On Wednesday, November 25, the Alamo Drafthouse’s Alamo On Demand Digital Release platform will debut Insert Coin: The Midway Chronicles, the documentary on the rise and fall of legendary coin-op video game company Midway Games. The documentary is now available to preorder at ondemand.drafthouse.com.
Presented by Ten Point Oh Films, distributed by documentary film specialists Cargo Film & Releasing, and directed and edited by Joshua Tsui, Insert Coin is the definitive documentary on the life of Midway Games. The company helped define coin-op video games and gaming throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s with numerous iconic video games, including Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, NBA Jam, Narc, Rampage, Cruis'n USA, SmashTV, The Grid, and so many more.
In the accompanying press release announcing the documentary, Director Joshua Tsui called the documentary his love letter to Midway Games, adding that it is “the culmination of my work in and passion for the gaming industry blended with my love for visual storytelling.” The documentary comes from an authoritative source, as a younger Tsui worked on the Mortal Kombat franchise, and you can see him in-game as the face of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat IV.
Insert Coin features Midway Games’ history, from its start as “a ragtag team of game developers with a simple punk-rock design mantra: “there are no rules” and on up to the company’s peak years when they were creating one video game hit after another. The documentary also covers Midway’s significant influence on the video game industry’s transition from the era of coin-op machines to the era of console gaming.
“We’re thrilled to work with Joshua Tsui and his team to finally bring Insert Coin to fans,” said David Piperni, Founder of Cargo Film & Releasing. “Midway is so core to gaming’s DNA, and this documentary reminds us all of those great gaming moments from the past, right down to the sounds of Scorpion’s ‘Get over Here!’ to the ‘Boom Shakka Lakka’ of NBA Jam!”
Tsui features numerous video game personalities in the film, including acclaimed video game designer (Defender, Robotron: 2084) Eugene Jarvis, who developed the Cruis'n line of racing video games for Midway. Tsui also interviews team members who were involved in creating some of Midway’s hugest hit games, along with many other industry professionals involved in Midway’s moment in video game history.
For more info on Insert Coin: The Midway Chronicles, check out the official website, Alamo Drafthouse’s Alamo On Demand, and the Insert Coin documentary’s Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channels.
Source: Insert Coin