of Shaun Bloom, who gives a first-hand account of what it was like interviewing, training, and ultimately working as a game counselor for Nintendo. He goes on to talk about the difficulty in offering assistance to callers when most of the information in the early days came from handwritten notes and maps they drew themselves that were stuffed in a binder. This is one of the more interesting segments in the series because it provides an oral history of a specific gaming moment in time that isn’t readily available elsewhere.
Night Trap is an FMV game that was developed for a Hasbro console that never came out before moving to the Sega CD in 1992. The plot more or less involves half-vampires stalking a group of scantily-clad teens. Players would control the game by switching between security cameras and attempting to successfully trap the stalkers. It was accused of including gratuitous sexual content and violence and is often cited as one of the main reasons for a Senate hearing in 1993 which ultimately led to the creation of the ESRB.
Jim Riley directed Night Trap and speaks in great detail about its development, going way back to the Control-Vision days. He discusses the Senate hearing and even gives some insight on how he perceives the game’s content today, now that he’s older. Everything about Night Trap’s history and legacy is fascinating. The series does a good job of providing a solid account. For those curious about the game itself, it was recently remastered for its 25th anniversary and is available on most platforms and consoles.
All six episodes of High Score are currently streaming on Netflix.
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