Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era (2021)

Video Games: The New Masters of the World

In thirty years, the video game has conquered an increasingly wide audience. Drawing on the recent work of economists, sociologists, experts and interviewing major players in this field, this investigation unravels the overwhelming domination of this new mass media.

Second Skin

Second Skin takes an intimate look at three sets of computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by online virtual worlds. An emerging genre of computer software called Massively Multiplayer Online games, or MMOs, allows millions of users to interact simultaneously in virtual spaces. Of the 50 million players worldwide, 50 percent consider themselves addicted.

Atari: Game Over

The Xbox Originals documentary that chronicles the fall of the Atari Corporation through the lens of one of the biggest mysteries of all time, dubbed “The Great Video Game Burial of 1983.” Rumor claims that millions of returned and unsold E.T. cartridges were buried in the desert, but what really happened there?

Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution

A feature documentary on the history of video games. From 'Pong', 'Pac Man' and 'Mario' to 'Call of Duty', 'Grand Theft Auto' and everything in between it tells the story of how this industry was created, by whom and where it is headed.

The Making of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Director Hidemaro Fujibayshi discusses the process and journey of creating The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Producer Eiji Aonuma discusses the importance of creating a game where players could be free to explore.

The Making of Fallout 3: The Vault-Tec Files

Documentary exploring the making of the third installment of the popular post-apocalyptic roleplaying game series Fallout. The Making of Fallout 3 features behind the scenes footage, concept art and was only made available to people who had purchased the collectors edition of the game.

Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story

The story of the skaters and developers who came together to create one of the best-selling games of all time, changing the skateboarding scene and pop culture forever.

Video Games: The Movie

From executive producer Zach Braff and director Jeremy Snead, "Video Games: The Movie" is an epic feature length documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of video games from nerd niche to multi-billion dollar industry. Narrated by Sean Astin and featuring in-depth interviews with the godfathers who started it all, the icons of game design, and the geek gurus who are leading us into the future, "Video Games: The Movie" is a celebration of gaming from Atari to Xbox and an eye-opening look at what lies ahead.

From Dreams - Making "The Last of Us: Left Behind"

Go behind-the-scenes to explore the themes of love and loss and how The Last of Us: Left Behind single player story chapter was created.

10 Years of Tomb Raider: A GameTap Retrospective

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: 10 Years profiles the creators, the games, the live-action models, and the fans who have collectively made Tomb Raider a pop culture phenomenon.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

In this hilarious arcade showdown, a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable, but Mitchell isn't ready to relinquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.

Easy to Learn, Hard to Master: The Fate of Atari

Before Google, Yahoo and even Apple, before the Silicon Valley cliché of informal dress code, skateboards running the corridors and wild creativity became commonplace, one company embodied the digital economy lifestyle and business style: the one firm coming out of the Age of Aquarius was Atari. The story of Atari is two-thirds the story of Nolan Bushnell, founder and visionary, and one-third the first and probably biggest boom and bust of the new economy some 20 years before the new economy even existed. Atari was showing that technology is cool, way before the personal computer revolution took place and they were reaching out to an ever-growing audience with something that is still cool today: video games. Atari literally introduced the digital world to the mass consciousness.

League of Legends: Origins

Fans, experts and creators of “League of Legends” detail the game’s rise from free demo to global esports titan.

Insert Coin

The oral history of a team of geeks and misfits in the back of a Chicago factory creating the biggest video games of all time. Midway Games pioneered the concept of live-action gaming, kick-starting a new arcade boom and grossing billions of dollars with hits like Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. The documentary covers much of Mortal Kombats history, including the creation of fatalities and characters such as Liu Kang, Kitana, Johnny Cage and Scorpion.

Making Fun: The Story of Funko

From a small garage in Redmond, Washington, to the furthest corners of the earth, Funko's story is one that is centered around the fans and the global community that arose from their unique passion - a story that spans twenty years full of joy, ambition, adversity, and... well... toys.

Brian and the Boz

In some ways, Barry Switzer and Brian Bosworth were made for each other. The Oklahoma coach and the linebacker he recruited to play for him were both out-sized personalities who delighted in thumbing their noses at the establishment. And in their three seasons together (1984-86), the unique father-son dynamic resulted in 31 wins and two Orange Bowl victories as Bosworth was awarded the first two Butkus Awards. But then Bosworth's alter ego: "The Boz," took over both their lives and ultimately destroyed their careers. In "Brian and The Boz," Bosworth looks back on the mistakes he made and passes on the lessons he learned to his son. It's a revealing portrait of a man who had and lost it all, and a trip back to a time when enough just wasn't enough.

Becoming Jessica Nigri

A portrait of cosplayer Jessica Nigri, from a magical childhood growing up with quirky parents in New Zealand, to entering middle school in the U.S. where she was mercilessly teased for her "nerdy" interests.

The New 8-bit Heroes

The New 8-Bit Heroes began after discovering childhood illustrations of a proposed game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Embarking on a quest with fellow creatives, Granato and his team set out to retrofit their skills to realize the abandoned ambition of developing a brand new, cartridge based game for the 30 year old console. What began as a novelty project about making a video game quickly shifts into an analysis of the relevance of the ambitions shed in our youth and an examination of what happens when we inject them into our adult lives.

Beyond the Wasteland

Shot in Australia, USA, Italy, France, Germany, and Japan, Beyond the Wasteland follows the fans from around the world who go to extraordinary lengths in the name of Mad Max. Transporting us into the world of Mad Max, we explore the eccentric world of the fans, their costumes, and their machines as these oddball fans find their place amongst the Mad Max community. The documentary also follows original cast member, Bertrand Cadart as he continues his fight against stage IV leukemia and travels from his home on the Sunshine Coast to the “Wasteland,” the desert location of Mad Max 2 in Silverton, for the last time. Beyond the Wasteland not only celebrates life but the ability to change oneself through passion.

Playing Columbine

Chronicles the history of the game "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!." The film traces back the 16-bit role-playing game to its inception, through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter, and finally the game's removal from the list of finalists at the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition - prompting half the entries and a sponsor to pull out of the festival in protest. Written by tolka

Not a Game

This documentary offers an honest look at our fraught, complex relationship to video games from the perspectives of gamers and their concerned parents.

World of Warcraft: Looking For Group

An all-new documentary celebrating 10 years of adventure, camaraderie, and /dancing on mailboxes all around Azeroth. Explore the history of WoW with its creators, and journey into corners of Blizzard and the WoW community you’ve never seen before.

The Gleaners and I

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

STREET FIGHTER SAGA ~Kakutou Bushiden~ Famitsu DVD Video

This DVD covers all works from the original Street Fighter to Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future. The contents that explain each work include not only the full recording of the advertisement videos, but also a complete description of the system description and basic techniques of game, the techniques that were popular at the time, and the super fan material related to the series.

Playing Hard

The human tale behind the creation of a blockbuster game.

Freaks & Errors: A Rare Collection

Obsession, love, money, and postage. Freaks and Errors: A Rare Collection, is the first, independent documentary film that reveals the rarely seen, expectedly eccentric and surprisingly large world of stamp collecting.

From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years

A feature documentary that explores the influence of the Commodore Amiga and how it took video game development, music and publishing to a whole new level and changed the video games industry forever.

The Hobby

Follows longtime collectors and a new generation of buyers from the trading card industry, diving deep into the real-time trading card fever as the hobby goes nuclear.

GameStop: Rise of the Players

From the makers of Console Wars comes the origin story of the GameStop stock market phenomenon, featuring exclusive access to the original players who lit the fuse on a historic amateur investor uprising. Spotlighting the human side of a sensational business drama, this documentary is a David vs Goliath tale about ordinary people waking up to the power they have in numbers.

Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters

A documentary that captures the greatest world record Tetris players as they prepare for the Classic Tetris World Championship. From the days of Thor Aackerlund and his historic victory at the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, right up to the present and Harry Hong's perfect "Max-Out" score, this documentary expertly chronicles over two decades of Tetris Mastery.

Knit's Island

Somewhere on the internet is a land where communities pretend to live out a survivalist fiction. The avatars of the directors of Knit’s Island spent 963 hours there, creating a fascinating film resulting from their encounter with these communities. The “players” reveal their fears and fantasies, in an at times unsettling blurring of the real and the virtual.

The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

As Solid Snake is about to undergo another sneaking mission, he gets a call on his Codec. Expecting Otacon, he proceeds to answer and explains that he's about to start the mission. However, the caller is actually revealed to be Hideo Kojima, who requests Snake's help as he fears his project had been leaked. He then proceeds to explain the development process alongside a narrator, also using some game footage.

Behind the Wall: The Making of Skyrim

Behind the Wall: The Making of Skyrim contains exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, including interviews with the Bethesda Game Studios team as they take you from concept to creation and provide insights into the story, gameplay, setting, legacy of the Elder Scrolls franchise, and much more.

Hot Wheels: 50th Anniversary Special

Hot Wheels and Bobcat Studios are partnering to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the most popular — and disruptive — toy in the world, Hot Wheels.

Life 2.0

This feature-length documentary follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by a virtual world -- reshaping relationships, identities, and ultimately the very notion of reality.

The Lost Arcade

Chinatown Fair opened as a penny arcade on Mott Street in 1944. Over the decades, the dimly lit gathering place, known for its tic-tac-toe playing chicken, became an institution, surviving turf wars between rival gangs, changing tastes and the explosive growth of home gaming systems like Xbox and Playstation that shuttered most other arcades in the city. But as the neighborhood gentrified, this haven for a diverse, unlikely community faced its strongest challenge, inspiring its biggest devotees to next-level greatness.

Console Wars

In 1990, SEGA, a fledgling arcade company assembled a team of misfits to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pit brother against brother, kids against grownups, Sonic against Mario, and uniquely American capitalism against centuries-old Japanese tradition. For the first time ever, the men and women who fought on the front lines for Sega and Nintendo discuss this battle that defined a generation.

Let's Play Live: The Documentary

An exploration of why Let’s Plays are so popular, as well as how the convergence of gaming and community are redefining the stages once reserved for only the biggest of rock stars.

The Name of the Game

The Name of the Game is a feature-length documentary about the team up between the legendary arcade game designer, Eugene Jarvis, and the Finnish game developer, Housemarque. The end result of the collaboration was the critically acclaimed PS4/PC title Nex Machina. The film gives the audience an unprecedented access to the unpredictable and plain crazy world of making a video game – uncensored.

Metal Gear Saga: Vol. 1

Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1 features an in-depth documentary-style video feature that details the Metal Gear series' epic narrative, from beginning to end. Spanning five games and just as many decades of fictional history, Metal Gear Saga ties together the game's complex narrative in chronological order, from the 1960's-with the heroic origins of Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater-to the cliffhanger conclusion of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, set in the early 21st century. Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima also appears in a series of candid interviews, recounting the origins of the series and sharing its secrets, such as the original setting of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, his thoughts on the infamous NES game Snake's Revenge, and what gamers can look forward to in the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4.

Metal Gear Saga: Vol. 2

Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 narrates the fictional events of the Metal Gear storyline beginning with Metal Gear Solid 3 and up to the events leading to Metal Gear Solid 4. The documentary centers around an undisclosed narrator (voiced by Masane Tsukuyama in Japanese and Guy Perryman in English) attempting to track Solid Snake down and narrates the history surrounding him, his father Big Boss (Naked Snake) and his brothers Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake.

Not for Resale

A feature-length documentary on local video game stores and the final days of physical media.

Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe

Charlie Brooker sets his caustic sights on video games. Expect acerbic comment as he looks at the various genres, how they have changed since their early conception and how the media represents games and gamers. Features interviews with Dara O Briain, sitcom scribe Graham Linehan and Rab and Ryan from Consolevania.

8 Bit Generation: The Commodore Wars

The rise and fall of Commodore computers in the 70s and 80s as described by the people who created the companies and technologies.

Super Seducer 2 - The Dark Side of Seduction?

The Dark Side of Seduction is the Super Seducer 2 documentary. Culled from over 200 hours of footage, the documentary follows Richard La Ruina and the team as they go from pre-production to completion. See behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew, as they struggle with making a sequel to one of the most controversial games ever. Get unparalleled access to the team, and gain insight into the process of making the world's biggest ever FMV game. The team battle with the question of whether they are doing something evil or actually doing something that will make the world a better place.

Man vs. Snake

1984. One shiny quarter. 44.5 hours of continuous play. The race to be the first gamer in history to score one BILLION points. Until recently, Timothy McVey (not the terrorist) thought he had — for all these years — held the world record on Nibbler.

Operation: Jane Walk

The war zone of a dystopian multiplayer shooting game is used to embark some urban explorers on a winter walk, avoiding the combats whenever possible, as peaceful observers, inhabitants of a digital world, which is a detailed replica of Midtown Manhattan.

Celluloid Bloodbath

DEFINITION: 'Celluloid' - Motion picture film, cinema film. 'Bloodbath' - Savage, indiscriminate killing, a massacre. CELLULOID BLOODBATH: MORE PREVUES FROM HELL - the long-awaited sequel to 1987's horror cult classic, MAD RON'S PREVUES FROM HELL. An awesome collection of 61 over-the-top horror movie prevues, from the golden Grindhouse age, spanning the 1960's through the 1980's! Also features commentary from film makers, actors, critics and fans, that make this a true, incredibly entertaining, one-of-a-kind movie-going experience!

The Story of Nintendo

Over 133 years in the making, from humble beginnings manufacturing 'Hanufuda' cards came one of the world's most recognized videogame companies, from the birth of Mario and Luigi to Donkey Kong and Zelda... to beating its competition and presenting itself as a platform for quality games and strong values. This is the story of Nintendo.