An entertaining mini-series that misses some key beats.
“When you think of video games, the very first thing that comes to your mind is Nintendo.” Minutes in, Tommy Tallarico sums it up perfectly. Anyone who’s ever heard relatives calling a random console “The Nintendo” can attest to this statement. Nintendo’s history is well recorded but, for all the impact it has made, it’s strange that we haven’t seen more documentaries focus on its history. Having previously directed Video Games: The Movie, director Jeremy Snead has taken aim with his latest project, Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story. Borrowing its name from Nintendo’s famous marketing line, Playing with Power has just launched through Crackle as a free five-part documentary series. By taking a US-centric approach, die-hard Nintendo fans will find it surprisingly lacking in places – but there’s an entertaining watch, nonetheless.
Outside of interviews, events are illustrated with archived news footage. Where that’s unavailable or simply didn’t exist, Snead uses diorama sets instead, making for a colourful presentation. We’ve got a strong line-up of industry veterans weighing in here, and representing Nintendo is (mostly) former Nintendo of America staff, including Reggie Fils-Aimé, Howard Phillips, Ron Judy, Don James, and Perrin Kaplan. It’s certainly not a puff piece and, keeping it balanced, we’ve also got Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, former Sega of America President Tom Kalinske, Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, EA founder Trip Hawkins and Digital Eclipse editorial director (and former games journalist) Chris Kohler, to name just a few.
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