Console Wars Trailer Teases The Story of Nintendo & Sega's 90s Rivalry
The first Console Wars trailer for the upcoming documentary gives a look into how Nintendo and Sega battled for video game supremacy back in the 1990s. The film, originally announced as a traditional narrative film all the way back in 2014, is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, best known for their stoner comedies. However, the pair have also shepherded a number of TV projects, like Preacher, Future Man, and The Boys, under their production company Point Grey. The documentary is based on Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake Harris.
The book took an in-depth look at the rivalry that developed between Nintendo, who had dominated gaming for a generation, and Sega, the new kids on the gaming block in the 1990s. As the title suggests a war erupted between the two companies for dominance of the home console market, which at the time was poised to explode. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Genesis went head-to-head, with both companies attempting to gain a large share of the market. Video game fans will be all too familiar with the first console wars, something that still happens today, though the players have changed.
Now, CBS All Access has released the first trailer and poster for the documentary, showing off the impressive number of interviewees for the project. The film takes a comprehensive look at how Sega used Sonic The Hedgehog to gain a foothold in the market, long dominated by Nintendo. It will be released on CBS All Access, the network's streaming service, on September 23. The accompanying poster is a beautiful piece, inspired by retro video game art. You can see both below.
To younger fans, the "war" might seem quaint, given that games back then were relatively simple compared to the large, multi-player efforts like Fortnite which are popular today. The consoles too, look cheap and plastic when compared to the next-gen consoles like the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series S and X. However, at the time, if you were a video gamer the decision of whether to back Nintendo or Sega was a big one, especially considering the two consoles didn't have many cross over games. So, this documentary covers historic ground for those old enough to remember the battle.
History will say that Sega won the first battle, while Nintendo managed to hit back with the N64 in the next generation, though neither won in the long run, with both halting production of major consoles in the early 2000s, thanks to the dominance of Sony's Playstation series and Microsoft's Xbox range. Console Wars not only looks like an interesting exploration of a turbulent time in video game history, but also looks like it might provide some new insight into just how the video game world got embroiled in the war in the first place.
Source: CBS All Access