A Japanese playing card company called Nintendo enters gaming. To stay competitive in a modernizing Japan, their portfolio expanded to include toys and into the arcade. And the company hit it big with Donkey Kong and Super Mario, then later takes over home gaming with the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, adventure and role-playing computer games introduce unprecedented levels of choice and complexity to players.

Nintendo was like an impossibly huge wall. But if Mario was the undisputed king, an underdog was about to declare war. For Japanese game maker Sega, mainly known for its arcade cabinets, the battle was about winning the home console market. Sega's Genesis console and its speedy character, Sonic, hit the market.
In the early '80s, sports video games existed, but they didn't really look real. And one visionary entrepreneur had already started tackling the challenge of taking sports from the stadium onto the screen. Electronic Arts kicks off a partnership with football legend John Madden.

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat give rise to head-to-head fighting genre, but the increasing graphic violence in games brings controversy.

Just about every solid, liquid, or gas in the world as we know it begins with reactions between individual atoms and molecules. Host David Pogue dives into the transformative world of chemical reactions, from the complex formula that produces cement to the single reaction that’s allowed farmers to feed a global population by the billions.

Nintendo goes 3D with Star Fox. Wolfenstein 3D popularizes the first-person shooter format, while Doom ups the ante with networked gaming. 'High Score' is a crash course on the golden age of gaming filled with insightful interviews, brilliant writing, and most importantly, an inspiring and inclusive message.