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90s video game commercials: a look back at a once-ubiquitous marketing style

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Phediuk

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Sep 10, 2013
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I saw the FF3 commercial in that Final Fantasy TV ads thread and was reminded of these. Remember 90s video game commercials? No matter what the tone of the game, what kind of characters it featured, what kind of it world it was set in, or how it played, almost every commercial from this era consisted of a short comedic skit full of "Xtreme Attitude".It was very common for games to be completely mispresented in their advertising, and I don't just mean that they didn''t show gameplay, I mean that, quite often, nothing about the commercials reflected the content of the games. Sega started this advertising style on the Genesis, and Nintendo followed suit by 1994, and so did Sony when the PS1 rolled around.

Here's a few examples:

Sega CD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQRcinZYH8

Genesis / 32X (1994): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4I8zIJrg1U

Final Fantasy 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d15qmRzn2Pc

Super Metroid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hGyky77uWE

Yoshi's Island (wafer thin mint anyone?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPJJQHF4tTo

Metal Gear Solid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smiFwL8ACNw

Ape Escape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0k_sbpVXw

Tomba 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48KlONhKBgA

Crash Bandicoot 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyHppQ1zhxM

Mario Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sScj7MwjHBs


Just a few of the dozens upon dozens in this vein that were made back then. Almost all of them were like this.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

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Ofcourse Sega's infamous Blast processing commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDpTLY6dpXQ

Young Bobby gets Streets of Rage 2 to help him deall with bullies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVPno1eYbVM

Sonic 2 infomercial (this is one of my favorites): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC_a4kxL8NI

"Hey, look at these r-r-r-adical colours!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK0OFsWWzu4

Only colour blind idiots buy Game Boys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cieXjddmpUY

Play it Loud, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FArjEUhBgP4

Phediuk said:
nothing about the commercials reflected the content of the games.
Click to expand...
You mean just like commercials today? Honestly showing pre-rendered CGI and no actual in game footage is still a thing for current generation game commercials. Like this for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF9n0yrINk8
 
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AniHawk

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Jun 7, 2004
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i think i've only seen the mgs commercial once, but i forgot about it. it's the funniest one of the bunch.

also, i'm not sure nintendo ever stopped making these kinds of things, but they started trying to tie it in to the game more and more, starting with super smash bros. 64.

pikmin 2 might be the closest to that style i can remember, but that was ten years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2m3NgZk7eE
 
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MastaKilla

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May 27, 2013
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man Sony's marketing was so much better! Not just those ps1 era Crash commercials but even into the ps2 era i remember those hilarious Socom commercials. Idk what happened!
 
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Bold One

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thank god for Sony's marketing, man the 90's did a terrible job advertising games before Sony came a long.


Dare I say they made gaming look kinda cool...
 
K

kinggroin

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Bold One said:
thank god for Sony's marketing, man the 90's did a terrible job advertising games before Sony came a long.


Dare I say they made gaming look kinda cool...
Click to expand...
Before they came along...in the 90's?

And Sega pulled the videogames=cool thing off way before Sony.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

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Bold One said:
thank god for Sony's marketing, man the 90's did a terrible job advertising games before Sony came a long.


Dare I say they made gaming look kinda cool...
Click to expand...
Sony's marketing wasn;t really any different from anyone elses back in the day... remeber the U R Not Read E!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7xPf28IXkU

Enos lives!

I still remeber the ealy pre-launch advertisements with some grunge band that advertised the console. I forget the name of the band, but it was pretty damn obscure.
 
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Led_Zeppelin

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Sep 11, 2013
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I know technically it isn't a commercial, but this one is one of my favorite part of the 90's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFQwwpMh2mU

The whole presentation is badass as hell and it doesn't try to fall short in how awesome this games are. I wish gaming companies have this attitude now, I guess I suffer of nostalgia for the 90's.
 
Skyr

Skyr

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I absolutely love that kinda style of 90s commercials.
All those crazy colors and weird camera angles.. it seems everyone was on acid back then.
Todays videogame commercials are all trying too hard to be badass and seriouz.
 
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AniHawk

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kinggroin said:
Before they came along...in the 90's?

And Sega pulled the videogames=cool thing off way before Sony.
Click to expand...
it was also part of a larger style that only started to change in the late 90s (ffvii and oot being some of the first mostly-serious commercials i think people can easily recall).

for instance, here are some oldschool popsicle commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwlMHJE82Mk

or hell, crossfire (although it isn't a skit/funny): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCwn1NTK-50

it's just the tone people were going for, especially when trying to get the kid demographic back then.
 
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biocat

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Man. That Sega CD commercial was so dope.

I used to watch this Turbografx 16 VHS of just all commercials--it was my favorite thing to watch as a kid--and every commercial was XTREME!! Loved it.

I really want to go find that tape and watch the hell out of it again.
 
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CyanideFuse

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At least adverts from back then would show real footage. I know technology was a lot different but how many adverts now say "Not in-game footage", or "Graphics representative of gameplay". In fact sometimes you don't even get that much.

Just show the actual game and at least 5 seconds of it and not some blink-and-you-have-missed-it footage.
 
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Bleepey

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You're a curious one aren't you.
No mortal Monday in this thread?!? No word of a lie, when I saw the commercial as a kid I screamed MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!! alongside the rest of my backward-cap, LA lights, wearing-a-shirt around my waist wearing kin. Some say they thought I looked like a tool, I know I looked totally radical.
 
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Kopyii

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Phediuk said:
It was very common for games to be completely mispresented in their advertising, and I don't just mean that they didn''t show gameplay, I mean that, quite often, nothing about the commercials reflected the content of the games.
Click to expand...
And thank heavens this absolutely doesn't happen in any modern video game commercial. Nope, deceptive advertising in the field of games aired its last advert in 1999 and wouldn't dare touch our pseudo-mature and ironically randumb commercials and sensibilities of today.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

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Bleepey said:
No mortal Monday in this thread?!? No word of a lie, when I saw the commercial as a kid I screamed MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!! alongside the rest of my backward-cap, LA lights, wearing-a-shirt around my waist wearing kin. Some say they thought I looked like a tool, I know I looked totally radical.
Click to expand...

Here you go Mortal Monday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8V7TwlYCt0

And ofcourse Sega had Sonic 2sday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8peXHWbnS8


Also, on the topic of Sega commercials, I remeber this annoying one that used to air during the early 90's, I think it was Canadian only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M91ZEdrVHYw

They all dressed up like Joey from Degrassi Junior High.
 
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ArkkAngel007

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Kopyii said:
And thank heavens this absolutely doesn't happen in any modern video game commercial. Nope, deceptive advertising in the field of games aired its last advert in 1999 and wouldn't dare touch our pseudo-mature and ironically randumb commercials and sensibilities of today.
Click to expand...
They're generally better than before, just as game coverage today is better than the magazines that were just as PR filled as today's online venues. Hopefully soon most of the CGI (though some like Infinite weren't too bad) and multimillion actor-fied commercials will die off and rely more on at least mixtures of cutscene and gameplay montages. Titanfall is a good, recent example.
 
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shuri

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Jun 8, 2004
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shuri

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Some choice cuts:

Game Gear vs Gameboy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQ1fP7dNEE

The most hype commericial ever, Mortal Kombat 2 coming tor consoles on FATAL FRIDAY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3va6exog8fw

Kirby SNES, I cant find the version with the exploding fat man in the restaurant with his guts everywhere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf-BJDG2ZvY

SNES - Play It Loud .. I remember the summer when that came out, that half a second of Mortal Kombat 2 footage was mind blowing back then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stvktzVjZJw

The ever classic "ITS JUST LIKE THE **** ARCADE MAN!!" for Killer instinct
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5wfPtn-BFo
 
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