What's the ad for?
Taito video games for the NES
Year
1988
Taito video games for the NES
Year
1988
Spotted in...
The Scoop
Renegade was a "immediate technological predecessor to Double Dragon". Similar to Double Dragon, you also get to beat up women. The game was a westernized conversion of a Japanese game called "Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun". Which when roughly translated means to "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio". Nice!
Elevator Action was a much older game. It first came out in the arcades in 1983. It was intended to be ported over to the Atari 2600 but never made it.
The Legend of Kage first appeared in arcades in 1985 followed by this NES release in 1987.
Arkanoid came packaged with the controller pictured below.
The controller was called the Vaus and was the rarest of controllers released for the NES. The game and controller were never sold separately and today fetch a pretty penny on eBay. I'm talking hundreds of dollars.
So this ad looks to me to be giving games that were not new releases a second push. I would assume that is why there is four games featured in the ad and not one. Taito already made a push with these games the years they came out.
Another thing that jumps out at me is the way the video game industry was centered around the arcade. It was similar to the movie and book industry where you would find a film or book being first released in the theater or hardcover format, followed by a release on VHS or softcover at a later date. You don't see that anymore.
So this ad looks to me to be giving games that were not new releases a second push. I would assume that is why there is four games featured in the ad and not one. Taito already made a push with these games the years they came out.
Another thing that jumps out at me is the way the video game industry was centered around the arcade. It was similar to the movie and book industry where you would find a film or book being first released in the theater or hardcover format, followed by a release on VHS or softcover at a later date. You don't see that anymore.
I used to have the Elevator Action arcade game when I was in college. Bought it from a comic book store that was going out of business for next to nothing and had it up until I got engaged. In fact, sold it to help pay for the ring. We both wish I didn't make that sale. We loved that game!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories,
Brian
Wow that's cool. What I would have done to have an upright arcade game in my living room. Alas I live in a small apartment in downtown Vancouver. Never going to have the space for that.
DeleteI also had Captain America and the Avengers, Rampage and Tetris. All I got now is my X-Files pinball machine but I hope to add to our basement arcade here in the future. Got my eyes and a great condition Xenophobia game from a local seller that I hope I can get pretty cheap but I guess I should get that new rook on the 'ol homestead first.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up sucks,
Brian