When Satoru Iwata died, we, the gaming community mourned the loss of one of the freshest game developers to work his way up to running one of Japan's largest companies. The fact that this documentary left him completely out of the documentary knocks points off for me.
This is a very well crafted and planned out docu-series with some great interviews from past competitors and Nintendo staff. Its broken into 5 parts, all dealing with a rise and fall, ending on Nintendo's biggest gamble and rise; The Switch.
Give this a watch if you're in any way nostalgic as I am. There's a montage near the end of the series that encapsulates all that Nintendo is to me, they've been a part of my life and are already a part of my children's lives. Long live the BIG N!
7 Reviews
Good, But Could Have Been Better
kingbk-26 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Playing with Power is a docu mini-series that talks about the rise (arcades/NES/Game Boy/SNES), fall (N64/Gamecube), rise (DS/Wii), fall (Wii U) and rise (Switch) of Nintendo, if you will. If you have read books on video games or if you have even the slightest knowledge of the history of Nintendo, you likely know most of these stories and nothing new will be uncovered for you.
One of the things this series does that's different is it focuses a lot on video game leaders who are NOT affiliated with Nintendo. Microsoft's Phil Spencer, in particular, comes off like a likable guy. Thanks to him, we've seen some Xbox exclusive gems like Ori and Cuphead come to the Switch. Compared to Nolan Bushnell (who still seems bitter about Atari), Trip Hawkins (never was a fan of Nintendo the company) and Tom Kalinske (You made the Genesis relevant for two years, whoopie!), he comes off the best in the documentary for non-Nintendo figureheads.
I also liked the Gears of War creator (Cliff Bleszinski) say that Zanac on the NES, of all games, was one of the best video games of all time. A pretty off the wall choice and not one of the usual NES standards, but it speaks to the high quality of the NES library.
Some other thoughts:
The first two episodes were well done, the last three were rushed through.
While it does point out some of the negative things about Nintendo, it was all things we already pretty much knew about.
Howard Phillips with an earring? Quite jarring after remembering him for being a bow-tied geek. And why nothing about why he departed the company? His story was dropped with no resolution. It would have been cool to hear about how he almost joined Sega.
Very little about any of the games themselves.
No, mobile games didn't kill the Wii U. Horrible marketing and alienating an entire fanbase of dedicated gamers did. The Switch fixed both of those problems.
Sean Astin said the Wii appealed to all gamers. No, it appealed to casual gamers. The Switch I think is the first console by Nintendo to appeal to all gamers.
Tommy Tallarico is right that quality control has disappeared, which has flooded the Nintendo eShop with garbage, burying many great games underneath.
I'd give the series as a whole a 7 out of 10. Better than Netflix's High Score, but still pretty basic.
One of the things this series does that's different is it focuses a lot on video game leaders who are NOT affiliated with Nintendo. Microsoft's Phil Spencer, in particular, comes off like a likable guy. Thanks to him, we've seen some Xbox exclusive gems like Ori and Cuphead come to the Switch. Compared to Nolan Bushnell (who still seems bitter about Atari), Trip Hawkins (never was a fan of Nintendo the company) and Tom Kalinske (You made the Genesis relevant for two years, whoopie!), he comes off the best in the documentary for non-Nintendo figureheads.
I also liked the Gears of War creator (Cliff Bleszinski) say that Zanac on the NES, of all games, was one of the best video games of all time. A pretty off the wall choice and not one of the usual NES standards, but it speaks to the high quality of the NES library.
Some other thoughts:
The first two episodes were well done, the last three were rushed through.
While it does point out some of the negative things about Nintendo, it was all things we already pretty much knew about.
Howard Phillips with an earring? Quite jarring after remembering him for being a bow-tied geek. And why nothing about why he departed the company? His story was dropped with no resolution. It would have been cool to hear about how he almost joined Sega.
Very little about any of the games themselves.
No, mobile games didn't kill the Wii U. Horrible marketing and alienating an entire fanbase of dedicated gamers did. The Switch fixed both of those problems.
Sean Astin said the Wii appealed to all gamers. No, it appealed to casual gamers. The Switch I think is the first console by Nintendo to appeal to all gamers.
Tommy Tallarico is right that quality control has disappeared, which has flooded the Nintendo eShop with garbage, burying many great games underneath.
I'd give the series as a whole a 7 out of 10. Better than Netflix's High Score, but still pretty basic.
Great documentary! Very informative
katzenbachnyc8 June 2021
As a casual gamer who grew up with Nintendo, I found this documentary very informative and fun to watch. The music is great and gives you a feeling of the 80s plus there was so much I didn't know about this company. They've been around since 1889?? WOW! I'm now a PlayStation owner/fan but I will always hold a special place in my heart for Nintendo since they were the company that rescued & brought video gaming back from near death.
BTW, the people criticizing this documentary for poor editing & poor sound are nuts. It sounded great to me and the editing seemed fine. Perhaps they had a crappy sound system.
BTW, the people criticizing this documentary for poor editing & poor sound are nuts. It sounded great to me and the editing seemed fine. Perhaps they had a crappy sound system.
Sound editor should be fired
gfpd6016 April 2021
The series itself is fun to watch with great nostalgia, but the music/sound effects completely ruin the whole thing. You can hardly hear half the people talking. Did someone actually watch this before releasing it? Why on earth would you feel the need to make the background music so loud that you can't hear half the dialogue? Really did ruin the whole experience for me.
RUINED BY EDITING! WHAT? I can't hear you.
sdetlef20 April 2021
How can you screw up a documentary about gaming and Nintendo? Never fear, they found multiple ways.
The driving (driving me mad) soundtrack overtakes the video and certainly the interviews. It's OBNOXIOUS and you can't hear the "experts", half of which are just obnoxious, irrelevant, semi-celebrities.
Such a shame... I really wanted to walk down memory lane and gain some perspective while looking back.
This documentary effort was KILLED BY BAD EDITING, terrible D-List "celebrities", just how it was presented.
The driving (driving me mad) soundtrack overtakes the video and certainly the interviews. It's OBNOXIOUS and you can't hear the "experts", half of which are just obnoxious, irrelevant, semi-celebrities.
Such a shame... I really wanted to walk down memory lane and gain some perspective while looking back.
This documentary effort was KILLED BY BAD EDITING, terrible D-List "celebrities", just how it was presented.
Long-winded and self-important
maximeracicot4 June 2021
These episodes could be cut in half, truly. Long, long sequences of boring animations for transitions, long shots of uninteresting miniatures used for lack of content, overly dramatic music that never stops (even when people are finally talking). This thing takes itself way too seriously and it's incredibly annoying to watch (and hear).
Seems like it was made by some guy just out of film school, who wants to make an "epic" documentary about Nintendo... The music is so out of place and over the top at times. In the beginning we find ourselves in feudal Japan, late 1800s, and the soundtrack makes it feel like we're somewhere in interstellar space in some sci-fi movie.
And it's SO LONG in-between actual dialog and information... Like I said, could be half as long.
Such a shame.
Seems like it was made by some guy just out of film school, who wants to make an "epic" documentary about Nintendo... The music is so out of place and over the top at times. In the beginning we find ourselves in feudal Japan, late 1800s, and the soundtrack makes it feel like we're somewhere in interstellar space in some sci-fi movie.
And it's SO LONG in-between actual dialog and information... Like I said, could be half as long.
Such a shame.
Nintendo Japan?
hryorule3 March 2021
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