Gold Rush
08-11-2009, 08:03 PM
Original post found Here : Just press this link (http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/01/14/20-awesome-vintage-video-game-ads/)
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_2.jpg
I remember this; an online game, that was more suited for bbs-boards than actual simultaneous online interaction. There were many copies and clones of this, a few even had some nice 8-bit graphics. One that I fondly remembered was part of a graphically menu driven service (you controlled your avatar over a map to go to different areas of the service). Anyway, this game was more about intergalactic trading and finding planets that produced resources than swinging a light-saber dressed as He-Man. You did go up against players, but mostly ship vs. ship or planet defenses vs. ship.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_1.jpg
Wizard was a company that made it their policy to "skirt the edge" or make "mature" themed games. Most of these games are actually porn-based, but some went for violence, like this one. You can imagine how "graphic" such 8-bit representations were. :rolleyes: This particular game wasn't that popular; the game play, as in most of their other games, was bad/boring. It came out around the glut/end of the "1st wave" era.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_12.JPG
I remember this ad. I also remember the commercial! This ad pretty much followed the commercial in song lyrics.
YouTube to the rescue! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSte8m4Da6A)
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_11.JPG
This game was made for the Intellivision system. The game itself was actually alright, consisting of 2-3 mini games or more. Mind you, there were still better games available out there, but for a game capitalizing on merchandising, it wasn't too terrible.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_14.jpg
Another Intellivison/Mattel Electronics made game. This one, like many others, copied Pac Man, which was a video game phenomena/fad at that time. Again with the "wanting profits" and everyone had their own "cloned" version, bringing new meaning to "Attack of the Clones". :P Actually, this game was pretty good; much better than the one made for the 2600. Mind you, there were some Pac-Man clones that were just as bad as the 2600 licensed one, but there were some good ones, too.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_7.JPG
This ad is an example of many that had readers comparing two images and asking a question. In my view, they did not appeal to me and I am not sure how successful the campaign was.
It should be noted that while Atari also produced/made this version of Ms. Pac Man, it was not the stinker of their Pac Man. It had good graphics, that actually looked fairly close to the arcade-version, good controls, good action, and copied the arcade noises nicely.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_10.jpg
Another commercial whose lyrics I remember. What is it with me and commercials? :lol: I think this particular commercial or game won some awards. The lyrics, although simplistic, were catchy. The game play was frentic and fun enough. This was the days when Activision was a TRUE independent game developer run by ex-Atari employees that would hold "famous" wild parties. Many games that came out for the systems, particularly the Atari-based ones, were better to superior to those being released by the main companies themselves. A few others followed suit. Some succeeded, but many failed.
And here is the now short-cheesy commercial that got players pumped! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EngiYP404x8&feature) :lol:
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_20.JPG
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_22.JPG
These pair of games came from Parker Brothers, trying to cash in on Activision's success. They actually had one or two more Star Wars based games. The one shown here was based on an older, unrelated vector-graphic game called "Warrior", I believe. Both games needed TWO players; there was not computer AI opponent. Pretty simple overhead top-down game.
Parker Brothers tended to make some good-to-alright games, not many flat-out "stinkers". Some good licenses, too.
I don't remember much about the Joe game. I may have it somewhere in my collection; not sure. Prize giveaways were quite common in this era: Send a photo of you reaching a high score, mail it in, get a prize. Activision, yet again, introduced this concept: They had patches (to sew onto your jacket/clothes). Here you are given a cap. I never really entered into any of these, kinda a shame in retrospect, because it seems not alot of kids bothered to do so, too. Those patches and stuff are quite rare now.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_13.jpg
So John Madden has been hawking games for a LONG TIME, as this CBS Video games ad suggests. Yes, CBS also entered the "lucrative field" of video games with dollar signs in their heads; many companies did. Most of these games...sucked. Okay, there is some level of play experience you expect from your home game (at that time) compared to the full-on experience of the arcade game. Some did translations really well and others failed. These two particular games Mr. Madden is hawking, Gorf and Wizard of Wor, were not too terrible, but successive games that kept coming out from this studio kept getting worse and worse. Some were based on movie franchises.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_2.jpg
I remember this; an online game, that was more suited for bbs-boards than actual simultaneous online interaction. There were many copies and clones of this, a few even had some nice 8-bit graphics. One that I fondly remembered was part of a graphically menu driven service (you controlled your avatar over a map to go to different areas of the service). Anyway, this game was more about intergalactic trading and finding planets that produced resources than swinging a light-saber dressed as He-Man. You did go up against players, but mostly ship vs. ship or planet defenses vs. ship.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_1.jpg
Wizard was a company that made it their policy to "skirt the edge" or make "mature" themed games. Most of these games are actually porn-based, but some went for violence, like this one. You can imagine how "graphic" such 8-bit representations were. :rolleyes: This particular game wasn't that popular; the game play, as in most of their other games, was bad/boring. It came out around the glut/end of the "1st wave" era.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_12.JPG
I remember this ad. I also remember the commercial! This ad pretty much followed the commercial in song lyrics.
YouTube to the rescue! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSte8m4Da6A)
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_11.JPG
This game was made for the Intellivision system. The game itself was actually alright, consisting of 2-3 mini games or more. Mind you, there were still better games available out there, but for a game capitalizing on merchandising, it wasn't too terrible.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_14.jpg
Another Intellivison/Mattel Electronics made game. This one, like many others, copied Pac Man, which was a video game phenomena/fad at that time. Again with the "wanting profits" and everyone had their own "cloned" version, bringing new meaning to "Attack of the Clones". :P Actually, this game was pretty good; much better than the one made for the 2600. Mind you, there were some Pac-Man clones that were just as bad as the 2600 licensed one, but there were some good ones, too.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_7.JPG
This ad is an example of many that had readers comparing two images and asking a question. In my view, they did not appeal to me and I am not sure how successful the campaign was.
It should be noted that while Atari also produced/made this version of Ms. Pac Man, it was not the stinker of their Pac Man. It had good graphics, that actually looked fairly close to the arcade-version, good controls, good action, and copied the arcade noises nicely.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_10.jpg
Another commercial whose lyrics I remember. What is it with me and commercials? :lol: I think this particular commercial or game won some awards. The lyrics, although simplistic, were catchy. The game play was frentic and fun enough. This was the days when Activision was a TRUE independent game developer run by ex-Atari employees that would hold "famous" wild parties. Many games that came out for the systems, particularly the Atari-based ones, were better to superior to those being released by the main companies themselves. A few others followed suit. Some succeeded, but many failed.
And here is the now short-cheesy commercial that got players pumped! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EngiYP404x8&feature) :lol:
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_20.JPG
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_22.JPG
These pair of games came from Parker Brothers, trying to cash in on Activision's success. They actually had one or two more Star Wars based games. The one shown here was based on an older, unrelated vector-graphic game called "Warrior", I believe. Both games needed TWO players; there was not computer AI opponent. Pretty simple overhead top-down game.
Parker Brothers tended to make some good-to-alright games, not many flat-out "stinkers". Some good licenses, too.
I don't remember much about the Joe game. I may have it somewhere in my collection; not sure. Prize giveaways were quite common in this era: Send a photo of you reaching a high score, mail it in, get a prize. Activision, yet again, introduced this concept: They had patches (to sew onto your jacket/clothes). Here you are given a cap. I never really entered into any of these, kinda a shame in retrospect, because it seems not alot of kids bothered to do so, too. Those patches and stuff are quite rare now.
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vintage_video_game_ad_13.jpg
So John Madden has been hawking games for a LONG TIME, as this CBS Video games ad suggests. Yes, CBS also entered the "lucrative field" of video games with dollar signs in their heads; many companies did. Most of these games...sucked. Okay, there is some level of play experience you expect from your home game (at that time) compared to the full-on experience of the arcade game. Some did translations really well and others failed. These two particular games Mr. Madden is hawking, Gorf and Wizard of Wor, were not too terrible, but successive games that kept coming out from this studio kept getting worse and worse. Some were based on movie franchises.