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Posts Tagged “
Commercial
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Dr. Mario Commercial
From way back in 1990 (can you believe that was already seventeen years ago?) comes this odd Dr. Mario commercial courtesy the fine folks at RetroGameVideos.com. It features a young teenager fighting the evil forces of some sort of bizarre voodoo witch doctor with a game of Dr. Mario. While it might not tell us a lot about the gameplay, it certainly teaches us a valuable lesson: Never play Dr. Mario against a witch doctor or you will find yourself looking like that creepy raisin headed guy from Beetlejuice and being forced to listen to a bastardized version of an Alvin and the Chipmunks song. Terrifying. More »
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Earthworm Jim Commercial
From the depths of 1994 comes this bizarre Earthworm Jim commercial. It features a kindly grandma telling the story of Earthworm Jim to a surrounding group of Disney-esque cast of cartoon animals. But things quickly sour as grandma goes from kindly to creepy in a manner of a few seconds. Those with weak constitutions or an aversion to old ladies eating worms may want to skip this one. More »
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Virtual Boy Commercial
Watch and witness how Nintendo tried to suck people into what was arguably one of their biggest flops. The soothing, semi-detached and slightly echo-y announcer's voice was even then synonymous with "artificial intelligence." (Thank you HAL 9000) And let's face it, a person telling you something is cool is one thing, but if a computer or robot tells you it's cool, then it must be true. So, if you've ever wondered how to market your own headache machine that will eventually become an industry joke and desktop novelty, now you know. More »
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Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Commercial (With Special Guest Appearance)
There's no hiding the fact that McWhertor loves the art style of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. In fact just the other day I believe I overheard the two discussing plans to elope. Love of a game is a beautiful thing, even when narrated by the gravel-voiced pitchman in a television commercial. Sorry Mike, your secret is out. Better still it's out in a sneak peek of a commercial that hasn't even aired yet.
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Super Scope 6 Commercial
With all the hoopla that was raised regarding the Wii Zapper and its similarity to using real guns, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at one of the Nintendo gun peripherals that would never be made today. The Super Scope 6 was not only gun like, but you rested the thing on your shoulder with the object of blowing things away whilst looking through the titular scope. I can only imagine the insane dialog that would ensue if this thing came out in 2008. "Won't someone please think of the children!!" More »
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Mini Me Does World of Warcraft
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Atari Pac-Man Commercial
RetroGameVideos.com is just a treasure trove of these great videos that I love to post. This one is for the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man (which incidentally is one of the worst versions ever) and features the hideous eighties novelty song "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner and Garcia who brought us such other hideous video game themed hits as Do The Donkey Kong, Ode To A Centipede and the enduring classic Goin Berzerk.
"Drop Atari Pac-Man into your Atari video computer system and you'll be playing the hottest game since Space Invaders!"
Indeed.
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Bayou Billy Commercial
It was a great retro gaming weekend for me (more on that later) and part of involved being given a disc with a bunch of old Nintendo commercials on it. I saw quite a few that I had posted here previously and some that I had not. After seeing the above video on the disc I knew I had to post it and figured the fine fellows over at RetroGameVideos must have it up on their site and lo and behold, they did.
There are just two things that bother me about this clip: the guy's dreadful "Cajun" accent and the odd construction of the beginning of the video. I mean, what the hell are we supposed to think that guy is doing with his hands? Oh... wrestling a gator... I see...
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From RetroGameVideos comes this Zelda II: The Adventures f Link commercial featuring yet another live action Link. It amazes me that in pretty much every commercial featuring a live action Link, they never actually look like Link. In this version we get some Fabio looking hippie Link running through a lot of dark empty hallways only to be met at the end by an invisible wall blocking his real self from entering Zelda's 8-bit room. Note the plug for the Ghostbusters II game at the end. So timely. More »
Zelda II Commercial
From RetroGameVideos comes this Zelda II: The Adventures f Link commercial featuring yet another live action Link. It amazes me that in pretty much every commercial featuring a live action Link, they never actually look like Link. In this version we get some Fabio looking hippie Link running through a lot of dark empty hallways only to be met at the end by an invisible wall blocking his real self from entering Zelda's 8-bit room. Note the plug for the Ghostbusters II game at the end. So timely. More »
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Wii Want to Play: Super Mario Galaxy
The latest in the Wii Want to Play TV advertising campaign focuses on Super Mario Galaxy. While the commercial isn't terribly exciting, just the thought of playing SMG on a giant movie theater screen just fills my heart with glee. Actually, the thought of playing any good game on a theater screen would be great but the fact that it's Mario makes it all the better. More »
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Japanese Kid Icarus Commercial
Here's a terrifically bizarre Japanese commercial for Kid Icarus circa 1986. Something that always strikes me about these 80's commercials, be they US or Japanese, is the absolute manic pace they seem to keep up. Everything is always amped up just a little too high. Of course, the kids (us) watching these things were usually just as amped up having just cracked out on giant bowls full of sugared cereal. It's a wonder we all didn't just explode.
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Another little treat from RetroGameVideos.com. Back in the days when they used to advertise magazine subscriptions on TV comes this seizure inducing commercial for Nintendo Power magazine. I've said it before and I'll say it again the eighties may have sucked in a lot of ways, but the video game (and related) commercials are the stuff dreams are made of however twisted those dreams may be. Get the power! More »
Nintendo Power Commercial
Another little treat from RetroGameVideos.com. Back in the days when they used to advertise magazine subscriptions on TV comes this seizure inducing commercial for Nintendo Power magazine. I've said it before and I'll say it again the eighties may have sucked in a lot of ways, but the video game (and related) commercials are the stuff dreams are made of however twisted those dreams may be. Get the power! More »
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Just can't get enough of that Super Mario Galaxy footage? Are you burning with a SMG fever that just can't be quenched? Well this might help a little. Here are two new SMG commercials from Japan featuring some gameplay that you might not have seen before. Each one has different footage, so be sure to make the jump to check out the other one. More »
Super Mario Galaxy Japanese Ads
Just can't get enough of that Super Mario Galaxy footage? Are you burning with a SMG fever that just can't be quenched? Well this might help a little. Here are two new SMG commercials from Japan featuring some gameplay that you might not have seen before. Each one has different footage, so be sure to make the jump to check out the other one. More »
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It's been a while since I've posted one of these old commercials so I figured it was high time for a little retro gaming advertising goodness. For your consideration is this Atari 2600 Pifall commercial circa 1980 something. I guess they hadn't yet found the uber talent that is Jack Black to push their game so they decided to go with a bunch of crusty old British Explorer types and a completely bonkers American guy. Not quite the same somehow... except for the completely bonkers part. Interesting to note that they actually mention the name of the game's creator at the end as a selling point
Atari 2600 Pitfall Commercial
It's been a while since I've posted one of these old commercials so I figured it was high time for a little retro gaming advertising goodness. For your consideration is this Atari 2600 Pifall commercial circa 1980 something. I guess they hadn't yet found the uber talent that is Jack Black to push their game so they decided to go with a bunch of crusty old British Explorer types and a completely bonkers American guy. Not quite the same somehow... except for the completely bonkers part. Interesting to note that they actually mention the name of the game's creator at the end as a selling point
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Commodore Vic-20 Commercial With William Shatner
It's the wonder computer of the 1980's! Or at least so says William Shatner in this old commercial for the Commodore Vic-20. Not only does he think it's great, but even takes a jab at good old Atari and Intellivision. After all, Atari and Intellivision don't have a real computer keyboard! And it's under $300 which according to the inflation calculator would be about $800 today. A true bargain.
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Geometry Wars Hates Particle Man
This advertisement for Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Nintendo Wii and DS gets it completely right and completely wrong at the same time. On the one hand, it does use They Might Be Giants' Particle Man in possibly the only commercial instance that would ever make sense for the song. On the other hand, it doesn't use the original version of the song, the producers apparently unaware of the fact that 50% of the song's charm is the Johns' delivery. That and Universe Man's random exclamation is going to give me nightmares. What the hell is he even saying?
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This almost makes me not want to play the game, and I'd been waiting for it since it was first announced.
Live Action Jeanne d'arc
This almost makes me not want to play the game, and I'd been waiting for it since it was first announced.
