Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Video games have the uncanny ability to make almost anything cool. Case in point, sewers. Video games rebranded these cesspools of waste as the cool hangout for bodacious anthropomorphic turtles with an affinity for pizza and karate. Typhoid? Thanks to the immensely popular Oregon Trail game, countless children grew up reveling in the notion that one of their friends contracted and eventually died from a medley of anachronistic diseases. The best part? This happened at school; the place where you learn how to read, write, and, evidently, avoid the devastating effects of dysentery. If a good portion of your childhood was spent outfoxing bothersome ghosts, attempting to defeat King Koopa, or pulverising poor Glass Joe in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, The Video Game Years is for you.
Now streaming on Prime Video, The Video Game Years is an entertaining talking heads series that takes a humorous deep dive into all things related to ’80s video game culture. Borrowing from the nostalgia-inducing format that worked so well for VH1’s endlessly engrossing Best Week Ever and I Love The ’90s, an array of 8-bit experts unleash a fun mix of humor and insight as they revisit the history and culture from a time many consider to be the apex of video game popularity.
The Video Game Years is basically Best Week Ever for video game fanatics.
What makes The Video Game Years so watchable is that you don’t have to be a video game expert to enjoy it. Sure, gamers will be able to relate more to the content, but so much of the subject matter is ingrained in our culture. Even if you’re too young to have owned a Nintendo, you’ve undoubtedly been perplexed by Tetris, bamboozled by the cunning Carmen Sandiego, or sacrificed fists full of quarters to the twenty-five cent deity known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the arcade game.
Through interviews with industry insiders, gaming historians, and comedians, each hour-long episode provides viewers with the opportunity to reminisce about the halcyon days of their youth while also learning fascinating tidbits about the world of gaming.
The Video Game Years is nostalgia TV done right.
Keeping with the spirt of video games, the series even features a few extra BONUS LEVELS.
After you enter game over territory with the 10-episodes that are streaming on Prime Video, three additional offerings centering on the late ’70s are available to watch through the Retroware website. The best part? You don’t even have to enter “Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-Select-Start” to access the additional episodes.
Anyone who’s ever spent countless hours parked behind a Nintendo will appreciate the nostalgic stroll down memory lane known as The Video Game Years.
