1 00:00:08,008 --> 00:00:11,553 [man in Japanese] Nintendo was our rival at the time, 2 00:00:11,636 --> 00:00:14,389 and they had a powerhouse in Mario. 3 00:00:16,599 --> 00:00:21,730 Honestly, Sega didn't have any characters on that level. 4 00:00:22,188 --> 00:00:28,111 We were told to create a character that could compete with Mario. 5 00:00:31,197 --> 00:00:35,160 Nintendo was like an impossibly huge wall. 6 00:00:35,243 --> 00:00:39,247 You would think that they were invincible. 7 00:00:40,165 --> 00:00:44,419 We were too outmatched to even feel pressure. 8 00:00:45,003 --> 00:00:49,257 With nothing to lose, we might as well go down swinging. 9 00:01:32,926 --> 00:01:37,138 [narrator in English] In the late '80s, all kids wanted for Christmas was… 10 00:01:37,222 --> 00:01:39,224 Nintendo! 11 00:01:39,307 --> 00:01:41,810 [narrator] ...a Nintendo Entertainment System. 12 00:01:41,893 --> 00:01:43,645 Thank you! [crying] 13 00:01:43,728 --> 00:01:44,729 And parents-- 14 00:01:45,355 --> 00:01:46,648 uh, Santa, 15 00:01:46,731 --> 00:01:51,528 made it one of the best-selling holiday toys of 1988. 16 00:01:51,611 --> 00:01:53,613 Nintendo! 17 00:01:55,031 --> 00:01:57,575 {\an8}But if Mario was the undisputed king, 18 00:01:58,076 --> 00:02:02,122 {\an8}an underdog was about to declare war. 19 00:02:02,831 --> 00:02:07,460 For Japanese game maker Sega, mainly known for its arcade cabinets, 20 00:02:07,919 --> 00:02:10,964 the battle was about winning the home console market. 21 00:02:11,464 --> 00:02:13,550 [reporter] This year, kids and their parents 22 00:02:13,633 --> 00:02:16,219 will spend more than three billion dollars 23 00:02:16,302 --> 00:02:19,389 on video games and game cartridges. 24 00:02:19,472 --> 00:02:23,017 [narrator] Sega had released its new Genesis console in Japan... 25 00:02:23,101 --> 00:02:24,769 [speaking Japanese] 26 00:02:24,853 --> 00:02:27,397 ...where its 16-bit technology 27 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,942 was a giant leap from the existing eight-bit consoles. 28 00:02:32,694 --> 00:02:35,488 [announcer] A scientist creates the ultimate machine. 29 00:02:35,572 --> 00:02:36,698 At last! 30 00:02:36,781 --> 00:02:39,033 [announcer] A machine that will give him the power. 31 00:02:39,117 --> 00:02:40,201 Yes! 32 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:43,371 [narrator] With 16 bits, 33 00:02:43,454 --> 00:02:48,251 Sega's Genesis had the power to defeat the Nintendo Entertainment System. 34 00:02:49,043 --> 00:02:52,130 The only thing missing were hit games. 35 00:02:52,213 --> 00:02:54,841 For that, they turned to this man. 36 00:02:54,924 --> 00:02:59,053 {\an8}I was very aware that we were starting a war with Nintendo. 37 00:02:59,137 --> 00:03:03,600 And I knew that if we did it correctly, we could win the battle. 38 00:03:04,350 --> 00:03:06,144 This is Tom Kalinske, 39 00:03:06,227 --> 00:03:09,397 the general in Sega's war against Nintendo. 40 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:11,774 Before joining Sega, 41 00:03:12,358 --> 00:03:16,738 Kalinske had already made a name for himself at Mattel toys. 42 00:03:19,282 --> 00:03:21,492 But a few years after leaving Mattel, 43 00:03:22,619 --> 00:03:25,038 Tom got a surprise visitor. 44 00:03:25,121 --> 00:03:27,373 [Tom] I was actually on vacation 45 00:03:27,457 --> 00:03:30,877 in Hawaii with my wife and my kids. 46 00:03:31,961 --> 00:03:36,341 And Hayao Nakayama, the chairman and CEO of Sega Japan, 47 00:03:36,424 --> 00:03:39,552 tracked me down in Maui, and he just appeared. 48 00:03:40,303 --> 00:03:41,179 He came and he said, 49 00:03:42,555 --> 00:03:44,682 "I want you to run Sega of America, 50 00:03:45,225 --> 00:03:48,645 and I'm going to show you 16-bit technology, 51 00:03:48,728 --> 00:03:51,898 I'm also going to show you a color handheld game unit, 52 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,985 and the reason why it's better than what Nintendo has." 53 00:03:56,736 --> 00:03:59,864 And I ended up going from Hawaii to Japan with him, 54 00:04:00,448 --> 00:04:03,368 and I was knocked out by 16-bit technology. 55 00:04:03,826 --> 00:04:07,455 It was so much better than eight-bit technology 56 00:04:07,538 --> 00:04:10,917 that I believed that, yes, we could take on Nintendo, 57 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,545 who had a 98% share of the video game market in those days. 58 00:04:14,629 --> 00:04:19,092 [narrator] Tom accepted the offer to become CEO of Sega of America. 59 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:21,636 But there was a catch. 60 00:04:22,220 --> 00:04:24,681 The directive from Japan was hyaku man tan'i 61 00:04:24,764 --> 00:04:27,100 which meant sell a million units. 62 00:04:27,183 --> 00:04:31,062 They had only sold maybe 70,000 units of Genesis up to that point, 63 00:04:31,145 --> 00:04:34,148 so there was a long way to go to get to a million units! 64 00:04:36,359 --> 00:04:39,862 [narrator] So Kalinske had to come up with a battle plan 65 00:04:39,946 --> 00:04:44,158 to sell one million of Sega's newest console, the Genesis. 66 00:04:44,742 --> 00:04:47,537 [Tom] So I developed a plan and went back to Japan. 67 00:04:48,204 --> 00:04:50,623 We went into what's called the decision room. 68 00:04:50,707 --> 00:04:53,835 And, of course, most of the people that I'm talking to did not speak English. 69 00:04:54,919 --> 00:05:00,008 And I had to sell the battle plan to the board of directors of Sega. 70 00:05:01,718 --> 00:05:05,763 [narrator] Kalinske's five-point battle plan would prove pretty unfamiliar 71 00:05:05,847 --> 00:05:07,974 to the Japanese business mindset. 72 00:05:09,434 --> 00:05:12,770 So I present my strategy to the board of directors, 73 00:05:13,438 --> 00:05:14,897 but it wasn't going well. 74 00:05:14,981 --> 00:05:18,735 And Nakayama gets up, and he kicks over a chair. 75 00:05:19,694 --> 00:05:23,197 "They don't agree with anything you said." And he starts to leave the room. 76 00:05:23,281 --> 00:05:26,034 I thought, "Well, this is the shortest career anybody ever had. 77 00:05:26,117 --> 00:05:28,411 I'm done for. He's leaving the room, 78 00:05:28,494 --> 00:05:30,705 leaving me with all these people who don’t agree with me." 79 00:05:30,788 --> 00:05:33,333 And he turned at the door, and he said, 80 00:05:33,416 --> 00:05:36,377 "When I hired you, I said you were going to be able to make all the decisions 81 00:05:36,461 --> 00:05:37,712 for the American market, 82 00:05:37,795 --> 00:05:40,715 and so go ahead and do your things that you've planned." 83 00:05:40,798 --> 00:05:43,384 Now, it had to work, obviously, or I was finished. 84 00:05:44,010 --> 00:05:45,428 {\an8}[narrator] The first part... 85 00:05:46,012 --> 00:05:47,347 {\an8}was relatively easy. 86 00:05:48,306 --> 00:05:53,478 But the next step of his war plan would rely on Sega's secret weapon. 87 00:05:58,149 --> 00:06:04,364 [man in Japanese] I think speed was probably crucial to Sega because... 88 00:06:04,447 --> 00:06:07,116 the Sega Genesis 89 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,913 was being marketed as a 16-bit machine. 90 00:06:14,457 --> 00:06:17,960 It had much faster processing than a conventional system. 91 00:06:18,044 --> 00:06:23,007 {\an8}We could make the game faster than ever before. 92 00:06:24,550 --> 00:06:27,887 [narrator in English] Having a fast console wasn't enough for Sega. 93 00:06:28,846 --> 00:06:30,973 They needed a new hit game. 94 00:06:32,308 --> 00:06:37,021 So game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara looked for a little... 95 00:06:37,105 --> 00:06:38,689 [screaming] 96 00:06:38,773 --> 00:06:39,941 ...inspiration. 97 00:06:47,323 --> 00:06:54,288 [Yasuhara in Japanese] We targeted an American audience. 98 00:06:57,792 --> 00:07:02,004 We wondered what was popular in America. 99 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:09,137 And we thought roller coasters might be a very viable attraction. 100 00:07:16,644 --> 00:07:22,275 Our program could already render loops and turns. 101 00:07:22,900 --> 00:07:27,280 We decided to leverage the program 102 00:07:27,363 --> 00:07:30,992 and make a game with a lot of acrobatic loops. 103 00:07:33,035 --> 00:07:35,705 We made like a big roller coaster... 104 00:07:35,788 --> 00:07:38,458 and then snipped it. 105 00:07:39,917 --> 00:07:44,922 And then we added little surprises along the way. 106 00:07:46,132 --> 00:07:48,593 [narrator in English] And with thrilling gameplay sketches in hand, 107 00:07:48,676 --> 00:07:53,890 the final element Sega required was a mascot to outrun Mario. 108 00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:59,145 [man in Japanese] The game was developed before the character, 109 00:07:59,228 --> 00:08:02,565 {\an8}then we created 110 00:08:02,648 --> 00:08:07,612 {\an8}the character designs that best fit the game. 111 00:08:10,531 --> 00:08:13,868 [narrator in English] Mario was a cute little plumber in overalls. 112 00:08:14,368 --> 00:08:18,581 So Naoto Ohshima wanted to design something different, 113 00:08:18,664 --> 00:08:20,458 something edgy, 114 00:08:20,541 --> 00:08:22,877 sleek, aerodynamic. 115 00:08:24,921 --> 00:08:28,591 [Ohshima in Japanese] We finally settled on a character 116 00:08:28,674 --> 00:08:33,179 that could run faster than anyone and could curl up and attack. 117 00:08:35,056 --> 00:08:38,267 I think the first one was a rabbit. 118 00:08:39,685 --> 00:08:43,773 Then we said something like a panda would be good. 119 00:08:44,899 --> 00:08:48,903 But we thought it might be too cute and confusing 120 00:08:48,986 --> 00:08:53,366 for a panda to roll and attack. 121 00:08:54,408 --> 00:08:56,118 So we decided a hedgehog. 122 00:08:56,786 --> 00:09:00,998 [narrator in English] This tiny, spiny furball was a rather obscure choice, 123 00:09:01,749 --> 00:09:04,877 so Oshima conducted an informal field test, 124 00:09:04,961 --> 00:09:06,837 which took him to New York City. 125 00:09:11,217 --> 00:09:18,057 [Ohshima in Japanese] The goal was for him to become popular in the US. 126 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:26,023 Coincidentally, I had a personal trip to New York coming up. 127 00:09:27,984 --> 00:09:31,571 I brought a board. 128 00:09:32,905 --> 00:09:35,074 I drew out a hedgehog, 129 00:09:35,157 --> 00:09:40,246 a human character, and another animal. 130 00:09:40,329 --> 00:09:47,295 And I took a survey in Central Park of the characters that people liked. 131 00:09:48,754 --> 00:09:50,756 Then Sonic came out as number one. 132 00:09:52,717 --> 00:09:59,223 That's how I became confident that the hedgehog was the best. 133 00:10:00,349 --> 00:10:02,977 [narrator in English] Meet Sonic, the speedy hedgehog 134 00:10:03,060 --> 00:10:05,187 who would become Sega's new mascot. 135 00:10:05,771 --> 00:10:07,898 And he wasn't just all smiles. 136 00:10:07,982 --> 00:10:10,568 He was fierce and ready to attack. 137 00:10:14,822 --> 00:10:18,200 [Ohshima in Japanese] Once it curls up into a ball, it looks unbeatable. 138 00:10:18,868 --> 00:10:23,039 The needles made him look like he can cause pain. 139 00:10:24,498 --> 00:10:28,794 To express some form of speed, 140 00:10:28,878 --> 00:10:34,592 it was useful to have spikes on the back. 141 00:10:39,263 --> 00:10:42,350 At the time, Sega's color was blue, 142 00:10:42,975 --> 00:10:45,269 so we made him Sega blue. 143 00:10:46,771 --> 00:10:49,732 I think a good character is 144 00:10:50,232 --> 00:10:53,778 something with a trait that can be described in a single phrase. 145 00:10:53,861 --> 00:10:58,157 If I were to describe Sonic in one word, it would be "speed of light." 146 00:11:00,326 --> 00:11:03,079 [narrator in English] On paper, Sonic was fully crafted, 147 00:11:03,162 --> 00:11:06,582 from his sneaky eyes to his fancy sneaks. 148 00:11:07,291 --> 00:11:08,250 All that was left 149 00:11:08,334 --> 00:11:12,046 was to see if he would fit Yasuhara's roller coaster design 150 00:11:12,129 --> 00:11:13,214 like a glove. 151 00:11:19,345 --> 00:11:23,849 [Yasuhara in Japanese] People tend to think games are a solitary activity. 152 00:11:25,059 --> 00:11:30,481 But the game designer is always there behind the screen. 153 00:11:33,359 --> 00:11:37,113 Whenever the game player makes an action... 154 00:11:37,196 --> 00:11:40,157 the designer leads them on to the next thing, 155 00:11:40,241 --> 00:11:44,495 encourages them with a reward, and leads them onward. 156 00:11:45,496 --> 00:11:47,665 When he rolls, 157 00:11:48,624 --> 00:11:50,876 he doesn't simply bounce back, 158 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,295 he bounces really fast on the spring, 159 00:11:53,713 --> 00:11:57,633 and suddenly gets transported to a new place. 160 00:11:58,801 --> 00:12:03,889 Also, we supply ups and downs in the game experience. 161 00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:08,936 Once you overcome the challenge, you get a slight breather. 162 00:12:09,019 --> 00:12:11,147 By adding these waves... 163 00:12:11,230 --> 00:12:17,069 you heighten the feeling of accomplishment. 164 00:12:17,486 --> 00:12:20,489 That's how we build games. 165 00:12:21,574 --> 00:12:24,493 {\an8}[narrator in English] And all of that work paid off big-time 166 00:12:24,577 --> 00:12:27,580 {\an8}when Sonic launched in 1991. 167 00:12:29,039 --> 00:12:31,584 The game was jam-packed with springs, 168 00:12:32,209 --> 00:12:33,169 loops, 169 00:12:34,128 --> 00:12:37,381 and a nearly endless supply of gold rings. 170 00:12:39,425 --> 00:12:43,471 It's quite possibly the most iconic game Sega ever made, 171 00:12:43,554 --> 00:12:47,558 and gave rise to a new legion of competitive players. 172 00:12:49,727 --> 00:12:52,229 [man] My life is like a video game in so many ways. 173 00:12:53,522 --> 00:12:56,734 If you're competing in video game competitions, 174 00:12:57,234 --> 00:12:58,402 in order to succeed... 175 00:13:00,321 --> 00:13:01,781 your life must be a video game. 176 00:13:03,741 --> 00:13:05,910 You make decisions like a video game. 177 00:13:05,993 --> 00:13:07,995 You must play precisely and perfectly... 178 00:13:08,829 --> 00:13:10,206 Do not make any mistakes 179 00:13:10,956 --> 00:13:12,082 and be focused. 180 00:13:12,833 --> 00:13:15,169 So... I got one shot. 181 00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:18,339 And I have to make the most of it. 182 00:13:18,964 --> 00:13:20,674 {\an8}[narrator] This is Chris Tang. 183 00:13:20,758 --> 00:13:22,760 I've been in the industry for a while. 184 00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:28,557 He knows a lot about video games because his resume is long. 185 00:13:30,017 --> 00:13:31,227 I'm a game designer, 186 00:13:31,894 --> 00:13:32,728 game tester, 187 00:13:33,270 --> 00:13:35,773 the voice of the “Boom! Tetris for Jeff” meme. 188 00:13:35,856 --> 00:13:36,982 Boom, Tetris for Jeff! 189 00:13:37,066 --> 00:13:39,819 [narrator] He's even a Nintendo World Champion finalist! 190 00:13:39,902 --> 00:13:43,197 I was meeting girls, and saying, "Hey, I'm a Nintendo Champion now. What's up?” 191 00:13:43,739 --> 00:13:47,243 The Nintendo championships was the start of my competitive gaming career. 192 00:13:47,326 --> 00:13:49,745 But my favorite video game was actually a Sega game. 193 00:13:50,663 --> 00:13:55,668 [narrator] So he's most known for playing in the 1994 Sega World Championships. 194 00:13:55,751 --> 00:13:57,586 -[cheering] -Yes! 195 00:13:57,670 --> 00:14:01,006 And it all started with an ad campaign. 196 00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:03,425 [Chris] Sega had its own magazine called Sega Visions, 197 00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:05,052 and they had this article that said, 198 00:14:05,135 --> 00:14:09,014 "We're going to reveal the next Sonic game and there's going to be this competition 199 00:14:09,098 --> 00:14:11,433 and 100,000 people are going to compete against each other 200 00:14:11,517 --> 00:14:15,020 for $25,000 and find out who the best video game player in the world is." 201 00:14:15,104 --> 00:14:18,440 -[narrator] And they called it... -[announcer] Rock the Rock. 202 00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:20,901 [Chris] For the Sega Rock the Rock competition, 203 00:14:20,985 --> 00:14:24,071 there were three elements that had rock in it. 204 00:14:24,655 --> 00:14:29,243 It was going to be televised on MTV, which, you know, rock music. 205 00:14:29,994 --> 00:14:33,831 They had their preliminaries at Hard Rock Cafes across the world, 206 00:14:34,331 --> 00:14:37,626 and they're going to have the grand final at Alcatraz... 207 00:14:38,669 --> 00:14:40,004 which is also known as the Rock. 208 00:14:40,504 --> 00:14:42,756 So, they should've called it Rock the Rock the Rock, but... 209 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,800 I think two rocks was probably enough. 210 00:14:45,217 --> 00:14:46,260 It totally rocked! 211 00:14:46,677 --> 00:14:49,179 But I knew that competitions like this were rare, 212 00:14:49,263 --> 00:14:52,182 and I was feeling really good about playing Sonic the Hedgehog. 213 00:14:52,266 --> 00:14:54,184 So I'm like, "I'm going to go for this thing." 214 00:14:54,268 --> 00:14:55,603 Turns out that, you know, 215 00:14:55,686 --> 00:14:57,646 this Rock the Rock Sega world championships 216 00:14:57,730 --> 00:14:59,189 was a real world championship. 217 00:14:59,273 --> 00:15:02,776 So they had preliminaries in Japan and France and Brazil. 218 00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:06,488 [narrator] And Chris entered the preliminaries in San Francisco, 219 00:15:06,572 --> 00:15:08,991 his and the Rock's hometown. 220 00:15:09,074 --> 00:15:10,868 [Chris] It was very busy. It was very crowded. 221 00:15:10,951 --> 00:15:14,121 They had everything roped off, and they had this line of stations 222 00:15:14,204 --> 00:15:15,581 that people would play on. 223 00:15:17,875 --> 00:15:20,252 The day progressed and they'd have these elimination rounds 224 00:15:20,336 --> 00:15:22,004 and you can't make any mistakes. 225 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:23,756 I was kind of laid back, 226 00:15:23,839 --> 00:15:26,300 on the outside. On the inside I really wanted to win this thing. 227 00:15:26,383 --> 00:15:28,218 Keep your cool and keep moving. 228 00:15:28,302 --> 00:15:31,138 Make sure nothing hits you. And just be careful. 229 00:15:32,139 --> 00:15:35,059 So, it went from everybody in the whole building 230 00:15:35,142 --> 00:15:38,145 to down to two and I did end up making it into the top two... 231 00:15:39,438 --> 00:15:41,982 where I made a perfect run and won for San Francisco. 232 00:15:42,483 --> 00:15:43,317 Yeah! 233 00:15:44,109 --> 00:15:46,028 They handcuffed me to this briefcase 234 00:15:46,111 --> 00:15:49,073 and they hauled me off to a limousine and drove me to the finals. 235 00:15:49,907 --> 00:15:52,284 [narrator] Chris Tang was advancing to the finals, 236 00:15:52,952 --> 00:15:56,580 and Sonic was threatening his rival, Mario. 237 00:15:56,664 --> 00:15:59,667 But for Kalinske, this wasn't enough. 238 00:16:00,209 --> 00:16:03,420 Sports games, to me, were a very important part of our strategy 239 00:16:03,504 --> 00:16:07,216 because I knew that the teenage player was really into sports. 240 00:16:08,801 --> 00:16:10,678 So we needed a sports game. 241 00:16:12,012 --> 00:16:17,226 And one visionary entrepreneur had already started tackling the challenge 242 00:16:17,309 --> 00:16:21,146 of taking sports from the stadium onto the screen. 243 00:16:24,274 --> 00:16:27,444 [man] I played football, I read a lot of books about football. 244 00:16:27,528 --> 00:16:29,989 I even had fantasies about being a football coach. 245 00:16:31,573 --> 00:16:33,951 I really felt like I understood enough about... 246 00:16:34,451 --> 00:16:36,620 the mechanics of the real sport 247 00:16:36,704 --> 00:16:38,414 and the probabilities of things 248 00:16:38,497 --> 00:16:41,667 and I loved using statistics and leveraging them. 249 00:16:43,627 --> 00:16:46,296 But, anything that was calling itself a sports game 250 00:16:46,380 --> 00:16:48,298 {\an8}was really just a kid's toy. 251 00:16:49,174 --> 00:16:52,720 [narrator] In the early '80s, sports video games existed, 252 00:16:53,512 --> 00:16:57,016 but they didn't really look real. 253 00:16:58,225 --> 00:17:01,687 It was basically saying Pong was like tennis. 254 00:17:02,271 --> 00:17:04,481 There are tennis-like elements to it, 255 00:17:04,565 --> 00:17:07,860 but it doesn't have any of the actual physical properties 256 00:17:07,943 --> 00:17:09,236 or strategies of tennis. 257 00:17:09,903 --> 00:17:12,531 And I felt like, "I think I can make a better game. 258 00:17:12,614 --> 00:17:14,783 Something more real." 259 00:17:14,867 --> 00:17:18,871 And then I thought, "Oh, if you think you can do a better game, then... 260 00:17:19,371 --> 00:17:20,664 go do that." 261 00:17:21,415 --> 00:17:26,795 So in 1982, Trip Hawkins created his own video game company 262 00:17:27,546 --> 00:17:30,215 and called it Electronic Arts. 263 00:17:31,008 --> 00:17:34,053 [Trip] When I started Electronic Arts, I couldn't wait to do a football game. 264 00:17:34,136 --> 00:17:35,596 I was really itching to do it. 265 00:17:35,679 --> 00:17:37,181 I was just going to do it anyway, 266 00:17:37,264 --> 00:17:39,808 no matter what investors thought about it, or anybody else. 267 00:17:40,392 --> 00:17:43,979 And everybody just knew it was Trip's thing. 268 00:17:44,646 --> 00:17:47,274 [narrator] Trip's thing was football. 269 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,152 But no, not that one. 270 00:17:50,235 --> 00:17:52,780 [announcer] Here's the play. Quarterback has the ball. 271 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:54,531 And there's the throw. 272 00:17:54,615 --> 00:17:58,077 [narrator] The one and only American football. 273 00:17:59,912 --> 00:18:01,330 The most popular sport... 274 00:18:02,581 --> 00:18:04,124 in the United States. 275 00:18:05,542 --> 00:18:07,377 But football's really complicated. 276 00:18:07,461 --> 00:18:11,340 [narrator] Which is an understatement for a sport where one single play 277 00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:14,384 can unfold in countless different ways. 278 00:18:14,927 --> 00:18:18,222 So, if I had something really tricky and challenging to do, 279 00:18:18,305 --> 00:18:20,390 maybe I could work with a coach 280 00:18:20,891 --> 00:18:23,352 that could provide additional knowledge and insight. 281 00:18:24,353 --> 00:18:26,688 [narrator] Trip needed an endorsement from a pro, 282 00:18:27,356 --> 00:18:29,233 someone with experience 283 00:18:29,316 --> 00:18:31,318 and enthusiasm. 284 00:18:31,902 --> 00:18:33,904 The left goes to the right, right goes to the left, 285 00:18:33,987 --> 00:18:35,697 this guy crosses here, he crosses here, 286 00:18:35,781 --> 00:18:38,075 they have no idea where we are, who we are, 287 00:18:38,158 --> 00:18:39,952 where we're coming from, who we're throwing to. 288 00:18:40,035 --> 00:18:41,161 Very interesting. 289 00:18:41,245 --> 00:18:42,371 [narrator] John Madden. 290 00:18:42,454 --> 00:18:45,290 -Can you hear me? -[narrator] You may have heard of him. 291 00:18:45,374 --> 00:18:49,545 With me, of course, is coach John Madden, our CBS football analyst superb. 292 00:18:49,628 --> 00:18:51,421 [narrator] Or you may have just heard him. 293 00:18:51,505 --> 00:18:55,551 He makes a little basketball twist there and pivot and boom! The ball's there. 294 00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:59,179 [narrator] But Madden wasn't just an iconic sportscaster. 295 00:18:59,263 --> 00:19:00,639 [Madden] Unbelievable! 296 00:19:04,309 --> 00:19:08,063 [narrator] He won the Super Bowl coaching the Oakland Raiders... 297 00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:10,524 [announcer] John Madden goes on the shoulders of his players. 298 00:19:10,607 --> 00:19:13,652 [narrator] ...and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 299 00:19:13,735 --> 00:19:16,572 [Madden] Today feels like the second time in my life 300 00:19:16,655 --> 00:19:20,117 that I'm being carried off the shoulders of others. 301 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,453 He had really kind of done it all in football, and I thought, 302 00:19:23,954 --> 00:19:26,039 "This guy would be really great to work with." 303 00:19:27,082 --> 00:19:29,126 As I was saying, I don't care what anybody else... 304 00:19:29,209 --> 00:19:30,043 Hey, wait a minute! 305 00:19:30,127 --> 00:19:33,755 [narrator] While his top pick was busy breaking through paper walls... 306 00:19:34,339 --> 00:19:36,300 Like I was saying, light beer tastes great. 307 00:19:37,259 --> 00:19:39,928 ...Trip was going through paper reams 308 00:19:40,012 --> 00:19:44,349 to draft a plan in hopes of sealing the deal with Madden. 309 00:19:46,226 --> 00:19:50,522 [Trip] I had spent a lot of time preparing a 60-page design document 310 00:19:50,606 --> 00:19:54,943 and a dossier of several pages of questions I wanted to ask him 311 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,113 including the question about seven-on-seven football, 312 00:19:58,197 --> 00:20:01,450 because the machines of that time were eight-bit 313 00:20:01,533 --> 00:20:06,205 and the memory was limited to have a real 11-on-11 football game. 314 00:20:06,288 --> 00:20:08,790 So I know John knows about seven-on-seven, 315 00:20:08,874 --> 00:20:11,084 where its really more about executing the plays. 316 00:20:11,168 --> 00:20:14,046 And I just thought I'd run it by him to get his detailed input. 317 00:20:15,047 --> 00:20:19,593 So I flew to Denver and boarded the Amtrak train with John. 318 00:20:20,177 --> 00:20:22,471 [narrator] A train from Denver to Oakland... 319 00:20:22,554 --> 00:20:24,348 [man] Have your tickets ready, please. 320 00:20:24,431 --> 00:20:27,976 ...a ride of more than 1200 miles, crossing four states… 321 00:20:28,477 --> 00:20:29,728 Get one by the window! 322 00:20:29,811 --> 00:20:33,482 ...all because the tough guy is afraid to fly. 323 00:20:33,565 --> 00:20:36,818 It's the only way. The wheels never leave the ground. 324 00:20:37,653 --> 00:20:40,280 [Trip] And we just basically spent the next two and a half days 325 00:20:40,864 --> 00:20:43,033 all day and night talking about football. 326 00:20:44,952 --> 00:20:46,995 [narrator] They talked about pigskin. 327 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:48,080 [pig oinks] 328 00:20:48,163 --> 00:20:49,957 They talked about kicks. 329 00:20:52,376 --> 00:20:55,504 And Trip asked about his stripped-down version of the game. 330 00:20:56,213 --> 00:20:58,548 [Trip] What do you think about doing seven-on-seven football? 331 00:20:59,258 --> 00:21:01,551 And he said, "That's not real football." 332 00:21:03,637 --> 00:21:05,597 [train wheels screech] 333 00:21:05,681 --> 00:21:09,935 He needed it to be real 11-on-11 football. Not some imitation. 334 00:21:10,811 --> 00:21:13,105 And then we all go, "Yeah, that's not--  Yeah, of course, 335 00:21:13,188 --> 00:21:15,440 that's not real football. We're going to do the real thing 336 00:21:15,524 --> 00:21:19,069 even though it's going to be really painful, technically, to get it to work. 337 00:21:20,028 --> 00:21:22,281 [narrator] Now that Madden was on board... 338 00:21:22,364 --> 00:21:23,323 See you later. 339 00:21:23,407 --> 00:21:25,200 ...Trip had to get it right. 340 00:21:25,284 --> 00:21:26,285 This is it. 341 00:21:26,368 --> 00:21:28,245 [Trip] That desire for authenticity 342 00:21:28,328 --> 00:21:30,330 took what could have been a one-year project 343 00:21:30,414 --> 00:21:31,999 and turned it into a four-year project. 344 00:21:32,082 --> 00:21:33,917 It became known to the company as Trip's folly, 345 00:21:34,001 --> 00:21:36,545 because we really bit off more than we could chew. 346 00:21:37,087 --> 00:21:43,844 [narartor] And now, entering the field of play is star producer Joe Ybarra. 347 00:21:44,594 --> 00:21:48,807 [Joe] I've always liked technology, and I like to solve problems. 348 00:21:49,641 --> 00:21:53,770 I'm very passionate about building immersive worlds. 349 00:21:55,105 --> 00:21:57,566 The big idea was to bring professional football 350 00:21:58,984 --> 00:22:00,402 onto the personal computer. 351 00:22:01,236 --> 00:22:04,698 {\an8}But we weren't sure if this could be done in the first place. 352 00:22:06,575 --> 00:22:08,577 So, as a producer, 353 00:22:09,369 --> 00:22:13,498 I had the determination and passion to make this game work. 354 00:22:14,166 --> 00:22:15,417 [narrator] And to figure out 355 00:22:15,500 --> 00:22:17,461 -this complicated process... -[whistle blows] 356 00:22:17,544 --> 00:22:19,838 ...Ybarra took it layer by layer. 357 00:22:20,339 --> 00:22:24,301 Or rather, sticky note by sticky note. 358 00:22:26,011 --> 00:22:29,139 The layers of a football game are complex and robust, 359 00:22:29,848 --> 00:22:34,102 so developing the technology to reflect an entire 60-minute, 360 00:22:34,186 --> 00:22:37,356 twenty-two man football game with player statistics 361 00:22:37,439 --> 00:22:41,109 and add infinite amounts of plays was really difficult to do. 362 00:22:42,611 --> 00:22:45,113 You have to think about the players on the screen. 363 00:22:45,197 --> 00:22:46,782 How fast is this guy? 364 00:22:46,865 --> 00:22:49,117 How agile is he? How smart is he? 365 00:22:49,201 --> 00:22:52,245 Now we have 22 of them, so there's 22 different roles. 366 00:22:52,329 --> 00:22:55,290 So now you have them all working in concert together, 367 00:22:55,374 --> 00:22:59,127 that's another layer, which is how do we do the team editing? 368 00:22:59,211 --> 00:23:01,129 How are the plays executed? 369 00:23:01,213 --> 00:23:03,215 What kind of cues do the user have? 370 00:23:03,298 --> 00:23:05,217 What is the user interface gonna be? 371 00:23:06,426 --> 00:23:10,680 So Madden is built upon the idea that we embrace these layers 372 00:23:10,764 --> 00:23:14,726 and make sure that each one of them did the job that it needed to do 373 00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:16,770 to make football seem real. 374 00:23:18,105 --> 00:23:20,899 [narrator] And finally, in 1988... 375 00:23:23,860 --> 00:23:26,780 the project made it into the end zone 376 00:23:26,863 --> 00:23:30,992 when John Madden Football was released on the Apple II computer. 377 00:23:33,078 --> 00:23:34,371 [Trip] Finally after a few years, 378 00:23:34,454 --> 00:23:36,748 it started to really feel like a football game. 379 00:23:36,832 --> 00:23:39,543 And I thought for an Apple II, this is amazing. 380 00:23:39,626 --> 00:23:41,336 And so it got good reviews. 381 00:23:42,087 --> 00:23:44,256 But the eight-bit machines are very limited. 382 00:23:44,339 --> 00:23:46,675 When is there going to be a 16-bit one? 383 00:23:47,092 --> 00:23:49,136 [narrator] And, as fate would have it... 384 00:23:49,719 --> 00:23:51,930 while Trip was looking for the perfect console 385 00:23:52,013 --> 00:23:53,807 for his next Madden game to shine, 386 00:23:54,516 --> 00:23:59,229 Kalinske was looking to bring sports to the 16-bit Sega Genesis. 387 00:24:02,023 --> 00:24:05,402 [Trip] The Madden game for the Genesis was fabulous. 388 00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:10,240 Finally after six years, it looked like real football. 389 00:24:13,034 --> 00:24:15,495 It was a really, really great game. 390 00:24:15,579 --> 00:24:17,706 [grunting] 391 00:24:19,624 --> 00:24:21,251 [narrator] And luckily... 392 00:24:21,334 --> 00:24:23,420 [Madden] Look at this defense. The guys aren't there. 393 00:24:23,503 --> 00:24:24,921 Get in there. Get my guys in there. 394 00:24:25,005 --> 00:24:27,132 ...John Madden felt the same way. 395 00:24:27,215 --> 00:24:29,551 I can't stop them. I can't stop this team! 396 00:24:30,385 --> 00:24:32,429 [Joe] The personality of John Madden 397 00:24:32,512 --> 00:24:35,932 reinforced the professionalism of the product. 398 00:24:36,016 --> 00:24:37,434 [announcer] Touchdown! 399 00:24:37,517 --> 00:24:39,728 It immediately gave us credibility. 400 00:24:40,187 --> 00:24:42,939 [man] We'll take the flip, the kick, the headbutt and the taunt. Brr! 401 00:24:43,023 --> 00:24:45,358 Throw in that and that. Looks good, give me the feel too. 402 00:24:45,442 --> 00:24:48,737 [narrator] EA would go on to become a powerhouse in sports games, 403 00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:52,073 continuing to attract athletes as partners. 404 00:24:52,699 --> 00:24:55,744 And expanding their titles to include basketball 405 00:24:55,827 --> 00:24:58,663 and what the rest of the world calls football. 406 00:24:58,747 --> 00:25:01,583 [man] EA Sports. It's in the game. 407 00:25:05,003 --> 00:25:06,671 [narrator] But for some players, 408 00:25:07,088 --> 00:25:10,175 these games meant more. 409 00:25:11,718 --> 00:25:13,678 [man] I was never the best athlete. 410 00:25:14,429 --> 00:25:18,099 But I had the passion for the narrative journey of sports, 411 00:25:18,183 --> 00:25:22,103 and I feel you go on a narrative journey with any game that you play. 412 00:25:23,605 --> 00:25:26,816 Video games afford you the opportunity just to start over. 413 00:25:27,442 --> 00:25:30,737 You can be tall or short, or fast or slow. 414 00:25:30,820 --> 00:25:33,490 In games, we all start at the exact same place 415 00:25:33,573 --> 00:25:36,701 {\an8}and have the opportunity to begin to play together. 416 00:25:39,162 --> 00:25:41,289 I'm black and I'm gay, 417 00:25:41,373 --> 00:25:44,918 and when you grow up African American and gay, 418 00:25:45,001 --> 00:25:46,753 you're taught there's a different set of rules 419 00:25:46,836 --> 00:25:49,005 that you're going to always have to play by. 420 00:25:49,548 --> 00:25:52,676 For me, games were a place where the rules were the same. 421 00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:54,553 You know? Where I could be my best me 422 00:25:54,636 --> 00:25:56,805 because we're all playing by the same rules. 423 00:26:01,309 --> 00:26:02,310 [whistle blows] 424 00:26:02,852 --> 00:26:07,399 Madden was the first game to achieve the feeling that you were a part of it, 425 00:26:07,482 --> 00:26:09,609 that you were one of the 22 players in the game. 426 00:26:10,318 --> 00:26:13,446 There's an art and there's a science to making that feel right. 427 00:26:14,030 --> 00:26:16,908 And it was magical. 428 00:26:19,369 --> 00:26:24,666 For the first time, you could enjoy football the way you loved it on Sundays, 429 00:26:25,083 --> 00:26:27,502 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 430 00:26:27,586 --> 00:26:28,420 I was hooked. 431 00:26:29,212 --> 00:26:31,381 There are lots of games I had a great experience with. 432 00:26:31,464 --> 00:26:34,801 Madden was the one I identified with, that actually changed my life. 433 00:26:36,511 --> 00:26:39,514 [narrator] Gordon Bellamy was so hooked on Madden Football 434 00:26:40,473 --> 00:26:44,894 that it inspired him to chase after a career at Electronic Arts. 435 00:26:46,271 --> 00:26:49,357 [Gordon] I had wanted, all my life, to design Madden Football, 436 00:26:49,441 --> 00:26:51,693 to go out there and make the coolest games ever. 437 00:26:51,776 --> 00:26:54,195 [narrator] And so Gordon threw a Hail Mary. 438 00:26:56,906 --> 00:27:01,286 [Gordon] I sent my resume in and did not get the response I expected. 439 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:06,499 So I cold called every single person in the credits at their desk. 440 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,336 "Hello, I'm Gordon." Click. [laughing] 441 00:27:09,419 --> 00:27:12,589 Dialed next name, "Hello, I'm an engineer from Harvard." Click. 442 00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:17,594 -I called and called and called. -[phones ringing] 443 00:27:17,677 --> 00:27:20,013 {\an8}A guy named Jim Simmons picked up the phone 444 00:27:20,472 --> 00:27:23,808 and gave me a shot at an entry level interview 445 00:27:23,892 --> 00:27:26,895 to try to get in the games business. That's why I'm here. 446 00:27:28,355 --> 00:27:31,983 [narrator] Gordon finally landed his dream job working on Madden. 447 00:27:32,067 --> 00:27:34,986 And he immediately set out to make a major change 448 00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:36,905 to EA's flagship game. 449 00:27:37,906 --> 00:27:41,117 So, back then because of what the machines were capable of, 450 00:27:41,201 --> 00:27:43,620 {\an8}the players all had to be one race. 451 00:27:44,287 --> 00:27:49,876 And back then, the majority of players in the NFL were African American. 452 00:27:49,959 --> 00:27:51,211 [whistle blows] 453 00:27:51,294 --> 00:27:53,630 I'd waited all my life to see players of color, 454 00:27:53,713 --> 00:27:55,840 to see a reflection of myself in games. 455 00:27:57,634 --> 00:27:59,803 So in '95, 456 00:28:00,553 --> 00:28:02,806 we put African-Americans in the game. 457 00:28:02,889 --> 00:28:05,975 And it was provocative... 458 00:28:07,310 --> 00:28:08,937 because people had never seen 459 00:28:09,437 --> 00:28:12,399 black people on the back of a major sports game. 460 00:28:12,482 --> 00:28:14,359 They just hadn't. It was a new thing. 461 00:28:17,112 --> 00:28:20,031 For marginalized people, a lot of energy is devoted 462 00:28:20,115 --> 00:28:22,659 to justifying your existence in spaces. 463 00:28:23,368 --> 00:28:25,870 So when you see yourself placed as default, 464 00:28:25,954 --> 00:28:27,455 it has real meaning. 465 00:28:28,248 --> 00:28:29,374 It matters. 466 00:28:30,250 --> 00:28:33,878 [narrator] For Gordon Bellamy, Madden leveled the playing field. 467 00:28:33,962 --> 00:28:34,796 Hut! 468 00:28:34,879 --> 00:28:37,966 And the game also scored big for Sega. 469 00:28:38,633 --> 00:28:43,263 [Tom] The Madden game helped bring lots of people into playing video games, 470 00:28:43,346 --> 00:28:48,226 just because they wanted to play football on a Genesis machine. 471 00:28:49,936 --> 00:28:52,981 [narrator] Next up, while Nintendo was fun for kids, 472 00:28:53,064 --> 00:28:57,026 Sega wanted to prove that they were too cool for school. 473 00:28:58,403 --> 00:29:00,321 [announcer] Suddenly, the sky is a little clearer. 474 00:29:00,405 --> 00:29:01,948 The water is a little bluer. 475 00:29:02,031 --> 00:29:03,533 The roads, a little bumpier. 476 00:29:03,616 --> 00:29:08,747 [Tom] Nintendo was marketing to children nine to 13 years old. 477 00:29:08,830 --> 00:29:10,582 -It's a dragon! -I know! 478 00:29:10,665 --> 00:29:11,833 [announcer] Super Mario World, 479 00:29:11,916 --> 00:29:14,335 it comes only as part of the system it was created for, 480 00:29:14,419 --> 00:29:16,296 the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. 481 00:29:16,379 --> 00:29:20,091 So I was convinced we had to go after an older age group. 482 00:29:20,175 --> 00:29:21,718 ♪ Yo, he goes slow ♪ 483 00:29:21,801 --> 00:29:26,181 [narrator] So Sega advertised their mascot as the coolest kid on the block. 484 00:29:26,931 --> 00:29:28,850 ♪ Sonic the hedgehog ♪ 485 00:29:28,933 --> 00:29:29,976 ♪ No fool ♪ 486 00:29:32,896 --> 00:29:35,315 [Ohshima in Japanese] Sonic didn't try hard to be liked... 487 00:29:35,398 --> 00:29:36,316 [in English] Little brat! 488 00:29:36,733 --> 00:29:38,443 [in Japanese] ...he didn't smile too much. 489 00:29:38,943 --> 00:29:41,571 That was his personality. 490 00:29:41,654 --> 00:29:43,740 [in English] Wrong answer, pal. 491 00:29:43,823 --> 00:29:45,992 [in Japanese] He makes a lot of mistakes along the way. 492 00:29:48,244 --> 00:29:50,330 He's slightly rebellious. 493 00:29:51,956 --> 00:29:55,752 And of course he can run around super fast. 494 00:29:56,795 --> 00:29:57,712 ♪ Sonic ♪ 495 00:29:57,796 --> 00:29:59,714 ♪ Sonic the hedgehog ♪ 496 00:29:59,798 --> 00:30:00,673 ♪ No fool ♪ 497 00:30:01,382 --> 00:30:04,344 [Yasuhara in Japanese] He's not an all-mighty character. 498 00:30:04,427 --> 00:30:07,931 He loses rings left and right. 499 00:30:08,014 --> 00:30:10,850 He's just like all of us. 500 00:30:11,976 --> 00:30:15,146 But he overcomes all perils. 501 00:30:15,230 --> 00:30:17,440 -[announcer] Sonic the Hedgehog! -No fool. 502 00:30:17,524 --> 00:30:19,859 {\an8}[narrator in English] Sonic was definitely no fool, 503 00:30:19,943 --> 00:30:22,028 and neither was Kalinske. 504 00:30:22,111 --> 00:30:25,990 I knew fully well, though, if we got older brother 505 00:30:26,074 --> 00:30:28,076 to play with Sega Genesis, 506 00:30:28,159 --> 00:30:30,745 younger brother was going to want to do it too. 507 00:30:30,829 --> 00:30:32,705 So that by going after the older audience, 508 00:30:32,789 --> 00:30:36,668 we were going to automatically steal some of that younger audience 509 00:30:36,751 --> 00:30:37,836 that Nintendo had. 510 00:30:38,586 --> 00:30:42,298 [narrator] So Kalinske made some out-of-the-box guerilla marketing moves... 511 00:30:42,382 --> 00:30:44,926 It's up to you to decide... 512 00:30:45,009 --> 00:30:46,678 ...taking Sega to malls... 513 00:30:46,761 --> 00:30:49,180 All we're asking is for everybody to come down here, 514 00:30:49,264 --> 00:30:51,641 look at both machines and decide for themselves. 515 00:30:52,225 --> 00:30:53,768 ...and college campuses. 516 00:30:54,727 --> 00:30:56,104 [Tom] Most people aren't aware 517 00:30:56,896 --> 00:31:00,108 that we had a student on almost every college campus 518 00:31:00,191 --> 00:31:02,485 who was a Sega guy. 519 00:31:02,569 --> 00:31:04,279 We gave him a Genesis. 520 00:31:04,946 --> 00:31:06,573 We sent him free software. 521 00:31:07,615 --> 00:31:09,284 And all he had to do... 522 00:31:10,493 --> 00:31:13,913 was wander around the college campus and fraternity houses, 523 00:31:14,914 --> 00:31:17,625 plug in the system and play, 524 00:31:17,709 --> 00:31:20,003 and get other people interested in Sega. 525 00:31:20,879 --> 00:31:23,464 It's not Nintendo, it's Sega. 526 00:31:23,548 --> 00:31:24,924 That's cool. 527 00:31:25,008 --> 00:31:26,259 And it worked. 528 00:31:26,342 --> 00:31:27,802 [narrator] In 1994, 529 00:31:28,428 --> 00:31:31,139 only one thing was cooler than Sega. 530 00:31:31,723 --> 00:31:33,725 [voices] I want my MTV. 531 00:31:34,475 --> 00:31:36,185 {\an8}Too much is never enough. 532 00:31:37,020 --> 00:31:41,357 [narrator] So when Chris advanced to the finals of Rock the Rock, 533 00:31:41,441 --> 00:31:43,776 it was the epitome of cool. 534 00:31:44,736 --> 00:31:47,113 And he wasn't alone. 535 00:31:48,197 --> 00:31:49,908 I got $1000 on my boy Chris. 536 00:31:49,991 --> 00:31:52,452 [man] Hear that Chris? Can't let this big man down. 537 00:31:52,535 --> 00:31:55,121 [narrator] Chris had an entourage to cheer 538 00:31:55,538 --> 00:31:56,623 and to train with. 539 00:31:57,206 --> 00:31:58,917 [Chris] The night before the finals... 540 00:31:59,751 --> 00:32:01,753 [man] This is our hotel room right here. 541 00:32:01,836 --> 00:32:03,588 Mike's over there practicing right now. 542 00:32:03,671 --> 00:32:05,965 [Chris] My brother and I were practicing my strategies 543 00:32:06,049 --> 00:32:07,967 and what patterns would be effective. 544 00:32:09,719 --> 00:32:13,014 [narrator] Strategic patterns, Chris' secret weapon, 545 00:32:13,097 --> 00:32:15,350 which he has down to a science. 546 00:32:15,433 --> 00:32:17,810 [Chris] When you break a game down to its basics, 547 00:32:17,894 --> 00:32:21,105 it's a set of variables and decisions that you make in real time. 548 00:32:21,189 --> 00:32:24,734 So in Sonic, the maps are very large, there are multiple ways that you can go. 549 00:32:25,526 --> 00:32:27,153 You can take a loop to go to the right 550 00:32:27,737 --> 00:32:29,781 or you might find a springboard that bounces you up 551 00:32:29,864 --> 00:32:32,867 to a totally different area, and traversing these things takes time. 552 00:32:33,368 --> 00:32:35,036 So you have to choose. 553 00:32:35,453 --> 00:32:36,955 Do you spend your time going up? 554 00:32:37,038 --> 00:32:38,665 Do you spend your time going right? 555 00:32:38,748 --> 00:32:40,750 Do you backtrack and get the rings over there 556 00:32:40,833 --> 00:32:42,460 or is it not worth it? 557 00:32:42,543 --> 00:32:45,129 So plotting that out, having that all in my mind 558 00:32:45,213 --> 00:32:47,882 and being able to figure out what I need to do in what situation 559 00:32:47,966 --> 00:32:50,718 and risk manage all of that at the same time 560 00:32:50,802 --> 00:32:53,179 is part of the complexities of the competition. 561 00:32:53,262 --> 00:32:55,723 [man] This is Chris' day to dominate the world. How do you feel? 562 00:32:55,807 --> 00:32:58,267 -Great, ready to kick some ass. -[man] All right. 563 00:32:58,810 --> 00:33:01,562 [Chris] So we were up all night, and I knew the optimal pattern. 564 00:33:02,313 --> 00:33:04,023 My friend asked me, "Hey, are you ready?" 565 00:33:04,107 --> 00:33:05,733 I'm like, "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's do this." 566 00:33:09,737 --> 00:33:12,365 [narrator] Let the games begin. 567 00:33:12,448 --> 00:33:15,785 -[cheering and applause] -[Chris] They bused us over to the pier... 568 00:33:16,285 --> 00:33:17,453 Here they come, Bill. 569 00:33:17,537 --> 00:33:21,082 Twenty-five people compete for the title and contents of this Brinks truck. 570 00:33:21,499 --> 00:33:23,251 [Chris] They introduced all the competitors. 571 00:33:23,334 --> 00:33:24,419 [man] Right there! 572 00:33:24,502 --> 00:33:28,131 And then they got us all onto a boat, and we're going to Alcatraz. 573 00:33:29,173 --> 00:33:32,635 [narrator] Alcatraz: a great place to lock up thieves and murderers 574 00:33:32,719 --> 00:33:36,264 like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and Whitey Bulger. 575 00:33:36,347 --> 00:33:39,183 But a place for kids to play in a video game competition? 576 00:33:39,267 --> 00:33:40,893 Not so much. 577 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:48,026 Eventually, they put us all into a big room with all the stations, 578 00:33:48,568 --> 00:33:50,862 and they went over just how the competition was gonna work. 579 00:33:51,654 --> 00:33:55,158 [narrator] First, the 25 contestants play for three minutes. 580 00:33:55,241 --> 00:33:58,536 Then the two players with the highest amount of rings 581 00:33:58,619 --> 00:34:00,913 go on to the final face off. 582 00:34:00,997 --> 00:34:03,708 [man] All the best players in the country are here. 583 00:34:03,791 --> 00:34:09,756 Twenty-four global opponents. Giant TV crew. Mega-babe Daisy Fuentes. 584 00:34:09,839 --> 00:34:11,841 -[man 1] All right. -[man 2] Zoom in! 585 00:34:11,924 --> 00:34:13,176 [man 1] Don't worry. I got it. 586 00:34:14,385 --> 00:34:16,262 [narrator] Must be hard to keep a clear head. 587 00:34:16,345 --> 00:34:18,222 [man] Chris! Don't let nothing get to your head. 588 00:34:18,306 --> 00:34:19,891 Just keep focused on your pattern. 589 00:34:20,892 --> 00:34:23,728 But when it came time to play in my preliminaries, I was like... 590 00:34:24,270 --> 00:34:25,188 [mimics explosion] 591 00:34:25,688 --> 00:34:27,607 I had to be completely focused. 592 00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:30,526 [announcer] The contestants are locked in position. 593 00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:32,070 [man] Get ready, Chris. 594 00:34:32,153 --> 00:34:33,029 [whistle blows] 595 00:34:33,112 --> 00:34:35,073 [cheering] 596 00:34:38,451 --> 00:34:41,412 [Chris] I was smart to play it safe enough so that I wouldn't get hit, 597 00:34:41,496 --> 00:34:43,247 but not reveal my actual pattern 598 00:34:43,331 --> 00:34:46,918 because people were watching me, and information is power. 599 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,965 {\an8}Eventually they started eliminating people until it got down to two people. 600 00:34:53,049 --> 00:34:56,594 {\an8}This kid is insane. I'm telling you, this man built the machine. 601 00:34:57,929 --> 00:34:58,930 [Chris] It was me... 602 00:34:59,472 --> 00:35:02,308 and the guy from Boston. He got a higher score than me, 603 00:35:02,391 --> 00:35:04,727 so I knew I was up against someone who was really good. 604 00:35:04,811 --> 00:35:07,814 {\an8}These are the two heading for the finals in the big house. 605 00:35:13,319 --> 00:35:14,278 [man] This is it! 606 00:35:14,904 --> 00:35:16,364 It's the playoffs now. 607 00:35:17,406 --> 00:35:20,701 There are the two. Just the combat zone. 608 00:35:22,078 --> 00:35:24,080 [Chris] So, eventually, we went out to the finals. 609 00:35:24,997 --> 00:35:27,333 {\an8}All right, this is the final stage of the greatest 610 00:35:27,416 --> 00:35:30,586 {\an8}international video game challenge of the 21st century. 611 00:35:31,379 --> 00:35:33,798 [Chris] We got three minutes to get as many rings as we can. 612 00:35:33,881 --> 00:35:35,633 I had to get more rings than the other guy. 613 00:35:36,175 --> 00:35:38,302 [man] The other guy's nervous, uh-oh. 614 00:35:38,386 --> 00:35:39,971 Let the games begin! 615 00:35:40,054 --> 00:35:40,972 [airhorn sounds] 616 00:35:46,894 --> 00:35:48,938 [man] All right, here's Chris, right here. 617 00:35:49,021 --> 00:35:53,442 [Chris] Before, I didn't want to reveal the final form of my pattern. 618 00:35:53,526 --> 00:35:55,903 But now, since there's just one run off, 619 00:35:55,987 --> 00:35:57,822 I'll do my final pattern right out the gate. 620 00:36:00,575 --> 00:36:02,535 [cheering] 621 00:36:02,618 --> 00:36:05,246 [man] Go, Chris, go! Go all out. 622 00:36:06,205 --> 00:36:09,125 [Daisy] Chris is still ahead by just a few-- Now they're tied! 623 00:36:09,208 --> 00:36:10,459 Whoa! 624 00:36:10,543 --> 00:36:11,460 [man] Damn! 625 00:36:11,544 --> 00:36:13,212 [Chris] At one point, I was worried 626 00:36:13,296 --> 00:36:15,548 that the other guy was scoring better than I was scoring. 627 00:36:15,631 --> 00:36:16,883 [Daisy] Mark is on a roll. 628 00:36:18,050 --> 00:36:20,052 [Chris] But at about seven seconds, I hit pause, 629 00:36:20,887 --> 00:36:23,181 looked at his screen to confirm what his ring count was. 630 00:36:24,599 --> 00:36:27,018 [crowd] Three, two, one! 631 00:36:27,101 --> 00:36:28,811 [man] Yes! Yes! 632 00:36:28,895 --> 00:36:30,730 Yes! He got him! 633 00:36:30,813 --> 00:36:32,982 [cheering] 634 00:36:33,524 --> 00:36:37,653 [Chris] I did this awesome, like, victory roar, "Yeah!" 635 00:36:37,737 --> 00:36:42,283 and on MTV they put that into slow motion and it's like this iconic thing. 636 00:36:42,992 --> 00:36:45,244 [man] The Sega World Champion! 637 00:36:46,454 --> 00:36:47,288 Yeah! 638 00:36:47,371 --> 00:36:49,165 [Daisy] $25,000! What are you gonna do now? 639 00:36:49,248 --> 00:36:52,043 Buy games, play! Play! Play! Play! 640 00:36:54,170 --> 00:36:57,340 It was a real emotional, really thrilling moment, 641 00:36:57,423 --> 00:36:59,133 and Sega said they were going to find out 642 00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:01,219 who the best video game player in the world was. 643 00:37:01,302 --> 00:37:03,346 I guess I'm the best video game player in the world? 644 00:37:03,429 --> 00:37:06,140 At least according to Sega, which is kind of cool. 645 00:37:08,476 --> 00:37:10,019 [cheering] 646 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,689 [Chris] It's one of the greatest moments of my life, 647 00:37:13,773 --> 00:37:16,067 and I'm glad I get to tell the story about it. 648 00:37:16,901 --> 00:37:21,113 [narrator] Chris Tang's story is a testimony to Sega's cool victory. 649 00:37:21,656 --> 00:37:26,035 But to really bring it home, Sega started a bold marketing campaign, 650 00:37:26,118 --> 00:37:29,538 which wasn't without some sassiness. 651 00:37:30,122 --> 00:37:31,666 We had great commercials. 652 00:37:31,749 --> 00:37:35,044 But I had to be very certain that we could make fun of them 653 00:37:35,127 --> 00:37:38,923 in a way that was enjoyable. 654 00:37:39,006 --> 00:37:41,300 {\an8}-♪ Genesis does ♪ -[announcer] Sixteen bits. 655 00:37:41,384 --> 00:37:42,551 {\an8}[Tom] We had a good line. 656 00:37:42,635 --> 00:37:44,679 "Genesis does what Nintendon't." 657 00:37:44,762 --> 00:37:45,972 -♪ Genesis ♪ -[announcer] Does. 658 00:37:46,055 --> 00:37:47,640 -♪ Genesis ♪ -[announcer] Does. 659 00:37:47,723 --> 00:37:48,849 -♪ Genesis ♪ -[announcer] Does. 660 00:37:48,933 --> 00:37:50,559 -♪ Genesis ♪ -[announcer] Does. 661 00:37:50,643 --> 00:37:53,354 -♪ Genesis does ♪ -[announcer] What Nintendon't. 662 00:37:53,437 --> 00:37:56,857 Eventually I didn’t feel the advertising was aggressive enough 663 00:37:56,941 --> 00:37:58,025 or clever enough, 664 00:37:58,109 --> 00:37:59,902 and I wanted to take it further. 665 00:37:59,986 --> 00:38:02,321 So one of the commercials that I loved was 666 00:38:02,405 --> 00:38:06,075 we put Genesis on the back of a race car. 667 00:38:06,158 --> 00:38:09,453 And we had Nintendo on the back of an old milk truck 668 00:38:09,537 --> 00:38:11,539 that smoked and was very slow, 669 00:38:11,622 --> 00:38:13,374 and off they went and, of course, 670 00:38:13,457 --> 00:38:16,419 the Formula car left Nintendo in the dust. 671 00:38:20,089 --> 00:38:21,382 [tires screech] 672 00:38:21,799 --> 00:38:22,633 Sega! 673 00:38:22,717 --> 00:38:24,552 And every commercial ended with "Sega!" 674 00:38:24,635 --> 00:38:25,469 [man] Sega! Sega! 675 00:38:25,553 --> 00:38:27,263 It was fun to say, it was fun to yell. 676 00:38:27,346 --> 00:38:28,222 [man] Sega! Sega! 677 00:38:28,306 --> 00:38:29,974 -People enjoyed it. -[man] Sega! Sega! 678 00:38:30,057 --> 00:38:31,309 They got the humor of it. 679 00:38:31,392 --> 00:38:32,310 [man] Sega! Sega! 680 00:38:32,393 --> 00:38:35,021 -You'd see kids screaming, "Sega!" -[man] Sega! Sega! 681 00:38:35,104 --> 00:38:36,814 -It woke up Nintendo. -Sega! 682 00:38:36,897 --> 00:38:41,152 They realized that we were a real competitor, and it did explode. I mean, 683 00:38:41,235 --> 00:38:44,822 every kid on the block became either "I'm a Nintendo kid," 684 00:38:45,489 --> 00:38:47,116 or "I'm a Sega kid." 685 00:38:47,616 --> 00:38:49,368 I think I'd rather play Genesis. 686 00:38:49,452 --> 00:38:51,704 Sega's got more better games. 687 00:38:51,787 --> 00:38:53,164 I think it's pretty cool. 688 00:38:54,206 --> 00:38:56,083 [narrator] Kalinske's battle plan worked. 689 00:38:57,626 --> 00:38:59,545 And in the early '90s, 690 00:38:59,628 --> 00:39:03,341 Sega was outselling the once-unbeatable Nintendo. 691 00:39:03,424 --> 00:39:05,384 I heard Matt got a Sega Genesis. 692 00:39:06,552 --> 00:39:07,636 [doorbell rings] 693 00:39:08,095 --> 00:39:09,847 I heard Matt got a Sega Genesis. 694 00:39:09,930 --> 00:39:12,099 [narrator] But beyond the commercial take-downs... 695 00:39:12,183 --> 00:39:14,143 Well, I guess one more is okay. 696 00:39:15,978 --> 00:39:18,147 ...and all the corporate posturing... 697 00:39:20,191 --> 00:39:21,734 [announcer] Now there's a wack! 698 00:39:21,817 --> 00:39:26,655 ...the console war expanded gaming into entirely new genres 699 00:39:26,739 --> 00:39:28,949 and caught the eye of new audiences. 700 00:39:30,326 --> 00:39:33,371 Video games weren't just for kids anymore. 701 00:39:33,454 --> 00:39:34,663 I'm a video game addict. 702 00:39:34,747 --> 00:39:36,415 I'm always playing it and sitting by the TV. 703 00:39:36,916 --> 00:39:40,336 [narrator] But with anything that gains a more mature audience, 704 00:39:40,419 --> 00:39:42,338 things inevitably get 705 00:39:42,755 --> 00:39:44,924 violent, gory... 706 00:39:45,466 --> 00:39:47,009 -[screaming] -...and outright disturbing.