In the nineties and early 2000s, YouTube did not yet exist, and the main marketing tool was television, where advertising was more daring, stubborn and hooligan than now.
In this article, we remember those fun days when the main character of the Crash Bandicoot series openly rolled a barrel at Mario, Sony promoted the console with the help of a creepy video with a scary doll, and SEGA declared that other companies did not like it at all competitors.
The very first Super Smash Bros. was released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. The fighting game was the first to offer a pool of fighters from Nintendo's acclaimed gaming franchises. One of the first advertisements for the game shows people dressed as Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Pikachu. They seem to look pretty, but at the same time they are caricatures.
The characters first walk hand in hand, but suddenly start beating each other. This hard-hitting ad was produced by KCL Productions, a company that produced trailers for Nintendo right up until the end of the GameCube console era. The authors could have taken a simpler path — to film something more pathetic and heartbreaking, as the creatives of the video representing the console release of the first part of the folk fighting game Mortal Kombat did.
In the nineties, marketers of the 16-bit Sega Genesis openly fought with Nintendo, trying to take away part of the audience and profits from their competitor. To do this, they openly stated that their console is more powerful. And not for children at all, but for progressive teenagers.
The laws of that time allowed such statements to be made in TV advertising, which advertisers took advantage of. For one of the advertisements, they even came up with a slogan that openly conveyed the thesis, the essence of which was that games on the Sega Genesis console are more adult, interesting and technically advanced. The slogan sounded like this (look closely at the spelling): «Genesis does what Nintendon't!»
Creatives from Sega in the nineties came up with a living symbol of the Saturn console — martial arts master Segata Sanshiro, played by actor Hiroshi Fujioka. He can rightfully be called the best and most outrageous mascot of a gaming console in history.
In Sega Saturn advertisements, he always appears in a kimono and often demonstrates karate and judo techniques without the help of stunt doubles, and openly demands that everyone around him play the Sega Saturn. In the videos, he can start beating people for no good reason and doing other outright nonsense. It's hard to describe, it's easier to see for yourself.
Segata Sanshiro disappeared from the media after the failure of the Sega Saturn, although the character still appeared in some Sega games. For example, he looked into Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Project X Zone 2.
In 2020, the character's work was continued by his son: in honor of its 60th anniversary, Sega filmed an advertisement with a new mascot — Sega Shiro. The talisman has a more meek disposition; he is still modest and youthful. Shiro was played by Maito Fujioka, the eldest son of Hiroshi Fujioka.
In the nineties, Sony was the second company after Sega to try to bring Nintendo down. After the release of the original PlayStation, competitors presented their mascot — the red-haired Crash Bandicoot. He became the main character of Crash Bandicoot, a vibrant 3D console-exclusive platformer that tried to compete with the Nintendo 64 hit Super Mario 64.
To introduce audiences to Crash, Sony prepared a series of commercials in 1996, which, as conceived by the authors, were supposed to discredit Nintendo games.
In one of those commercials, a man dressed as Crash drives up to Nintendo's headquarters and says to Mario over a loudspeaker that his days are numbered. Nowadays, no large company can afford to shoot such advertising.
As we know, the Crash Bandicoot game series, like Crash himself, is still alive, but Activision now owns the rights. The publisher this year will be acquired by Microsoft — Sony's main competitor in our days. We also know that Mario games are thriving, coming out on Nintendo consoles and selling tens of millions of copies. But «Crash» is not doing so well.
We highly recommend playing Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy if you like old school gameplay and a vibrant atmosphere.
Do you like old school game ads?
Take the pollWe are already talked about a surreal advertisement for the PlayStation 2, which was shot by David Lynch in the early 2000s. Therefore, one cannot help but ignore another video commissioned by Sony, promoting the PlayStation 3 in the middle of the decade.
In the mid-2000s, Sony allocated about $150 million to marketing the PlayStation 3. One of the first PS3 advertisements that the company launched to promote it is not inspiring, but rather uncomfortable and even scary. In it, the animated doll is in the same room with the console. At first she simply reaches for the console, but then it's as if a demon possesses her. In general, it's difficult to explain, you have to watch it.
After the frankly creepy advertising, Sony decided that in order to promote the PS3, they needed to find a relatable character who would inspire a sense of trust. To do this, the company came up with a fictitious corporate executive, Kevin Butler, who was always played by actor Jerry Lambert in PS3 advertisements.
In the ad, Butler plays basketball like a pro, fueled by adrenaline, and also talks about how cool it is to play Killzone 3 using a special slot machine for PS Move. In the videos, not without open irony and with a serious face, he explains to everyone why the PlayStation 3 and games for it are worth the attention of housewives, middle-aged hard workers, and are suitable for children and teenagers.
Today, the The Legend of Zelda series doesn't really need advertising. Even people who are not very familiar with games have at least heard something about Link and projects where he needs to fight evil and save Princess Zelda (or not).
But in the early nineties, new Link stories, despite the popularity of The Legend of Zelda series, needed to be advertised as brightly as possible. During the promotion of the largely mystical Link's Awakening for Game Boy, the company decided to advertise the game with real rap. And we included the Link's Awakening remake for Nintendo Switch in the TOP 10 games with the most fun gameplay. The game deserves it.
The Japanese went even further in promoting The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo console. In the commercial for the SNES hit, Link and other characters dance to funky hip-hop. The choreography is largely inspired by the work of Michael Jackson and his production team.
I would like to end with a heartfelt advertisement for the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS portable. It was filmed already in 2011, but it's impossible not to talk about it when talking about games about Link and Princess Zelda.
Many people know that the great, and, unfortunately, already deceased actor Robin Williams loved The Legend of Zelda series so much that he named his daughter after Princess Zelda. 11 years ago, in an advertisement for the remake of Ocarina of Time, he recalled the game in the frame, but was interrupted by his daughter, who asked if her father was talking about her.
By the way, the famous gaming aggregator Metacritic contributed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the TOP 50 best games released after 2010.
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There used to be a lot of strange, colorful and sometimes obsessive advertising for games and consoles. And this is good. Can you remember which advertisement from a bygone era stuck with you? Tell us in the comments.
Which advertisement from the article did you like best?
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