Crackle · Ended

Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story

2021

Last aired: S1 E5, Reset Button · 2021-03-01

What's the secret to video game success? Luck? Motion controllers? Mustachioed plumbers? Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story brings together the creators of Video Games: The Movie and Executive Producer Sean Astin to peel back the curtain on the famously-secretive company that would take the gaming industry by storm. Discover the humble beginnings of a gaming business that began many decades before the invention of television, and ride along the bumpy road of hits, misses, and wild ideas that turned Nintendo from a local playing card maker into a worldwide household name. The electrifying story is presented by an ensemble of Nintendo personnel, celebrity icons, and industry veterans including Wil Wheaton, Alison Haislip, Reggie Fils-Aimé, and Phil Spencer.

Cast

Wil Wheaton Actor, Internet Personality

Sean Astin Narrator

Season 1

E1 Play Your Cards Right 2021-03-01 · 71 min The birth of Nintendo begins in 19th-century Japan, when a young entrepreneur finds a way to sidestep local gambling laws. His scrappy family business holds fast through war, cultural revolution, and a run-in with Disney to bring the world a certain barrel-hurling ape.

E2 A Trojan Horse 2021-03-01 · 68 min The once-mighty U.S. gaming industry is reduced to a pile of rubble. But unbeknownst to the world, the "Donkey Kong Company" is quietly developing a machine that could revive gaming in a big way. But can they convince retail giants to buy back into a market they just escaped?

E3 A Sleeping Giant 2021-03-01 · 57 min Somewhat shaken after a tussle with Sega, Nintendo confidently presses forward into the '90s. The invention of CD technology gives way to new gaming possibilities, but as Nintendo buys into this exciting new paradigm, they inadvertently create their own worst enemy.

E4 Forward Motion 2021-03-01 · 57 min As PlayStation and Xbox wage war on the industry, Nintendo faces an identity crisis. Do they keep treading water with the diminishing returns of the GameCube? Or is it time for a hard left turn? A revolution is brewing.

E5 Reset Button 2021-03-01 · 42 min Plunging stock, natural disaster, a death in the family, and yet another failed console plague Nintendo. Not to mention a seismic industry shift led by Apple. Nintendo faces their most difficult decade since 1889, yet the Donkey Kong Company is never afraid to switch things up.

TV listings and show data from TVmaze.