The 2020 Netflix documentary High Score is an enthralling glimpse into the vast and complex early history of video games. The six-part series arrived on the streaming service in August 2020, and tons of serious gamers have watched it, as well as novices who want to learn more about gaming through the decades.
Video game experts point out that High Score is not a definitive examination of the video game industry's beginnings, but it is still well done and enjoyable to watch. There are endless factoids to glean from the whole series, and here are ten of them.
Becky Heineman Was First Gaming Tournament Winner
Early in High Score, an important player is introduced (pun intended). Rebecca (Becky) Heineman was a video game enthusiast long before she began to design and program games. In her youth, the gamer purchased a used Apple II and built up her skills in games like the widespread Space Invaders. She was the winner of the National Space Invaders Championship in 1980, which led to an impressive career in the industry and a strong legacy for the game.
MIT Students Were The First To Create Game Enhancement Kits
In the early days of physical arcade games, certain patrons learned all the tricks and got good at playing for hours on end. While exciting for the gamers, this practice lost money at the arcades. This is where game enhancement kits come in. Doug Macrae, Steve Golson, and Mike Horowitz are credited with creating the first software enhancement kits. Golson and Macrae made Atari's Missile Command more challenging and decked out their MIT dormitories with the arcade machines.
In 1981, the students upgraded Missile Command to Super Missile Attack, making it a more difficult game. The duo did the same thing with Pac-Man, with the help of Mike Horowitz, leading to Ms. Pac-Man. Although Atari initially sued Macrae and Golson, they and Horowitz ended up working for Atari, who dropped the suit.
Pac-Man Really Was Inspired By Pizza With Missing Slice
Speaking of Pac-Man, High Score was sure to include its creator, Toru Iwatani. The genius sat at a table looking at a large pizza with slices missing to explain that the pizza was the inspiration for the shape of Pac-Man in the game, which came out in 1980. The goal was for Pac-Man to appeal to a female audience which seemed underserved at the time. Everyone loved Pac-Man and thought he was adorable, so the plan worked. Ironically, Iwatani thought the game would fare better in Japan than in America. It turns out that it has had worldwide appeal.
Jerry Lawson Invented Gaming With Interchangeable Cartridges
One of the beautiful things about High Score is that it highlights some of the unsung heroes of the video game world. A special segment was devoted to Jerry Lawson, an African-American game designer working in 1970s Silicon Valley. Lawson was a designer and engineer at Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp., where he developed the Fairchild Video Entertainment System. The invention became known as Channel F (for "fun") and was the first console enabling gamers to change cartridges and play more than one game. Though the system was soon eclipsed by the Atari 2600, it was a pioneering tool that paved the way for further developments.
The ET Game Almost Ruined The Video Game Industry
Howard Scott Warshaw designed E.T. the Extraterrestrial, the video game that almost brought an end to video games. Though Warshaw was a skilled game designer, he knows that this particular project was a flop. After his success on Atari's Raiders of the Lost Ark game, Warshaw was chosen to turn another movie into a playable adventure. In order to turn E.T. around in time for the Christmas holidays of 1982, Warshaw had only five weeks to complete the game. The hype over this product was insane, but it left users disappointed and put an economic dent in the industry. Howard Scott Warshaw is now a successful marriage and family therapist.
First Well-Known LGBTQ RPG Was Lost, Then Found
High Score's creators reach into the realm of role-playing games by interviewing Ryan Best, the creator of GayBlade. As a gay man, Best became outraged by the likes of Pat Buchanan and other controversial homophobic figures, so he channeled those feelings into his video game. Everything Best owned relating to the game was lost when he moved from Honolulu to San Francisco, but he was reunited with GayBlade thanks to the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, and anyone can now play the legendary RPG.
African-American Players Joined Sports Video Games In 1995
Designer Gordon Bellamy had a huge role in bringing players of color to Madden NFL '95. Back then, they could only be one color, so Bellamy pointed out that a screen of African-American players would reflect the real football field. Prior to that point, all the players in sports gaming had been white, and Black players had never been centered on game packaging. Thanks to his determination and contributions, Bellamy was EA's Rookie of the Year in 1994. In addition to many other accolades, Bellamy is now the CEO of Gay Gaming Professionals and holds a visiting scholar position at USC. His piece of the Madden NFL story is a wonderful part of the docuseries.
College Campuses Recruited "Sega Guys"
Amid the video game console wars, Sega worked hard to compete with Nintendo. Tom Kalinske, the former Sega America CEO, revealed that pretty much every college campus back in the 1990s had a "Sega guy."
Each guy got free gaming materials from Sega in exchange for playing the games in front of their friends and thus expanding the market to an older age bracket.
Night Trap Was The Game That Led To A Ratings System
The later episodes of High Score turn to a video game world that is not so kid-friendly. Violent games became a larger part of the market, as did horror-inspired games. One of the most well-known controversial titles would be Mortal Kombat, but an equally fraught one is Night Trap. Both of these games led to congressional hearings spear-headed by angry parents. Night Trap was a 1992 Sega movie video game haunted by vampiric Augers. Parents scorned the fact that these games did not have ratings, which led to the creation of ESRB (the Entertainment Software Rating Board).
Godfather Of Video Games Is Nolan Bushnell
Those who aren't well-versed in gaming may not have known that Nolan Bushnell is considered the godfather of video games. Bushnell's few words act as bookends to the docuseries, allowing less visible creators to come forward and share their stories. The Atari founder officially began his work before he started the company in 1972. Nolan Bushnell created Computer Space, the very first computerized video game, which eventually became Pong.