"High Score" is a Netflix documentary series made by France Costrel. It shows stories and talks to the people who created early video games. The series first aired on August 19, 2020.

Episodes

High Score includes interviews and discussions about how video games were created and developed during the 1980s and 1990s. The show mixes in animated parts that look like pixel art, a style often used in video games from that time. The opening animation of the show is also in pixel style and includes many nods to older video games. The theme song is performed by the Australian band Power Glove. The series is narrated by Charles Martinet, who was the voice of Mario from 1994 to 2023.

Production

France Costrel, the creator, said she was inspired to make the documentary because she grew up in France but had American friends. She explained that " are a universal language." She had previously led the production of "8-Bit Legacy," a video game documentary for Great Big Story, but realized it only covered part of the industry's history. To create a new project, she developed a plan for Netflix with help from colleagues who worked on "Dark Net" and Melissa Wood. Costrel wanted to focus on the people who make and play video games, rather than the games themselves, to show how creativity shapes game development. She decided not to cover the entire history of video games but to highlight key periods with connected stories. Costrel and Wood chose to begin the documentary with the start of arcade and console games and end with the shift to 3D computer graphics, which they said "makes a natural ending, a new kind of stepping stone in the history of gaming."

During research, Costrel found that many video game companies were willing to share their stories. Some creators had left the industry but were also ready to speak about their experiences. Costrel estimated they had enough material for about twenty hours of content but narrowed it down to six episodes, focusing on stories that would interest all types of gamers, not just those who play games intensely.

One game featured in the series was GayBlade, created by Ryan Best in the 1990s. As explained in the show, when Best moved from Hawaii to California, he lost all his copies of the game and could not find any other copies anywhere. He told the producers about this during production. The producers searched online for the game and, near the end of post-production, received help from the Schwules Museum in Berlin, which provided a copy of the game. The museum then returned the copy to Best. The game was added to the Internet Archive and is now playable there through emulation.

France Costrel is the director, along with William Acks, Sam LaCroix, and Melissa Wood. All four, along with Courtney Coupe, are the show's executive producers.

Reception

The series was praised by journalists for being a well-organized overview of the early years of video games. GameSpot described it as a quick introduction to the golden age of gaming, featuring thoughtful interviews, strong writing, and an encouraging message that includes many people. Slash Film said the series was a clear and enjoyable historical account of the early decades of video games, though it noted the series did not provide a complete or detailed look at all the changes in the industry. The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that the series was not one of Netflix's best or most in-depth documentaries, as it sometimes lacked depth and had missing information. However, it was easy to watch, with six short episodes, and offered fun facts and light-hearted content that made it enjoyable. Some parts of the series were even new to people who already knew a lot about video games.

Ars Technica compared the series to its own "War Stories" documentaries, saying it was a good look at this time in video game history. However, it pointed out that the series missed some important topics, such as the game Tetris.

The A.V. Club criticized the series for having a story that did not flow smoothly, but it appreciated the interviews with people who were not well-known in the industry. It said these personal stories were the best parts of the series and helped prevent it from feeling like a basic or uninteresting history lesson. Slate pointed out that the series ignored some important developments, such as the Wizardry series alongside Ultima, and did not connect past events to modern issues like long working hours in the gaming industry. The Verge praised the series for highlighting people who were not often seen in video game history, such as Heineman, Lawson, and Best. However, it said the series described these people as doing groundbreaking work without explaining the real challenges of the video game industry during that time, which still exist today.

Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 76% rating based on reviews from 25 critics.