Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation

Anyone who grew up in the late 1980s and early 1990s and had an interest in video games has likely some awareness of the console wars, which author and filmmaker Harris (12 Dates of Christmas) briefly covers here with verve. What such readers may not be as familiar with are the details of the business dealings, risky maneuvers, and all-out corporate warfare underlying so many staples of childhood. This book will either ruin memories or shed new light on them, but either way Harris's well-researched volume is compulsively readable, even if his portrayal of the people involved stays relatively superficial. While the book will appeal most strongly to those who cut their teeth on the classics of the 8- and 16-bit era of video games, Harris's robust discussions of the origins of such pop culture icons as Mario and Sonic—and the complex theater of business machinations—make for equally captivating reading, though at least a passing knowledge of the industry is necessary to appreciate truly the story he tells.