1
00:00:12,721 --> 00:00:16,558
[man in Japanese]
I think immersion is key in a game.

2
00:00:21,271 --> 00:00:23,482
If there's an element that doesn't fit, 

3
00:00:25,234 --> 00:00:28,111
it messes with the immersion.

4
00:00:30,155 --> 00:00:32,532
I really love bathhouses.

5
00:00:34,868 --> 00:00:38,121
Some older bathhouses
even had arcade games.

6
00:00:38,205 --> 00:00:41,333
So we would visit
the bathhouse just to play,

7
00:00:41,875 --> 00:00:45,671
then take a bath.

8
00:00:47,422 --> 00:00:51,900
It's an interesting image

9
00:00:51,718 --> 00:00:54,179
and very Japanese.

10
00:00:56,348 --> 00:00:57,391
[grunts]

11
00:00:57,474 --> 00:01:00,852
So there is a bathhouse stage
for Street Fighter II.

12
00:01:05,399 --> 00:01:08,527
In Japan,
it's normal to fight in bathhouses.

13
00:01:10,700 --> 00:01:12,197
I'm just kidding.

14
00:01:12,281 --> 00:01:13,365
[laughs]

15
00:01:57,743 --> 00:02:00,287
[narrator in English] Warning:
the episode you're about to watch

16
00:02:00,370 --> 00:02:02,414
features violent video games.

17
00:02:07,502 --> 00:02:11,840
[man in Japanese]
The first punch, like in a fighting game,

18
00:02:12,341 --> 00:02:15,677
the strong impact of the punch...

19
00:02:17,971 --> 00:02:21,725
it's hard to explain,

20
00:02:21,808 --> 00:02:24,102
but you just feel refreshed.

21
00:02:24,978 --> 00:02:26,480
[shouting]

22
00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:31,902
Without that primitive sensation, 

23
00:02:33,987 --> 00:02:36,573
you don't feel compelled to play again.

24
00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:41,453
[narrator in English]
If you've ever played a fight game...

25
00:02:42,954 --> 00:02:46,708
you've been in the world
of designer Akira Nishitani.

26
00:02:47,459 --> 00:02:50,300
[Nishitani in Japanese]
I get inspired by many things.

27
00:02:52,547 --> 00:02:54,466
If you are walking the streets,

28
00:02:54,549 --> 00:02:56,551
you might get a new idea...

29
00:02:58,512 --> 00:03:01,348
or find images for a new background.

30
00:03:04,142 --> 00:03:07,104
You see lots of people

31
00:03:07,187 --> 00:03:09,106
and many buildings.

32
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,720
It stimulates your brain.

33
00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,659
If that happens, I use my camera

34
00:03:20,742 --> 00:03:22,911
or take notes down.

35
00:03:24,329 --> 00:03:25,872
[narrator in English] In 1991,

36
00:03:25,956 --> 00:03:30,127
Nishitani led a team on a project 
that would change everything.

37
00:03:30,210 --> 00:03:33,296
It started as a follow-up
to a Japanese fight game

38
00:03:33,380 --> 00:03:36,910
that had hit arcades in 1987.

39
00:03:39,302 --> 00:03:40,971
Street Fighter had a simple set up:

40
00:03:41,388 --> 00:03:44,141
two characters,
best two out of three rounds.

41
00:03:44,224 --> 00:03:45,934
But it pioneered a twist:

42
00:03:46,643 --> 00:03:48,937
instead of competing against a computer,

43
00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:51,106
players could now duke it out
with each other.

44
00:03:52,107 --> 00:03:57,821
[in Japanese] First of all, in Japan,
competing with video games was unheard of.

45
00:03:59,573 --> 00:04:02,868
It was the first time
you were even prompted

46
00:04:02,951 --> 00:04:06,997
to communicate
with other players in the arcade.

47
00:04:07,831 --> 00:04:10,625
That was an interesting development.

48
00:04:13,211 --> 00:04:18,383
The game was a minor hit in Japan, 
but Nishitani saw the format's potential.

49
00:04:18,925 --> 00:04:23,513
He wanted to take the one-on-one
competition model and supersize it.

50
00:04:24,139 --> 00:04:28,602
The challenge would be to create a game 
that would sell around the world. 

51
00:04:29,853 --> 00:04:33,190
And to do it, 
he would bring the world into the game.

52
00:04:34,107 --> 00:04:40,155
[in Japanese] For Ryu's stage, we would
go around the castle and take photos

53
00:04:40,238 --> 00:04:42,741
and use it as a reference.

54
00:04:43,325 --> 00:04:46,203
[narrator in English]
A Hong Kong market, Thai temples,

55
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,580
a Japanese pagoda.

56
00:04:49,498 --> 00:04:53,668
Nishitani began collecting
reference images from around the globe.

57
00:04:54,878 --> 00:04:58,924
[Nishitani in Japanese]
Putting these in the game world means

58
00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:01,134
when someone is playing,

59
00:05:01,218 --> 00:05:04,846
they catch the image
from the corner of their eye.

60
00:05:06,723 --> 00:05:09,643
They think that it's cool or beautiful.

61
00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:14,640
I think these details
are extremely important.

62
00:05:15,732 --> 00:05:18,777
[narrator in English] Nishitani
transformed these real environments

63
00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:23,365
into 12 detailed stages 
set in eight different countries 

64
00:05:23,448 --> 00:05:28,780
from the US, to Brazil, India
and, of course, Japan.

65
00:05:29,829 --> 00:05:34,125
Now he had to figure out 
how to create a cast of fighters

66
00:05:34,209 --> 00:05:36,878
that would appeal to gamers everywhere.

67
00:05:37,462 --> 00:05:41,591
For that,
Nishitani turned to artist Akira Yasuda.

68
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,220
[Yasuda in Japanese] When I was young,

69
00:05:45,929 --> 00:05:51,476
I liked illustrating.

70
00:05:55,105 --> 00:05:59,192
At the time, the most celebrated artists
were the manga artists.

71
00:06:00,819 --> 00:06:02,279
So I wanted to make manga.

72
00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:08,118
The biggest thing was an anime called
Mobile Suit Gundam.

73
00:06:11,371 --> 00:06:15,834
Manga, or anime,
which I didn't think was art...

74
00:06:15,917 --> 00:06:17,627
[explosion]

75
00:06:18,336 --> 00:06:20,630
...became so artistic.

76
00:06:21,548 --> 00:06:23,258
That was very shocking.

77
00:06:24,926 --> 00:06:27,345
Since then, I wanted to make something

78
00:06:27,429 --> 00:06:29,764
that wasn't considered as art

79
00:06:29,848 --> 00:06:31,725
into something artistic.

80
00:06:34,436 --> 00:06:36,813
[narrator in English]
Yasuda was tasked with drawing up

81
00:06:36,897 --> 00:06:39,650
the visual world of the new game.

82
00:06:41,670 --> 00:06:43,862
[Yasuda in Japanese]
In general, my role was an art director.

83
00:06:43,945 --> 00:06:47,320
Character design, background art, 

84
00:06:48,740 --> 00:06:50,535
the design for the enemies.

85
00:06:50,619 --> 00:06:54,873
Street Fighter II has more character
options than Street Fighter I.

86
00:06:54,956 --> 00:06:58,877
Before you only had two characters,
but now you have eight.

87
00:07:02,297 --> 00:07:04,966
I was trying to figure out
how to make characters that,

88
00:07:05,500 --> 00:07:07,100
using today's language,

89
00:07:07,930 --> 00:07:09,554
had a strong "push."

90
00:07:10,889 --> 00:07:15,518
What this means is
that a character stood out.

91
00:07:17,145 --> 00:07:20,607
So we wanted to add accents
to the characters

92
00:07:20,690 --> 00:07:24,694
and exaggerate everything.

93
00:07:24,778 --> 00:07:28,615
We thought this would translate better
to the foreign market.

94
00:07:30,492 --> 00:07:32,770
[narrator in English]
With each round of sketches,

95
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,831
the characters grew bigger, tougher,
and just plain weird.

96
00:07:37,374 --> 00:07:39,918
[Nishitani in Japanese]
The character Honda, he was just

97
00:07:40,100 --> 00:07:42,712
a normal sumo player at first.

98
00:07:44,381 --> 00:07:46,633
But gradually, to make him stand out more,

99
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:49,302
we gave him a yukata

100
00:07:52,222 --> 00:07:54,224
or added Kabuki makeup.

101
00:07:55,642 --> 00:07:58,895
So gradually, each character changed
and became stranger.

102
00:08:02,524 --> 00:08:06,903
We wanted designs
where anyone could see it and laugh...

103
00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:13,535
and be blown away.

104
00:08:15,870 --> 00:08:18,164
[narrator in English]
An eccentric cast of fighters emerged,

105
00:08:18,248 --> 00:08:20,291
each with their own backstory:

106
00:08:20,792 --> 00:08:22,335
a US Air Force major,

107
00:08:23,586 --> 00:08:25,714
a rubber-limbed, fire-breathing yogi,

108
00:08:26,673 --> 00:08:31,520
and a female kung-fu-fighting
Interpol officer named Chun-Li.

109
00:08:31,553 --> 00:08:33,471
[vocalizing]

110
00:08:33,555 --> 00:08:36,433
[man speaking Japanese]

111
00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:40,603
[Yasuda in Japanese]
So Chun-Li, she's a kung fu girl.

112
00:08:41,938 --> 00:08:45,775
We thought the female players
would want to use female characters.

113
00:08:48,862 --> 00:08:51,406
The reason why I thought to include
a female character

114
00:08:51,489 --> 00:08:54,367
was to get more female players.

115
00:08:55,410 --> 00:08:58,872
Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan
were already popular

116
00:08:59,581 --> 00:09:03,460
and there were female martial artists
in those movies.

117
00:09:05,712 --> 00:09:08,590
If we have a female character,
she does kung fu.

118
00:09:09,215 --> 00:09:10,592
It was decided in my mind.

119
00:09:11,593 --> 00:09:15,597
[narrator in English] Until then, women
in video games were mostly princesses,

120
00:09:16,550 --> 00:09:17,557
damsels in distress

121
00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:19,559
or Ms. Pac-Man.

122
00:09:19,642 --> 00:09:24,147
Now, gamers could play as a woman 
who could fight her own battles.

123
00:09:24,689 --> 00:09:28,735
[in Japanese] Female characters weren't
nonexistent in games back then...

124
00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:36,750
but there weren't any
with such a strong personality.

125
00:09:36,785 --> 00:09:41,664
Yasuda was very insistent on this.

126
00:09:47,587 --> 00:09:49,714
[narrator in English]
With the settings and characters done,

127
00:09:49,798 --> 00:09:52,910
they had to make sure the gameplay

128
00:09:52,175 --> 00:09:55,595
was a visceral, bone-crunching
fighting experience.

129
00:09:56,513 --> 00:09:59,432
[Nishitani in Japanese]
We were making a martial arts game,

130
00:09:59,516 --> 00:10:04,229
so we had to study martial arts.

131
00:10:10,151 --> 00:10:12,320
If you watch it live...

132
00:10:12,403 --> 00:10:14,720
[crowd cheers]

133
00:10:15,573 --> 00:10:19,410
...you really experience
the power and pain.

134
00:10:20,203 --> 00:10:21,621
[yelling]

135
00:10:22,956 --> 00:10:26,840
So I would watch matches with Yasuda...

136
00:10:29,587 --> 00:10:32,298
and I learned a lot.

137
00:10:33,341 --> 00:10:35,343
[narrator in English] In February 1991,

138
00:10:35,426 --> 00:10:40,265
the new game Street Fighter II
was ready to unleash on the world.

139
00:10:41,150 --> 00:10:44,144
[Nishistani in Japanese] Street Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game.

140
00:10:44,936 --> 00:10:47,730
There are eight characters

141
00:10:48,231 --> 00:10:51,943
and you can select your favorite.

142
00:10:52,260 --> 00:10:53,278
[announcer in English] Fight!

143
00:10:53,778 --> 00:10:56,865
[in Japanese] They fight one-on-one.

144
00:10:57,907 --> 00:10:59,750
[yelling]

145
00:10:59,159 --> 00:11:03,788
Each character has a unique design

146
00:11:05,707 --> 00:11:07,208
and signature move.

147
00:11:07,292 --> 00:11:08,418
[shouting]

148
00:11:08,501 --> 00:11:10,879
Their killer move.

149
00:11:14,507 --> 00:11:17,218
You hit or throw the opponent

150
00:11:17,302 --> 00:11:19,262
and try to decrease their life gauge.

151
00:11:20,847 --> 00:11:24,434
The person who empties out
their life gauge gets a KO.

152
00:11:24,517 --> 00:11:26,269
[announcer in English] You win!

153
00:11:26,352 --> 00:11:30,230
[in Japanese] Whoever wins
the first two matches out of three

154
00:11:30,106 --> 00:11:32,233
is the winner.

155
00:11:39,908 --> 00:11:43,244
We knew the game was good.

156
00:11:43,745 --> 00:11:46,706
We didn't think it would be this popular.

157
00:11:48,820 --> 00:11:50,168
[narrator in English]
Street Fighter II high-kicked its way

158
00:11:50,251 --> 00:11:54,505
into arcades around the world
and became an instant phenomenon.

159
00:11:55,465 --> 00:12:00,303
It obliterated the original,
sparking an arcade renaissance.

160
00:12:01,429 --> 00:12:06,267
It also became one of the best-selling
fighting games of all time

161
00:12:06,351 --> 00:12:09,562
and paved the way 
for a new violent video game

162
00:12:09,646 --> 00:12:12,815
inspired by a classic cinematic genre.

163
00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:23,760
[man] Enter the Dragon
was the first Bruce Lee film that I saw.

164
00:12:26,621 --> 00:12:28,665
Bruce Lee on film was amazing.

165
00:12:29,165 --> 00:12:32,877
At that early age,
he was almost, like, mythologized for me.

166
00:12:34,870 --> 00:12:37,298
Bruce Lee knew how
to milk his screen presence.

167
00:12:38,549 --> 00:12:40,885
His fight sequences would build up

168
00:12:41,344 --> 00:12:44,430
and he would throw a few punches,
and then there was a pause.

169
00:12:44,514 --> 00:12:47,225
[yelling]

170
00:12:47,308 --> 00:12:49,477
Every time he threw a punch or a kick...

171
00:12:52,230 --> 00:12:53,982
he made it mean something. 

172
00:12:57,260 --> 00:12:58,569
And it was that way in all his films.

173
00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:03,199
For me,
I would find myself watching a film

174
00:13:03,282 --> 00:13:05,868
and then if I was excited enough
I would sit down and start drawing.

175
00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,810
[narrator] As fighting games were
beginning to take over the world,

176
00:13:10,164 --> 00:13:15,169
graphic artist John Tobias was working
for Chicago game developer Midway,

177
00:13:15,253 --> 00:13:19,799
who wanted a game that could
pack the arcades like Street Fighter II.

178
00:13:22,301 --> 00:13:24,846
They gave Tobias and programmer Ed Boon

179
00:13:24,929 --> 00:13:28,599
the opportunity to create
the game of their gory dreams.

180
00:13:29,434 --> 00:13:31,394
There was just one catch.

181
00:13:31,477 --> 00:13:34,689
I remember them asking us
if we could get the game done

182
00:13:34,772 --> 00:13:36,774
in six months,
or something ridiculous like that.

183
00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:39,193
And Ed and I,

184
00:13:39,277 --> 00:13:41,863
we were so young that we thought,
“Yeah, we can do that.”

185
00:13:42,655 --> 00:13:44,240
[game voice] Fight.

186
00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:48,619
[narrator] Tobias went to work on the game
that would become a legend:

187
00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:50,288
Mortal Kombat...

188
00:13:51,622 --> 00:13:56,169
the game that brought blood and guts
from the movies into the arcade.

189
00:13:56,919 --> 00:14:01,700
[Tobias] My role on Mortal Kombat
was the art, the graphics, the fiction,

190
00:14:02,341 --> 00:14:06,637
and to work with  the programmers in terms
of how the characters would function.

191
00:14:07,346 --> 00:14:09,570
When we looked at Street Fighter,

192
00:14:09,140 --> 00:14:11,392
it was more so
to figure out what not to do.

193
00:14:12,602 --> 00:14:14,729
We weren't looking at
replicating Street Fighter.

194
00:14:14,812 --> 00:14:17,690
It was more, "How do we do
our own style of fighting game?"

195
00:14:18,107 --> 00:14:19,859
Their stuff was hand-drawn and cartoony.

196
00:14:20,359 --> 00:14:22,445
Ours is gonna be digitized and realistic.

197
00:14:23,710 --> 00:14:26,199
And of course, you know,
if it's gonna be a fighting game, 

198
00:14:26,282 --> 00:14:29,202
I was gonna draw on
my love of kung fu films.

199
00:14:35,124 --> 00:14:38,252
Martial arts films,
I think in the late '80s, early '90s,

200
00:14:38,336 --> 00:14:40,713
were making a bit of a resurgence
in America.

201
00:14:42,632 --> 00:14:45,593
Van Damme and Steven Seagal
were sort of the up-and-comers,

202
00:14:45,676 --> 00:14:46,969
you know, in the early '90s.

203
00:14:52,225 --> 00:14:56,979
Ed and I had seen Bloodsport and
we thought that it would be interesting

204
00:14:57,630 --> 00:15:00,108
to include Van Damme
as a character in our game,

205
00:15:00,191 --> 00:15:01,651
him starring as himself. 

206
00:15:04,654 --> 00:15:07,949
We thought that he would lend
a little bit of validity

207
00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,993
to the concept of a fighting game,
of certainly a martial arts theme.

208
00:15:13,412 --> 00:15:14,997
[narrator] Van Damme declined.

209
00:15:15,998 --> 00:15:17,834
But that didn't stop Tobias

210
00:15:17,917 --> 00:15:20,837
from immortalizing the legend 
in his new game.

211
00:15:22,630 --> 00:15:24,340
His signature kicks,

212
00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:26,425
his penchant for doing the splits,

213
00:15:26,968 --> 00:15:28,970
and who could forget the infamous...

214
00:15:29,530 --> 00:15:29,971
[grunts]

215
00:15:30,540 --> 00:15:31,556
...from Bloodsport?

216
00:15:32,807 --> 00:15:33,975
Tobias couldn’t.

217
00:15:34,580 --> 00:15:36,894
He made it character Johnny Cage’s
signature move.

218
00:15:37,645 --> 00:15:38,688
[announcer] Finish him!

219
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:41,774
Johnny Cage wins.

220
00:15:42,358 --> 00:15:45,820
I remember thinking with Mortal Kombat
that this was an opportunity for me

221
00:15:45,903 --> 00:15:49,740
to throw everything that had inspired me
growing up into this game...

222
00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:53,661
because no one was telling us
how to do games back then

223
00:15:53,744 --> 00:15:55,246
and this is what we wanted to do.

224
00:15:55,329 --> 00:15:57,331
[yelling]

225
00:15:58,416 --> 00:16:00,793
[narrator] Mortal Kombat was brutal.

226
00:16:03,462 --> 00:16:05,470
-[shrieks]
-Come here!

227
00:16:05,131 --> 00:16:09,510
[narrator]
Totally, insanely, grotesquely brutal.

228
00:16:10,928 --> 00:16:13,723
Vile, disgusting...

229
00:16:15,224 --> 00:16:16,851
and a total hit!

230
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,522
We wanted to draw a reaction out of
the player, and anything that we could do

231
00:16:21,606 --> 00:16:24,442
to get the player to react positively,
we thought was a good thing.

232
00:16:26,444 --> 00:16:29,155
One of the backgrounds,
there were body parts and stuff

233
00:16:29,238 --> 00:16:32,330
of other characters sort
of impaled on the spikes

234
00:16:32,116 --> 00:16:34,493
and the idea that if you lose this match,

235
00:16:34,911 --> 00:16:38,390
you're gonna get knocked into this pit
and your character is going to suffer.

236
00:16:40,291 --> 00:16:42,460
[yelling]

237
00:16:42,543 --> 00:16:45,880
[Tobias] Not knowing what
the fatalities exactly were...

238
00:16:46,756 --> 00:16:48,966
built a scary quality for the player.

239
00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:50,843
[screams]

240
00:16:51,719 --> 00:16:53,638
[announcer] Raiden wins.

241
00:16:53,721 --> 00:16:54,889
Fatality.

242
00:16:55,973 --> 00:16:59,560
[narrator] Fatalities were
the game’s pièce de résistance.

243
00:17:00,937 --> 00:17:04,650
Players who discovered
the right button and joystick combo

244
00:17:04,148 --> 00:17:07,860
could finish off their opponent 
with a spectacular kill:

245
00:17:08,653 --> 00:17:09,820
a decapitation,

246
00:17:10,905 --> 00:17:13,241
the removal of a still-beating heart,

247
00:17:13,783 --> 00:17:15,368
torching them alive,

248
00:17:16,702 --> 00:17:18,746
and whatever you call this.

249
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,335
What also made Mortal Kombat
so in-your-face

250
00:17:24,418 --> 00:17:28,381
was the fact that the characters
were real-life actors.

251
00:17:29,674 --> 00:17:33,940
This beat-up, tattered-looking studio
is where we’ve...

252
00:17:33,719 --> 00:17:39,141
uh, shot all of the digitizing
for the Mortal Kombat games.

253
00:17:41,143 --> 00:17:44,647
We had to sort of find the martial artists
that we were going to digitize.

254
00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:46,524
Ha! I'm Sonya Blade.

255
00:17:47,108 --> 00:17:49,680
If you hesitate, I'll take you down.

256
00:17:49,860 --> 00:17:53,720
[Tobias] It was important
that we find real martial artists,

257
00:17:53,155 --> 00:17:55,616
you know,
capable of throwing a kick or a punch.

258
00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:56,909
My name is Liu Kang.

259
00:17:57,326 --> 00:17:59,912
If you wanna get to the top,
you gotta get through me.

260
00:18:00,830 --> 00:18:04,292
[Tobias] I had some friends that I knew
growing up who were martial artists.

261
00:18:04,959 --> 00:18:07,586
One of the first things we did
was we brought them into the studio,

262
00:18:07,670 --> 00:18:09,213
shot some footage of them. 

263
00:18:10,590 --> 00:18:13,968
When you see guys jump flipping
and doing somersaults on Mortal Kombat,

264
00:18:14,510 --> 00:18:15,303
they do it off this trampoline.

265
00:18:15,386 --> 00:18:17,847
And the reason why we use it is because

266
00:18:17,930 --> 00:18:20,433
a lot of times you've got to
motion-capture guys jumping,

267
00:18:20,516 --> 00:18:22,435
so we get 'em jumping
on these trampolines. 

268
00:18:22,518 --> 00:18:24,854
We actually have guys
banging their head on the ceiling. 

269
00:18:24,937 --> 00:18:27,690
That light's out there
because somebody whacked it real good.

270
00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:29,567
Back then, it was like an amazing thing.

271
00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:31,444
Everyone who saw it
was just sort of blown away

272
00:18:31,527 --> 00:18:32,737
at the realistic nature of it.

273
00:18:35,531 --> 00:18:38,576
The moment you see the digitized actors
onscreen, I think you understand,

274
00:18:38,659 --> 00:18:40,661
"Oh, okay, I get what this is
and how cool it looks."

275
00:18:40,745 --> 00:18:42,204
[yelling]

276
00:18:43,622 --> 00:18:47,126
[narrator]
Well, not everyone thought it was cool.

277
00:18:47,877 --> 00:18:50,463
This is the kind of violence
that critics are pretty worried about.

278
00:18:50,546 --> 00:18:52,965
[reporter] Cold-blooded murder
is making Mortal Kombat

279
00:18:53,490 --> 00:18:54,925
the most popular video game in history.

280
00:18:55,384 --> 00:18:57,803
Kids relish their victory
and their bloody choice.

281
00:18:57,887 --> 00:19:00,140
[yelling]

282
00:19:00,970 --> 00:19:03,590
[reporter] How do you feel when
they're pulling the head off somebody 

283
00:19:03,142 --> 00:19:05,102
or they're ripping out their heart?

284
00:19:05,186 --> 00:19:07,229
That's kind of the part
I like best about it.

285
00:19:07,688 --> 00:19:08,981
[laughs] It's funny.

286
00:19:11,250 --> 00:19:12,276
[Tobias] We didn't see

287
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,696
what ultimately would become 
the controversy with Mortal Kombat coming.

288
00:19:17,406 --> 00:19:18,658
Watch out, Mom and Dad.

289
00:19:18,741 --> 00:19:21,660
Some of the new video games 
depict extreme violence!

290
00:19:22,244 --> 00:19:25,414
[Tobias] We always thought, okay, well,
our players were of a certain age group

291
00:19:25,498 --> 00:19:27,875
so we didn't think twice about
what it was we were doing,

292
00:19:27,958 --> 00:19:30,252
and it was all so fantastical
that we didn't anticipate

293
00:19:30,336 --> 00:19:32,588
that it would bother parents
as much as it did.

294
00:19:34,423 --> 00:19:37,760
And it was hard for people to accept
that games are not just for kids.

295
00:19:37,843 --> 00:19:40,137
[woman] Their whole environment
is saturated with violence. 

296
00:19:40,221 --> 00:19:43,990
Now we're going to give them games
where they can participate in violence

297
00:19:43,182 --> 00:19:45,184
and choose the way
they want to kill someone.

298
00:19:46,977 --> 00:19:48,854
If you can play a game
and fight in the game 

299
00:19:48,938 --> 00:19:51,232
and not fight in real life,
obviously that's better.

300
00:19:53,526 --> 00:19:57,113
[narrator] The uproar helped make
Mortal Kombat a top-selling game

301
00:19:57,196 --> 00:19:59,865
and had kids ditching their home consoles 

302
00:19:59,949 --> 00:20:03,350
and heading back to the arcades
to do battle.

303
00:20:03,536 --> 00:20:06,914
The arcade environment at the time,
especially with the fighting games, 

304
00:20:06,997 --> 00:20:08,499
it was very competitive.

305
00:20:09,417 --> 00:20:14,213
You physically had to walk into an arcade
and face off against an opponent.

306
00:20:14,922 --> 00:20:18,920
It was almost like you were a gunslinger
walking into this town.

307
00:20:18,175 --> 00:20:20,344
You didn't know who
you were going to face off against. 

308
00:20:20,845 --> 00:20:24,849
[narrator] The new era of fight games 
would not only resurrect the arcades,

309
00:20:26,726 --> 00:20:30,896
for some kids, 
it would change the course of their lives.

310
00:20:30,980 --> 00:20:33,650
[man in Japanese]
Games are very black and white.

311
00:20:33,149 --> 00:20:36,652
There's a clear winner and loser.

312
00:20:40,197 --> 00:20:41,657
Even if it was merely a game...

313
00:20:42,283 --> 00:20:44,118
I didn't want to lose.

314
00:20:44,744 --> 00:20:47,246
[narrator in English]
Takahiro Nakano was a teenager

315
00:20:47,329 --> 00:20:50,791
just as fight games were beginning 
to take over the arcades.

316
00:20:51,959 --> 00:20:56,464
[in Japanese] I pretty much got my start
in Street Fighter II at arcades.

317
00:20:58,841 --> 00:21:01,510
I would head to the arcade after school.

318
00:21:03,950 --> 00:21:07,570
An older classmate worked there.

319
00:21:08,559 --> 00:21:10,519
He would always let me play for free.

320
00:21:13,355 --> 00:21:20,154
He taught me how to play.

321
00:21:22,865 --> 00:21:26,243
But I became too good.
At one point, I surpassed him.

322
00:21:26,744 --> 00:21:29,663
After that,
he wouldn't let me play anymore.

323
00:21:29,747 --> 00:21:31,790
[narrator in English]
Nakano knew his destiny

324
00:21:31,874 --> 00:21:34,627
was to battle it out with the best.

325
00:21:34,710 --> 00:21:37,463
[in Japanese] After all, a marketing
catchphrase for Street Fighter II was

326
00:21:37,546 --> 00:21:41,342
"Seek out a worthy opponent."

327
00:21:43,636 --> 00:21:47,223
But I didn't have any worthy opponents
in my hometown.

328
00:21:47,306 --> 00:21:52,311
If anywhere, I might find this worthy
opponent at the national tournament.

329
00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:54,563
So I saved up money
as a newspaper delivery boy.

330
00:21:54,647 --> 00:21:57,858
I took the overnight bus alone to Tokyo.

331
00:22:02,290 --> 00:22:08,827
We filled the Kokugikan in Tokyo,
where they hold sumo events.

332
00:22:15,209 --> 00:22:17,586
[announcer] Street Fighter II Turbo.

333
00:22:19,672 --> 00:22:22,675
[Nakano] I tried to ready myself mentally
so I wouldn't get nervous.

334
00:22:23,759 --> 00:22:25,386
[announcer in English] Round One! Fight!

335
00:22:25,469 --> 00:22:30,724
[Nakano in Japanese]
I knew I had to keep my cool at all times.

336
00:22:31,225 --> 00:22:33,894
If you lost even once, you were out.

337
00:22:35,271 --> 00:22:38,650
[announcer]
Nakano advances to the next round.

338
00:22:40,818 --> 00:22:45,906
If you wanted to win,
not a single movement could be wasted.

339
00:22:45,990 --> 00:22:47,616
[announcer] Uppercut.

340
00:22:49,869 --> 00:22:52,538
I played like my life depended on it.

341
00:22:54,206 --> 00:22:55,100
[announcer speaking Japanese]

342
00:22:56,959 --> 00:22:59,920
[Nakano] I won the entire tournament.

343
00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:10,139
The opponent didn't land
a single blow on me.

344
00:23:14,518 --> 00:23:16,200
I think it was a miracle.

345
00:23:18,314 --> 00:23:21,817
It turns out
there were no worthy opponents after all.

346
00:23:22,401 --> 00:23:24,695
[narrator in English]
But like young gamers everywhere,

347
00:23:25,446 --> 00:23:29,158
Nakano's glory days
came to a soul-crushing end.

348
00:23:34,455 --> 00:23:36,707
[Nakano in Japanese]
After graduating...

349
00:23:36,790 --> 00:23:42,296
I took the plunge
and started working in sales.

350
00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:47,718
There wasn't as much time
to play games anymore.

351
00:23:56,393 --> 00:23:59,229
I mostly spent my time replying to emails.

352
00:24:02,660 --> 00:24:04,943
Making copies and drafting proposals.

353
00:24:07,237 --> 00:24:09,782
Some people have passion for their job.

354
00:24:10,616 --> 00:24:14,536
Some people are ready
to climb up the corporate ladder.

355
00:24:16,380 --> 00:24:21,835
Honestly, I didn't really understand
that desire at all.

356
00:24:23,170 --> 00:24:26,590
[narrator in English]
But then an opportunity arose for Nakano 

357
00:24:26,674 --> 00:24:29,718
to spin his way
out of the corporate grind

358
00:24:29,802 --> 00:24:33,430
when his boss caught wind
of an emerging business venture.

359
00:24:33,514 --> 00:24:37,643
Competitive video gaming has become
a multi-million dollar industry.

360
00:24:38,852 --> 00:24:40,145
[cheering]

361
00:24:40,229 --> 00:24:42,231
[dramatic music playing]

362
00:24:43,315 --> 00:24:45,901
Gaming itself is bigger
than the music industry

363
00:24:45,985 --> 00:24:47,403
and the movie industry combined.

364
00:24:48,153 --> 00:24:50,531
[narrator] Esports have brought
competitive gaming

365
00:24:50,614 --> 00:24:53,534
out of the basement and into the arena.

366
00:24:53,617 --> 00:24:56,780
This is what kids are doing.
This is what people want to see.

367
00:24:56,161 --> 00:24:59,123
[narrator] And kids once told
to "get a real job"

368
00:24:59,206 --> 00:25:01,625
are laughing all the way to the bank.

369
00:25:02,626 --> 00:25:05,379
By 2022, global esports revenue

370
00:25:05,462 --> 00:25:09,591
has been projected to reach
1.79 billion US dollars.

371
00:25:10,968 --> 00:25:15,550
Nakano's boss decided to get in
on the esports craze.

372
00:25:15,639 --> 00:25:18,100
He remembered that Nakano
had won a national tournament

373
00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:21,437
and came to him
with the proposal of a lifetime:

374
00:25:21,937 --> 00:25:26,275
to create and coach an esports team
of professional gamers.

375
00:25:27,151 --> 00:25:29,820
[in Japanese]
He said he would assign me to the project.

376
00:25:29,903 --> 00:25:32,239
I can still remember it like yesterday.

377
00:25:33,310 --> 00:25:35,576
Nakano, listen up. Starting tomorrow,

378
00:25:36,243 --> 00:25:38,954
I want you playing games
all day, every day!

379
00:25:39,955 --> 00:25:42,400
[Nakano]
It all clicked for me in that moment.

380
00:25:42,124 --> 00:25:44,710
I realized I would never
get another chance this good.

381
00:25:44,793 --> 00:25:46,253
I decided then and there,

382
00:25:46,837 --> 00:25:48,464
"I'm in."

383
00:25:49,673 --> 00:25:52,259
[narrator in English]
Nakano would recruit and train players

384
00:25:52,342 --> 00:25:55,554
to join him
on the international egaming stage.

385
00:25:56,638 --> 00:26:00,851
[Nakano in Japanese] We created a team
called the Kyoto Susanoo.

386
00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:02,770
[yelling]

387
00:26:05,314 --> 00:26:10,110
I think natural talent
plays a part in gaming.

388
00:26:11,862 --> 00:26:17,576
We identify players with inherent talent.

389
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:19,578
Standing, crouching,

390
00:26:20,662 --> 00:26:22,289
guarding, attacking.

391
00:26:23,707 --> 00:26:26,835
We want to cultivate such talent.

392
00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:32,424
We serve as consultants,

393
00:26:32,508 --> 00:26:35,677
ready to share our know-how.

394
00:26:35,761 --> 00:26:41,350
I hope to cultivate a steady stream
of players going forward.

395
00:26:42,810 --> 00:26:44,144
My name is KojiKOG.

396
00:26:44,853 --> 00:26:47,439
My specialty is fighting games.

397
00:26:48,982 --> 00:26:52,861
[Nakano] KojiKOG is a true multiplayer.

398
00:26:55,113 --> 00:26:57,908
He's formidable in a variety
of fighting games.

399
00:26:58,742 --> 00:27:01,286
He's an incredibly talented gamer.

400
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:04,810
I'm Sakagami.

401
00:27:04,665 --> 00:27:06,917
I play Street Fighter.

402
00:27:08,502 --> 00:27:10,796
[Nakano] Sakagami is another team member.

403
00:27:12,965 --> 00:27:16,468
He's just 20 years old.

404
00:27:17,845 --> 00:27:22,990
His specialty is Street Fighter V.

405
00:27:23,580 --> 00:27:25,352
He's vowed to become the world champion.

406
00:27:26,186 --> 00:27:28,188
[laughing]

407
00:27:28,272 --> 00:27:31,942
He says that unless you aim for the top,
what's the point?

408
00:27:32,693 --> 00:27:36,710
I'm Reaper. I play shooting games.

409
00:27:37,114 --> 00:27:40,200
[Nakano] Reaper is one of our best.

410
00:27:40,284 --> 00:27:41,577
The one with glasses.

411
00:27:44,788 --> 00:27:46,123
Uh...

412
00:27:46,957 --> 00:27:49,793
I hope he does our team proud.

413
00:27:50,294 --> 00:27:52,379
[upbeat music playing]

414
00:27:56,258 --> 00:28:01,540
[Nakano] Just because you're a pro gamer
doesn't mean you should game all day.

415
00:28:04,808 --> 00:28:07,144
Exercise is necessary.

416
00:28:11,690 --> 00:28:14,484
Even the flights overseas are grueling.

417
00:28:18,614 --> 00:28:21,450
You have to worry about stamina.

418
00:28:23,535 --> 00:28:27,915
They need to lift weights
and build physical stamina.

419
00:28:29,124 --> 00:28:31,840
It's a part of our program.

420
00:28:36,673 --> 00:28:41,940
Our job is to grow
the esports industry itself.

421
00:28:43,305 --> 00:28:45,515
I don't think this is just a fleeting fad.

422
00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:47,476
[announcer] Tiger uppercut!

423
00:28:47,559 --> 00:28:50,437
My life wouldn't be the same
without Street Fighter II.

424
00:28:51,396 --> 00:28:52,981
I find it extremely exciting.

425
00:28:54,524 --> 00:28:58,654
I mean, even now,
I never get tired of the game.

426
00:28:58,737 --> 00:29:02,616
I think I could play it until I'm dead.

427
00:29:03,617 --> 00:29:06,662
[narrator in English]
Esports now rivals so-called real sports

428
00:29:06,745 --> 00:29:08,413
like baseball and basketball

429
00:29:08,497 --> 00:29:11,667
with hundreds of millions
of fans worldwide.

430
00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:15,128
It was a phenomenon
that was hard to foresee,

431
00:29:15,587 --> 00:29:17,673
especially back in 1993

432
00:29:17,756 --> 00:29:20,509
when the growing number
of violent video games

433
00:29:20,592 --> 00:29:22,803
had parents ready to pull the plug.

434
00:29:22,886 --> 00:29:24,429
[machines whir]

435
00:29:25,806 --> 00:29:28,392
So Congress got involved.

436
00:29:28,475 --> 00:29:32,396
We're all so repelled,
we're disgusted by this material.

437
00:29:34,439 --> 00:29:36,984
[narrator] The congressional hearings
on video game violence

438
00:29:37,670 --> 00:29:40,112
brought hit game Mortal Kombat
center stage,

439
00:29:40,195 --> 00:29:43,281
along with another
much lesser known title.

440
00:29:43,865 --> 00:29:46,410
It is a sick, disgusting video game.

441
00:29:46,493 --> 00:29:48,286
Shame on the people
that produce that trash.

442
00:29:48,370 --> 00:29:50,414
It's child abuse, in my judgment.

443
00:29:50,872 --> 00:29:52,791
I find that so extremely offensive 

444
00:29:52,874 --> 00:29:56,440
and the only word you can say
to the manufacturers 

445
00:29:56,128 --> 00:29:59,131
and the shareholders of the company
is shame on you. 

446
00:29:59,715 --> 00:30:01,174
Have we lost all common sense?

447
00:30:01,258 --> 00:30:03,100
Of course it affects our children,

448
00:30:03,930 --> 00:30:05,470
and it affects our kids
in a very negative way.

449
00:30:06,304 --> 00:30:12,519
[man] Somehow the devil had come down to
pervert the young minds of our children.

450
00:30:12,602 --> 00:30:13,562
I mean... [laughing]

451
00:30:13,645 --> 00:30:16,398
You know, it was a complete thing,
you know.

452
00:30:16,481 --> 00:30:18,608
Obviously many of them
hadn't played the game.

453
00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:23,697
[narrator] The game was Night Trap,
a relatively obscure game

454
00:30:23,780 --> 00:30:27,617
that suddenly found itself the subject 
of debate on Capitol Hill.

455
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,247
And this assault
on American values and human decency

456
00:30:32,331 --> 00:30:34,708
had sprung from the mind of Jim Riley.

457
00:30:36,626 --> 00:30:38,462
[Riley]
I think, by nature, I'm a visualist

458
00:30:39,337 --> 00:30:42,299
and I'm probably more a designer
than an artist.

459
00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:47,471
So the visual problem-solving is always
something I've been interested in.

460
00:30:48,138 --> 00:30:51,160
[narrator] These days,
Jim is a visual effects supervisor

461
00:30:51,990 --> 00:30:53,602
for some of television's biggest shows.

462
00:30:57,481 --> 00:30:59,858
Things like exploding helicopters,

463
00:31:00,776 --> 00:31:02,444
people catching on fire,

464
00:31:03,236 --> 00:31:05,906
Don Cheadle
getting nailed by a flying glass,

465
00:31:06,823 --> 00:31:08,330
blood splatters,

466
00:31:08,575 --> 00:31:11,953
and the requisite casual walk away 
from an exploding car...

467
00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:17,709
Jim makes it all look real.

468
00:31:19,419 --> 00:31:23,507
[Riley] You're making a TV show,
and when it works, for me, it's magic,

469
00:31:23,590 --> 00:31:27,385
because I know the thousand things
that could go wrong, right?

470
00:31:27,928 --> 00:31:30,138
[narrator]
But long before his career in Hollywood,

471
00:31:30,222 --> 00:31:34,101
Jim was the man behind the game
considered so shocking,

472
00:31:34,184 --> 00:31:37,854
it inadvertently jeopardized
the entire industry.

473
00:31:38,438 --> 00:31:41,858
It all began
as a sort of visionary experiment,

474
00:31:41,942 --> 00:31:45,403
a choose-your-own-adventure
live action video game.

475
00:31:45,487 --> 00:31:48,310
I was interested in using
surveillance cameras

476
00:31:48,115 --> 00:31:51,535
as a way to capture a world

477
00:31:51,618 --> 00:31:55,372
that allowed the viewer/player

478
00:31:55,455 --> 00:31:59,793
to switch cameras
seamlessly and unlimited.

479
00:32:01,711 --> 00:32:04,548
But only four of the cameras 

480
00:32:04,631 --> 00:32:06,758
would be showing live action
at any one time.

481
00:32:07,592 --> 00:32:11,304
But this was creating the impression
of unlimited choices

482
00:32:11,388 --> 00:32:15,600
in a story-driven dramatic event

483
00:32:15,684 --> 00:32:18,478
that, depending
on which actor you followed

484
00:32:18,562 --> 00:32:21,640
or what camera you saw, 

485
00:32:21,148 --> 00:32:24,818
you would be able at the end
to determine what happened.

486
00:32:26,111 --> 00:32:27,904
You now can control your world.

487
00:32:27,988 --> 00:32:30,157
You're in control of time and space.

488
00:32:31,283 --> 00:32:33,201
[narrator]
The concept was funded by Hasbro

489
00:32:33,285 --> 00:32:36,955
as part of a new console
called Control Vision 

490
00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:40,625
that would use VHS tapes
to create interactive games.

491
00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,253
Players would watch a film

492
00:32:43,336 --> 00:32:46,464
and use their controller
to trap the bad guys.

493
00:32:47,215 --> 00:32:52,262
[Riley] The beginning of Night Trap was
kind of like a party at some guy's house.

494
00:32:52,679 --> 00:32:56,141
Hey! Did you guys see something
moving over there?

495
00:32:56,808 --> 00:32:59,728
[Riley] And you have these villains
attacking the house

496
00:33:00,854 --> 00:33:02,772
and you were trying
to prevent them from doing that.

497
00:33:02,856 --> 00:33:04,107
[man] You're in danger!

498
00:33:04,191 --> 00:33:07,152
You've seen those things too?
What are they?

499
00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:09,613
[narrator] But, like the kids in the game,

500
00:33:09,696 --> 00:33:13,330
Jim's big idea
was in for a really bad night.

501
00:33:13,783 --> 00:33:17,329
The original notion of Night Trap
was all about fear.

502
00:33:18,330 --> 00:33:21,875
You need really devious,
dangerous villains.

503
00:33:23,168 --> 00:33:24,794
I was fascinated with the ninjas.

504
00:33:26,922 --> 00:33:29,466
I loved the idea, the way they moved

505
00:33:29,549 --> 00:33:31,900
in and out of the shadows. 

506
00:33:32,636 --> 00:33:34,721
I thought that would be really fun.

507
00:33:35,514 --> 00:33:37,724
You'd look at a scene,
switching around rooms,

508
00:33:38,141 --> 00:33:41,937
but if you waited a little bit you'd see,
"Oh, my God, there's somebody there."

509
00:33:43,438 --> 00:33:46,660
And then they've got
all of these throwing stars.

510
00:33:47,150 --> 00:33:52,530
And the traps could be wonderful,
dangerous, kind of exciting things.

511
00:33:56,117 --> 00:33:57,202
So I pitched the idea.

512
00:33:57,702 --> 00:33:58,703
Everybody loves it.

513
00:33:58,787 --> 00:34:00,800
[horn blows]

514
00:34:01,414 --> 00:34:04,793
And then we go to the Hasbro executives
and they go, "Wait a minute."

515
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:07,128
[narrator] Hasbro was a toy company

516
00:34:07,212 --> 00:34:10,757
and they didn’t think Jim’s
star-throwing ninjas were family friendly.

517
00:34:11,424 --> 00:34:14,803
They came up with the term
"unreproducible violence."

518
00:34:16,137 --> 00:34:20,892
You can't show anything that somebody
could, at home, see and then go do,

519
00:34:20,976 --> 00:34:24,854
which means you can't pick up scissors
and stab somebody to death...

520
00:34:25,355 --> 00:34:26,815
or a kitchen knife.

521
00:34:27,857 --> 00:34:31,987
But it even extends
to ninjas throwing stars.

522
00:34:34,614 --> 00:34:37,492
And I'm thinking, 
"When was the last time you met a ninja?"

523
00:34:39,744 --> 00:34:42,998
But they said, "No, no, no."
So I said, "How about vampires?

524
00:34:43,810 --> 00:34:46,501
They're fast, they're scary
and they're not real."

525
00:34:46,584 --> 00:34:51,381
And they go, "Well, maybe vampires,
if they can't bite.

526
00:34:52,757 --> 00:34:55,760
And they're too weak to move fast."

527
00:34:57,220 --> 00:35:01,990
So now we have vampires
that can't bite and are really slow. 

528
00:35:01,808 --> 00:35:02,726
And then it gets worse.

529
00:35:03,893 --> 00:35:07,522
The producers and makeup say,
"We're not going to do prosthetics,

530
00:35:07,606 --> 00:35:09,650
'cause you got hundreds of them.

531
00:35:09,149 --> 00:35:11,860
What we're going to do
is kind of put trash bags on ‘em."

532
00:35:13,778 --> 00:35:19,242
[narrator] Essentially, Jim's villains
went from star-throwing ninjas to this...

533
00:35:20,118 --> 00:35:25,415
weak, hobbling, trash bag-wearing augurs.

534
00:35:25,498 --> 00:35:27,167
What is an augur? 

535
00:35:27,250 --> 00:35:30,754
A vampire victim who's been
half-bled and left there to die.

536
00:35:30,837 --> 00:35:33,381
Poor creatures
have just enough blood to survive,

537
00:35:33,465 --> 00:35:35,500
but not enough to become vampires.

538
00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:37,930
You gotta be jiving me!

539
00:35:37,177 --> 00:35:38,219
[chuckles]

540
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:40,889
And then I'm thinking,
"Well, what-- You know--

541
00:35:40,972 --> 00:35:43,475
This is just--" I don't know what to say,

542
00:35:43,558 --> 00:35:46,936
but, you know, they've got
to be able to have some threat.

543
00:35:49,856 --> 00:35:51,858
I pitched this thing called a trocar,

544
00:35:52,525 --> 00:35:55,904
which was an extended arm
that would grab the neck...

545
00:35:55,987 --> 00:35:57,238
[screaming]

546
00:35:57,322 --> 00:35:59,908
...and have an automated drill
that would go into the neck...

547
00:35:59,991 --> 00:36:01,659
[woman screams]

548
00:36:02,744 --> 00:36:04,329
...and suck the blood out.

549
00:36:06,539 --> 00:36:08,291
For some reason they said,
"That's great,

550
00:36:08,375 --> 00:36:11,252
'cause that’s unreproducible
and that's going to be fine."

551
00:36:11,336 --> 00:36:13,755
[screaming]

552
00:36:16,341 --> 00:36:18,885
And at the end, I think in some ways,

553
00:36:18,968 --> 00:36:22,263
it was so much worse
than a vampire going and biting.

554
00:36:25,580 --> 00:36:27,644
One note can ruin a story. 

555
00:36:28,645 --> 00:36:31,815
And this was a series of bad notes.

556
00:36:33,942 --> 00:36:36,695
We didn't quite understand
what the impact would be.

557
00:36:36,778 --> 00:36:37,946
[woman] Mark.

558
00:36:38,290 --> 00:36:40,198
-Right on back here?
-This over here at this point?

559
00:36:40,281 --> 00:36:41,741
Yep. That's right there.

560
00:36:42,367 --> 00:36:45,780
-Ready? Here we go.
-[woman] Mark.

561
00:36:45,161 --> 00:36:48,206
[narrator]
Even with a budget of 1.5 million dollars,

562
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,376
production was riddled with problems.

563
00:36:54,629 --> 00:36:57,966
Moody lighting had to be brightened
for digitizing footage,

564
00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:01,302
fast movements were pixelated

565
00:37:02,554 --> 00:37:07,100
and the security cams made for static,
boring gameplay.

566
00:37:07,183 --> 00:37:10,645
-What's the matter with you anyway?
-I don't know. Bored, I guess.

567
00:37:10,728 --> 00:37:15,275
It started out to be, you know,
film noir thriller...

568
00:37:19,237 --> 00:37:23,740
that turned into
kind of this campy B-movie.

569
00:37:23,158 --> 00:37:26,770
-Please use the traps!
-[laughing]

570
00:37:26,161 --> 00:37:30,390
[narrator] And just as Control Vision
was nearly ready to hit the shelves...

571
00:37:30,123 --> 00:37:32,125
-Now!
-The wall trap!

572
00:37:32,208 --> 00:37:34,919
[narrator]
...Hasbro unexpectedly pulled out.

573
00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:35,920
Yeah!

574
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:37,500
They said, "We’re out."

575
00:37:37,464 --> 00:37:39,799
You know, "Thank you very much,
but we can't do this.

576
00:37:39,883 --> 00:37:42,385
It's way too expensive,

577
00:37:42,469 --> 00:37:45,680
and much more involved
than what we thought."

578
00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,559
Then we all go our separate ways.

579
00:37:52,479 --> 00:37:54,856
[narrator] A few years after
putting it all behind him,

580
00:37:54,939 --> 00:37:56,649
Jim got a surprising call.

581
00:37:58,109 --> 00:38:02,300
Sega had just launched their newest
tech breakthrough, the Sega CD.

582
00:38:02,113 --> 00:38:05,867
And one of the games released with it
would be Night Trap.

583
00:38:07,118 --> 00:38:10,872
Sega's marketing targeted teenage boys
with provocative ads

584
00:38:10,955 --> 00:38:13,583
highlighting the young victims
in the game.

585
00:38:13,666 --> 00:38:15,168
Party!

586
00:38:15,251 --> 00:38:18,421
The sexual overtones and graphic violence

587
00:38:19,422 --> 00:38:22,759
pushed politicians to shut the party down.

588
00:38:23,551 --> 00:38:26,513
I think that by manufacturing games
like Night Trap

589
00:38:27,130 --> 00:38:29,182
what in point of fact
these manufacturers are doing

590
00:38:29,265 --> 00:38:30,767
are endorsing that violence.

591
00:38:31,768 --> 00:38:34,395
[narrator] Senator Joe Lieberman called
for a congressional hearing

592
00:38:34,479 --> 00:38:36,231
on violence in video games,

593
00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:41,270
and Night Trap, along with Mortal Kombat,
took center stage.

594
00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:44,405
It has been... quite a leap 

595
00:38:45,310 --> 00:38:47,116
from Pac-Man to Night Trap.

596
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,411
Mortal Kombat and Night Trap
are not the kind of gifts 

597
00:38:50,495 --> 00:38:52,580
that responsible parents give.

598
00:38:52,664 --> 00:38:54,374
[screaming]

599
00:38:55,542 --> 00:38:59,671
[Riley] And of course they showed
the famous scene, Lisa in the bathroom,

600
00:38:59,754 --> 00:39:04,800
which, you know,
today would not play well with Me Too.

601
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:04,968
[laughs]

602
00:39:06,553 --> 00:39:08,346
[screaming]

603
00:39:08,429 --> 00:39:12,976
We're talking about video games
that too often glorify violence 

604
00:39:13,590 --> 00:39:16,646
and teach children to enjoy inflicting 

605
00:39:16,729 --> 00:39:20,650
the most gruesome forms
of cruelty imaginable.

606
00:39:20,733 --> 00:39:24,153
And it wasn't until I saw
the actual hearing

607
00:39:24,654 --> 00:39:28,366
and saw they had extracted certain scenes

608
00:39:28,449 --> 00:39:32,579
and done it in such a way
to make it look far worse than it was.

609
00:39:32,996 --> 00:39:38,334
It is easier for a mom to understand
the ingredients in a Hostess cupcake

610
00:39:38,418 --> 00:39:41,546
than it is to understand what's inside
that video game box.

611
00:39:42,463 --> 00:39:44,841
This is a copy of the packaging. 

612
00:39:44,924 --> 00:39:47,427
There was no rating on this game at all.

613
00:39:48,887 --> 00:39:50,805
[Jim] If Night Trap was good for anything,

614
00:39:50,889 --> 00:39:56,519
it was one of the ones that got the Senate
to set up the ratings systems for games.

615
00:39:57,353 --> 00:40:00,106
[narrator] The hearing led to
the creation of the ESRB,

616
00:40:00,940 --> 00:40:03,276
Entertainment Software Rating Board,

617
00:40:03,359 --> 00:40:05,612
which labels games just like movies: 

618
00:40:06,321 --> 00:40:08,781
all ages, T for teens,

619
00:40:09,157 --> 00:40:10,408
mature,

620
00:40:10,491 --> 00:40:13,161
and definitely not for kids.

621
00:40:14,203 --> 00:40:17,582
But while Night Trap and Mortal Kombat
took a beating in Washington,

622
00:40:19,626 --> 00:40:22,420
the games flew off the shelves,

623
00:40:23,212 --> 00:40:26,257
because if you tell kids
they can't have something,

624
00:40:26,341 --> 00:40:28,843
well, you know what happens.

625
00:40:28,927 --> 00:40:33,514
The truth is, it was the best sales pitch
that Night Trap could have asked for

626
00:40:33,598 --> 00:40:38,610
because we got international recognition
and sales went through the roof.

627
00:40:38,144 --> 00:40:41,481
We got a little tape of one of your games
that's called Night Trap.

628
00:40:41,564 --> 00:40:43,358
[reporter] This game is called Night Trap.

629
00:40:43,441 --> 00:40:47,111
[narrator] Night Trap
has now achieved full cult status.

630
00:40:47,195 --> 00:40:52,533
In 2018, Nintendo even released
a remastered anniversary edition.

631
00:40:52,992 --> 00:40:56,162
As for Mortal Kombat, kids,
time to cover your eyes.

632
00:40:56,245 --> 00:40:58,390
[grunting]

633
00:40:58,122 --> 00:41:00,917
Twenty-five years
and countless versions later,

634
00:41:01,709 --> 00:41:06,464
the grisly arcade hit is still
terrorizing parents everywhere.

635
00:41:06,547 --> 00:41:10,843
And its infamous fatalities
have gotten a bit of an upgrade.

636
00:41:12,929 --> 00:41:15,598
And the day after
the December Senate hearing,

637
00:41:16,265 --> 00:41:19,852
a new game blasted into
computer labs everywhere.

638
00:41:22,563 --> 00:41:26,192
It fired off the opening salvo
of a whole new genre

639
00:41:26,275 --> 00:41:30,446
of hyper-violent,
online multiplayer games.

640
00:41:32,532 --> 00:41:36,494
And the future of gaming
would become more experiential,

641
00:41:36,577 --> 00:41:38,246
more realistic,

642
00:41:38,329 --> 00:41:40,390
and would make Night Trap,

643
00:41:40,123 --> 00:41:42,458
well, kind of like child's play.