Super C and Snakes Revenge - Terrorists go Nuke!

What's the ad for?

Super Contra
Year
1990

Spotted in...

The Scoop

Bill and Lance are back...and this time they mean business. Snake is back too...he also means business. Here are two sequels of highly popular games ported to the NES that were not marketed as sequels. Super C if of course a sequel to Contra while Snakes Revenge is a sequel to Metal Gear. Snakes Revenge is an interesting one as it was only released in the North American and PAL markets and not Japan. Here is what the Metal Gear Wiki has to say about the game...

"It was made as a direct sequel to the NES version of the original Metal Gear. Snake's Revenge was the first game in the Metal Gear series made without the involvement of creator Hideo Kojima, although members of the development team previously worked with Kojima on the original MSX2 version of Metal Gear. It is not part of the series' canon. The game is generally hated by fans of the series due to its removal from the series' canon, and is considered by most to have nothing to do with the Metal Gear series at all."

The Activision Decathlon

What's the ad for?

The Activision Decathlon
Year
1985

Spotted in the inside back cover of...

 

The Scoop

 This was a unique ad for it's visual appearance. It looked like no other ad out there, especially for a video game. The Activision Decathlon was murder on your Atari or other game console joystick (controller for those young ones out there). Repeated back and forth motion, tap, tap, tap! A systems lifetime of use in a few hours of play.

Demon Sword - Master the Power

What's the ad for?

Demon Sword
Year
1990

Spotted in...

The Scoop

 I'm always surprised by the regional differences in video games. It's not an uncommon occurrence or at least it never used to be. I'm not sure if they still make as many changes between Japanese and North American releases. Take for instance Demon Sword. The version released in Japan has several more stages along with several more bosses. There are also more items and magic spells in the Japanese version. Along with the added difficulty of more levels and more bosses, a Japanese player was rewarded with an ending featuring extra scenes and text that was cut out of the North American release. 

It's not all bad. Here in North America we got a life meter while in Japan they only got a life count. The box art is also vastly different. Now that I can understand. See the Japanese box art below.

image from www.gamefaqs.com

Kool-Aid Man battles The Thirsties!

What's the ad for?

Kool-Aid Man- Video Game
Year
1983

Spotted in...

The Scoop

"Oh Yeah!" 

That's what a fun-loving, giant pitcher of Kool-Aid says as he bursts through the wall of your living room, destroying your furniture and causing thousands of dollars of damage. Some call him a mascot while others call him a home-grown terrorist. Either way don't you find it funny that he's always carrying a smaller version of himself? Why not just pour some Kool-Aid from himself.

Video of actual game play...

And the Kool-Aid man as featured in The Family Guy

 

Publish Post

Konami hand-held games

What's the ad for?

Konami hand-held games
Year
1990

Spotted in...

Double Dragon 3 - Deadly Weapons!

What's the ad for?

Double Dragon 3 for the Sega Genesis
Year
1993

Spotted in...

The Scoop

The third but not the last game in the Double Dragon franchise was not a well received game. Interesting to note the differences between the Japanese and Western versions of the game. In the Japanese version you could choose characters while in the Western version there were weapon shops where you could purchase weapons and extra moves. I wonder why they make regional differences in games like these? Why, Why?

Arch Rivals- Basket Brawl

What's the ad for?

Arch Rivals for the NES
Year
1991

Spotted in...

The Scoop

Unlike other basketball video games, the appeal of Arch Rivals was that you could punch your opponent in the face to steal the ball. It was the Road Rash of the the basketball set, albeit a first-gen predecessor. One of the characters from the game, Tyrone, was even featured in the animated Power Team segments that appeared in Video Power TV series.

WWF Superstars for the Gameboy

What's the ad for?
WWF Superstars for the Nintendo Gameboy
Year
1991

Spotted in...

The Scoop

One more ad for the week and another wrestling themed one to boot. From what some would call the glory days of wresting (some being anyone who was 12 years old in 1991) comes WWF Superstars. Featuring all your favorite wrestlers; The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, "Macho King" Randy Savage, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, and Mr. Perfect. Check out the sweet graphics and game-play below. 

Splatterhouse....It's only a game

What's the ad for?
Splatterhouse for the TurboGrafx 16
Year
1991

Spotted in...

The Scoop

 I remember that when Splatterhouse came out 22 years ago, it caused a small stir. It was violent and bloody and...not much of a big deal when you look back at it. It was one of the first games in North America to receive a Parental Advisory sticker. Of coarse the game looks pretty crappy compared to today's standards (see video below). This is no Dead Space. The TurboGrafx version was a toned down version of the arcade original. Maybe the arcade version was scarier. 

You can play a browser version here.

 

Monster bone(ers) and Shi(f)t Happens

 

What's the ad for?
Kemco video games for Nintendo systems

 Year
1992

Spotted on the back cover of...

The Scoop

Kemco was best known for their Top Gear driving games, but that's besides the point. What were they thinking with these ads? Who was the target audience? I guess they weren't kids, or perhaps they thought they could hit both the kids and the teen/adult comic reader. "Shift Happens" is okay, kinda funny. "Get a Monster Bone"? That one missed the mark in my book. The copy is full of puns. Ghoulfriend, Bone Voyage. Perhaps it fits with the theme. They certainly grabbed your attention with the large, provocative black text.

What do you think? Do these ads work?

Target: Renegade

What's the ad for?
Target: Renegade for the NES
Year
1990

Spotted in...

 

The Scoop

Wow. That dude looks intense. This ad boasts "Sound effect so real you can feel the punches" and "Graphics so real their looks could kill." I'll let you judge for yourself. To me it looks like a Double Dragon rip-off. It was however, popular enough for a group of individuals to create a Windows-based remake entitled Target; 2006. Also interesting is the box cover art.

It's a total ripoff of the cover to Joe Lewis's book "World's Greatest Fighter Teaches You How To Master Bruce Lee's Fighting System". I wonder if Lewis ever received any money for that?

 

 

Taito - Bring out the hero in you!

What's the ad for?
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.

Bubble Bobble is Dino-Might!

What's the ad for?
Bubble Bobble for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in...

The Scoop

A great game from the eighties. When theme meant little, if nothing. I mean, come on, dinosaurs blowing bubbles? Works for me!

Two Ways to Win in the Ring...

What's the ad for?
WrestleMania for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted on the back of...

The Scoop

 

Operation Wolf

What's the ad for?
Operation Wolf for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in

The Scoop

As a kid I used to sneak into an arcade called Fridays to play Operation Wolf. It was a unique game for it's time as you played the game by shooting a life-sized Uzi!

Friday's was the only arcade in town that had Operation Wolf. The arcade was dark and had loud music playing. It was the"older kids" arcade. I mean, you could probably buy pot from somebody there.

(see photo below)

 

. As a result our folks didn't allow us to go there.We had to go to the arcade attached to the comic shop. It was an okay arcade but after awhile you get tired of playing Contra and Double Dragon. We wanted to play the new games, games like Operation Wolf. I was pretty happy to see the game come out on the NES...yet it wasn't quiet the same. Maybe it was the added danger of playing the game in the older kids arcade.

TurboGrafx-16

What's the ad for?
TurboGrafx-16 video game console
Year
1990

Spotted in

The Scoop

I remember being pretty impressed with by ads for the TurboGrafx-16 system when it first came out. 

 

 

Not because it seemed better it's contemporaries, Nintendo and Sega, but because it seemed exotic. No one I knew had one. Then while keeping my cousin company while she was babysitting, I got to try Keith Courage in Alpha Zones . The household had a TurboGrafx-16 and she called me over to play it with her once she had put the kids to sleep. The first thing I noticed was that there was only one port for a control pad. What kind of video game console has only one controller? In reality you could have up to five people playing the system but you needed to buy an additional peripheral called the the Turbo Tap. I didn't know that and I wasn't impressed.

 

The system didn't do that well in North America and ranked number four in sales behind the Sega Genesis, SNES and even the older but still popular NES.  In the end TurboGrafx-16 didn't have a Mario or Sonic. They only had Bonk and let's face it...he wasn't that cool.

 

The third party support for games wasn't at the level of Sega and Nintendo. Software developers did not want to take a chance on developing games for the system until it became more popular yet in turn the system would not become more popular without the software. Ironically enough, you can now buy TurboGrafx-16 games for the Nintendo Wii virtual console.

Questprobe - Become your favorite Marvel Character

 

What's the ad for?
Questprobe Marvel computer adventures
Year
1986

Spotted in

The Scoop

 Questprobe were a series of video games designed and released for the Commodore 64 and Atari systems. Three games were released along with comic book tie ins. The first game was released in 1984 and was based on the Hulk.

The next game, also released in 1984, featured The Amazing Spider-Man.

Finally in 1985 the third game, featuring the Human Torch and the Thing of the Fantastic Four was released. 

 Each release of a game was accompanied by the publication of a comic book.

There was plans for twelve games but during the production of the fourth game, one based on the X-Men, the company went bankrupt. It was all over in two quick years. The X-Men comic was already completed and found it's way into Marvel Fanfare #33. Interesting to note that this ad was published after the demise of Adventure International, the company ran by Scott Adams who developed the Questprobe games.

It's not easy being Q*Bert

What's the ad for?
Q*Bert the video game
Year
1983

Spotted in

 

 This is the second ad from Q*bert featured on Four Color Promises. If you are interested in the creation of the game, there is a good article over at Coinop.org. Click here to read.

Burger Time

What's the ad for?
Burger Time the video game
Year
1983

Spotted in

Do you know what the chef's name in Burger Time was? Peter Pepper! You can play an online version of the game here.