Charles Martinet
Self - Narrator (voice)
Overview
This docuseries traces the history of classic video games, featuring insights from the innovators who brought these worlds and characters to life.
Seasons
- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 6 episodes
- First aired
- Aug 19, 2020
Cast
Reviews
6 min readPixel Pioneers and the Ghosts in the Machine
I remember the first time I saw a screen light up with something that wasn’t just a reflection of the world, but a world of its own. It was Pac-Man, glowing in the corner of a dimly lit arcade, its maze pulsing with a life that felt almost sacred. High Score, Netflix’s six-part documentary series on the golden age of video games, doesn’t just remind me of that moment—it drags me back into it, pixel by pixel, with the kind of infectious enthusiasm that makes you wonder why you ever stopped feeding quarters into those machines in the first place.
That enthusiasm is the series’ greatest strength and, in some ways, its most glaring limitation. Directed by a team including France Costrel and William Acks, High Score is less a dry historical recitation and more a love letter scribbled in the margins of a textbook. It’s the kind of project that could’ve easily slipped into the same old Greatest Hits of Gaming—Pong, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros.—but instead, it carves out space for the people behind the pixels.
The developers, the designers, the players who turned a niche hobby into a cultural juggernaut. And crucially, it does so with a warmth that feels earned, not forced.
The series’ structure is loose, almost meandering, but that’s part of its charm. Each episode feels like a self-contained story, a vignette plucked from the larger tapestry of gaming history. One moment, you’re in the trenches with Tomohiro Nishikado as he recounts the creation of Space Invaders, the game that nearly crashed the Japanese economy because it caused a coin shortage.
The next, you’re watching Rebecca Heineman, one of the first professional female gamers, describe her journey from a small-town kid to a trans woman who helped shape the industry. Heineman’s segment is one of the series’ most moving, not just because it’s a rare spotlight on a marginalized figure, but because it refuses to treat her identity as a footnote. She’s not just a "woman in gaming"—she’s a pioneer, full stop.
That refusal to flatten its subjects is what sets High Score apart from the countless other documentaries that treat gaming as a series of technological milestones rather than a human story. The series is at its best when it lingers on these personal narratives, like the tale of Jerry Lawson, the Black engineer who led the team that created the first cartridge-based video game console.
Audience Opinions
Broad evidence
Audience 7.0/10
"A nostalgic and engaging but uneven documentary series that resonates most with gamers who lived through the era, though its scattershot approach and pacing issues leave some viewers wanting more depth."
Viewers generally agree that *High Score* (2020) succeeds as a love letter to the golden age of video games, offering a mix of archival footage, interviews, and animated reenactments. The series is praised for its nostalgic appeal, particularly among those who grew up playing classic games in the 1980s and 1990s. Charles Martinet’s involvement as a narrator is noted as a highlight, adding authenticity and charm to the storytelling. However, the series is criticized for its lack of focus, jumping between topics without always providing enough depth. Some viewers feel it tries to cover too much ground in too little time, leaving certain stories or innovations underexplored. The pacing is described as inconsistent, with some episodes feeling rushed while others drag. Despite these flaws, the series is widely seen as fun and accessible, making it a solid watch for casual fans and gamers alike. latestnetflix.com's take is that the animation style and soundtrack are frequently mentioned as standout elements that enhance the retro vibe.
What viewers praise
- Nostalgic and engaging for gamers The series effectively taps into nostalgia, resonating strongly with viewers who experienced the early days of gaming. The use of archival footage and interviews with key figures from the industry is widely appreciated.
- Charles Martinet’s narration adds charm Martinet’s role as the narrator is highlighted as a major positive, bringing warmth and authenticity to the series. His connection to gaming culture (notably as the voice of Mario) is seen as a perfect fit.
- Visually appealing with strong production values The series’ animation style and soundtrack are frequently praised for enhancing the retro aesthetic. The blend of live-action, animation, and archival footage is described as visually engaging.
- Accessible and fun for casual viewers Despite its flaws, the series is seen as an easy and enjoyable watch for those with even a passing interest in gaming history. Its lighthearted tone makes it approachable for non-gamers as well.
Common complaints
- Lacks depth and focus Many viewers feel the series tries to cover too much ground, resulting in a scattershot approach that leaves some stories or innovations underexplored. Key moments in gaming history are glossed over or omitted entirely.
- Inconsistent pacing The series is criticized for uneven pacing, with some episodes feeling rushed while others drag. This inconsistency can make the viewing experience feel disjointed.
- Limited appeal for non-gamers While the series is accessible, some viewers note that it may not hold the interest of those who aren’t already fans of gaming or its history. The niche subject matter could be a barrier for broader audiences.
Recommended for
Gamers who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s Fans of retro gaming and video game history Viewers who enjoy lighthearted, nostalgic documentaries Casual audiences with an interest in pop culture
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsBerlin mailed them a floppy nobody could find.
Ryan Best built GayBlade, an early LGBTQ role-playing game, then lost every copy on a move from Hawaii to California. France Costrel's High Score team went looking anyway. Near the end of post, the Schwules Museum in Berlin sent one. Best got his game back. The Internet Archive put it up to play. That recovery sits in episode 3 between Ultima and Final Fantasy, latestnetflix.com contends, which is a better production story than another clip of a famous plumber. 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-a8DaF4WXw
Costrel grew up in France with American friends and kept calling games a universal language. She had already showrun 8-Bit Legacy for CNN's Great Big Story shop and decided those shorts were a pitch deck, not a history. She pulled William Acks, Sam LaCroix, and Melissa Wood from Showtime's Dark Net, added Courtney Coupe, and sold Netflix a cut that started in the arcades and stopped when 3D and Doom made a clean end. They shot enough for about twenty hours and boiled it to six episodes, 37 to 47 minutes each, all dated 19 August 2020. Charles Martinet, Mario's voice from 1994 to 2023, narrates. Australian synth outfit Power Glove wrote the theme. IGN got the pixel open two weeks early, Pong cabinet on one side and Donkey Kong on the other. , ,
They put the missing people on camera, then argued about the holes.
Boom & Bust opens with Tomohiro Nishikado and Toru Iwatani, then stays with Rebecca Heineman, who won the first U.S. Space Invaders championship in 1980 and later came out as a trans developer, and with Jerry Lawson's children talking about the Fairchild Channel F cartridge. Howard Scott Warshaw still has to talk about E.T. Comeback Kid is a Nintendo rescue story that also spends time on the Game Play Counselors and on lawyer John Kirby, who beat Universal over Donkey Kong. He died in 2019. The episode is dedicated to him. Role Players is where Best's lost disk shows up, next to Roberta and Ken Williams, Richard Garriott, and Yoshitaka Amano. The back half is Sega, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, the 1993 hearings, Star Fox, and Doom. ,
GameSpot called it the most impressive video game documentary yet. The Hollywood Reporter called it light, fun, and full of gaping holes. The Verge praised Heineman, Lawson, and Best, then said the series still ducks the industry's actual working conditions. Costrel told interviewers she was not trying to write the whole encyclopedia. Ars Technica even dinged the Tetris-shaped gap. Netflix filed it as a limited series. TMDB marks it ended. Nobody announced a second season, and the creators already said 3D was the stop. If you came for a scandal, the scandal is a museum in Berlin doing the job a studio archive should have done. , , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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