• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

1991 TV news story: 'Parents Upset Over a New Nintendo Console"

Mindman

Member
akihara said:
Feel free to take this all with a grain of salt, but the story that follows is all TRUE:

That is MY hand putting the Super Mario World cartridge into the Super Famicom at the 37 second mark. This is a local news story (from where I don't know) that is made up mostly of clips from a national NBC Nightly News story that I appeared in in August of 1991. The therapy section, the woman in the store (the Toys R Us I worked in at the time), and my hand all come from the NBC story. Most of the in game footage looks direct feed, and I don't remember the NBC crew taking that during my filming, so I cannot verify the source of the 'Super Mario 4' title screen. But I think I remember it saying that on the title screen of my own copy.

At the time, Nintendo would not supply NBC with any footage of SNES games, so that is why they spoke to me, so they could at least get some footage of the thing. I did appear in the original NBC story as well, but the local channel obviously cut me out. Since it was '91, I only had a VHS copy of it but that has since been lost in the mists of time. So imagine my surprise when I check out GAF today and see this! I contacted the guy who posted this on Youtube and asked him if he had the original story too. No response so far.

And that is NOT me playing F-ZERO. I had much better skills than that, like those of a 9 or 10 year old at least.

This just goes to show the wide reach of NeoGAF. Cool story!
 

Hazelhurst

Member
Grooveraider is awesome. He has a bunch of exclusive retro videos like these. Subscribe to him if you liked this video.

I love retro gaming. It was such a simpler time.
 

Medalion

Banned
I'm not a parent, but I am upset about a new Nintendo console in 2011

We should have one Nintendo console to rule em ALL
 

ghibli99

Member
Sweet. That's from KNBC where I grew up. I remember not telling my parents that I bought a SNES at the local mall back in '91. When my mom saw it in my room, her exact words were, "What?! Now you're going to have to buy all new games!!" Right, my thoughts exactly! LOL

My favorite console ever.
 
That f-zero segment was worth it, so amazing haha. He couldn't make the jump though :(

I need to ask my dad how he got my snes, I was about 2 or 3 when it came out but he still got it , my dad is awesome :D
 

Peagles

Member
Watch Da Birdie said:
"If you're a real good player, meaning you have the skill of a nine or ten year old, you can even try to jump your car"

*crashes*

Haha I just lost it at this bit! It doesn't seem that the media has changed an ounce in regards to reporting about video games...

I love watching old stuff like this, it's nice to get a fresh (stale?) perspective.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
I'd love to see a gif made of the guy driving the car during the F-Zero part.

"It's so easy even casuals can play it!" *explodes*
 

Truckondo

Banned
Brings back old memories. I remember picking up the SNES at the local ToysRus about a week before release date. I had saved up my money during the summer and had to beg my dad to take me to the store which was 20 minutes away. I also picked up Super Mario and F-Zero. The console still works and is sitting in a box at my parents house.
 

FGMPR

Banned
ghibli99 said:
Sweet. That's from KNBC where I grew up. I remember not telling my parents that I bought a SNES at the local mall back in '91. When my mom saw it in my room, her exact words were, "What?! Now you're going to have to buy all new games!!" Right, my thoughts exactly! LOL

My favorite console ever.

This was the exact reason my parents never bought me a Megadrive :(
 

Soul_Pie

Member
Hahah. Reminds me a lot of my parents views on videogames. They bought us a playstation back in the day on the basis that they thought you could play all the games pictured on the back of the box right away. When I told them that you had to buy the games separately they were very confused.

They hated whenever a new console came out. "But it's just the same as the last one."
 

Unicorn

Member
Gamemaster.png
 

ShyGuy

Member
Truckondo said:
Brings back old memories. I remember picking up the SNES at the local ToysRus about a week before release date. I had saved up my money during the summer and had to beg my dad to take me to the store which was 20 minutes away. I also picked up Super Mario and F-Zero. The console still works and is sitting in a box at my parents house.
You fail for having it at your parent's house!

Bending_Unit_22 said:
Yeah, I had to argue my case for getting a SNES in front of my mother and a couple aunts. That was one thing that shocked them, the others were why didn't I want 4 NES games instead and (since they weren't familiar with the concept of having more than 1 thing hooked up to a TV) what good would that NES that so much was spent on so recently be?
Wait...so you had to PITCH your own receiving of a SNES?

Wow!
 

jk-mox

Neo Member
TheNatural said:
But watch out! If you lose, the game lets you know your stay-tus!
This was one of the major improvements offered by the SNES. With NES, I rarely knew just exactly what my standing was in any given game. The SNES's high-tech "status chip" changed all of that.

Thanks, Nintendo!
 

JaseMath

Member
What the hell - they spoiled the ending to SMW...before lots of folks got a chance to even play it! RAAAAGGE - I'd have been so upset if I saw that as a kid.
 

Jive Turkey

Unconfirmed Member
Wow Colleen that's some hair you have there.

To be fair to some of the parent reactions I remember the day I heard I was going to have to buy a whole new system to play the next Mario game. I was crushed. The next day I resolved to save up any and all cash I could to buy it myself since I knew my parents wouldn't.
 
dallow_bg said:
Those kids talking about why they play games just about brought a tear to my eye.
Everything I've forgotten and lost about modern games.

huh? those kids are my generation which are now in our mid-late 20s and as a whole are probably more into gaming then we were back then. Aside from a very small few, most games back then were poorly made. Today we have games of much higher quality and so much variety from WoW to Borderlands, DJ Hero to Catherine, Mortal Kombat to street Fighter. Modern Gaming is way better.
 

maxxpower

Member
Anticitizen One said:
huh? those kids are my generation which are now in our mid-late 20s and as a whole are probably more into gaming then we were back then. Aside from a very small few, most games back then were poorly made. Today we have games of much higher quality and so much variety from WoW to Borderlands, DJ Hero to Catherine, Mortal Kombat to street Fighter. Modern Gaming is way better.

Even though some games are better(there's a lot of retro games that are still damn good), it just doesn't feel the same now that we're older(I'm 22). I guess playing a new game just felt more "magical" when I was a kid.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Anticitizen One said:
huh? those kids are my generation which are now in our mid-late 20s and as a whole are probably more into gaming then we were back then. Aside from a very small few, most games back then were poorly made. Today we have games of much higher quality and so much variety from WoW to Borderlands, DJ Hero to Catherine, Mortal Kombat to street Fighter. Modern Gaming is way better.
I'm one of those kids, started with 2600 as a 5 year old.

Games are higher quality technically sure.
But that's not what I'm talking about. I mean my own imagination regarding games.
 
maxxpower said:
Even though some games are better(there's a lot of retro games that are still damn good), it just doesn't feel the same now that we're older(I'm 22). I guess playing a new game just felt more "magical" when I was a kid.

Sounds like you haven't played Alice:Madness Returns yet
 
whitehawk said:
2:48

Talks about how Nintendo believes that graphics aren't everything, you need good games.

Interesting how Nintendo hasn't changed their philosophy for over 20 years.

Unless you count the part where they released the Super Nintendo, a console with superior sound and graphical capabilities compared to the Sega Genesis.
 

Stuart444

Member
So I was doing a bit of searching around GAF and I ended up running into this thread.

I've been looking for the video in the Op for a while (remember seeing it a long while back but could never find it again) :D glad to see it was posted here.

I don't remember much from this era (or how it was in the UK since the video is from an American broadcast) but I don't even remember hearing the word "picture" and I laughed even more at the whole "Skill of a 9 or 10 year old" haha.

I wonder how they feel in retrospect with the prices of consoles today.
 
Top Bottom