9th March 2011, 9:16 AM
(This post was last modified: 9th March 2011, 9:29 AM by Dark Jaguar.)
Warning, this is disgusting...
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4AyE3EXTj58" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I guess as a kid I was too filled with Ren and Stimpy to really notice, but wow this is not just gross (for a commercial), but a complete ripoff of Monty Python. I just don't get it. Combine stuff like this with the magazine ads like the full page spread of a disgusting jar of toe nail clippings and you just gotta wonder how Nintendo expected anyone to actually WANT anything Nintendo made. In this specific case, I really doubt any parents wanted to buy Yoshi's Island after seeing this, and only pleas from kids saying that the game's got nothing to do with that would convince them otherwise.
I believe this weird phase of Nintendo advertisting also spawned their complete obsession with cramming Master Belch down everyone's throats (now there's a horrible thought) during their ill-conceived advertising for Earthbound way back when, their "This game stinks" campaign. Master Belch wasn't even very important to the game overall, but they tried to basically turn the guy into the game's mascot for advertising purposes, trying to sell it as a "gross out humor" game, even though that's barely a part of the game at all. They really reached for things they could turn into a "gross out" joke too, like going on for a full page in a review about how you can find a hamburger in a garbage can (once, I might add, and the in-game dialog really doesn't mention anything further than that you found a burger). It's really crazy. I personally was way more interested in the game because of the Americana stuff than any ill-conceived attempt to trick consumers into thinking the entire game was one big Ren and Stimpy episode.
Their "commercial" was better.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AWh3BUyHrLU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, not really a TV ad, apparently this was only shown in stores (never saw it at the time myself, who watches in-store ads anyway?). It's still pretty bad. The clips are not very informative at all, and their attempt to advertise a game feature (the auto-win if you highly out level an enemy) would actually misinform people in such a way that they wouldn't want to play the game. Without any context or explanation, if you see that just walking into a snake is enough to "win", what conclusion do you reach? Probably that the fighting in the game isn't very fun. That's a very dry commercial, and not one that's going to grab either kids or parents. Really, Nintendo's "gross out" phase couldn't have ended too soon, and it seems to me that Earthbound's sales were a casualty of that era, which is a shame because aside from their poor advertising, they did everything right, from a solid translation to including a player's guide with the game (as well as some scratch n sniff stickers, though really that only tied into the gross out thing, with them asking you to willingly smell clouds of noxious green gas and garbage).
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4AyE3EXTj58" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I guess as a kid I was too filled with Ren and Stimpy to really notice, but wow this is not just gross (for a commercial), but a complete ripoff of Monty Python. I just don't get it. Combine stuff like this with the magazine ads like the full page spread of a disgusting jar of toe nail clippings and you just gotta wonder how Nintendo expected anyone to actually WANT anything Nintendo made. In this specific case, I really doubt any parents wanted to buy Yoshi's Island after seeing this, and only pleas from kids saying that the game's got nothing to do with that would convince them otherwise.
I believe this weird phase of Nintendo advertisting also spawned their complete obsession with cramming Master Belch down everyone's throats (now there's a horrible thought) during their ill-conceived advertising for Earthbound way back when, their "This game stinks" campaign. Master Belch wasn't even very important to the game overall, but they tried to basically turn the guy into the game's mascot for advertising purposes, trying to sell it as a "gross out humor" game, even though that's barely a part of the game at all. They really reached for things they could turn into a "gross out" joke too, like going on for a full page in a review about how you can find a hamburger in a garbage can (once, I might add, and the in-game dialog really doesn't mention anything further than that you found a burger). It's really crazy. I personally was way more interested in the game because of the Americana stuff than any ill-conceived attempt to trick consumers into thinking the entire game was one big Ren and Stimpy episode.
Their "commercial" was better.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AWh3BUyHrLU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, not really a TV ad, apparently this was only shown in stores (never saw it at the time myself, who watches in-store ads anyway?). It's still pretty bad. The clips are not very informative at all, and their attempt to advertise a game feature (the auto-win if you highly out level an enemy) would actually misinform people in such a way that they wouldn't want to play the game. Without any context or explanation, if you see that just walking into a snake is enough to "win", what conclusion do you reach? Probably that the fighting in the game isn't very fun. That's a very dry commercial, and not one that's going to grab either kids or parents. Really, Nintendo's "gross out" phase couldn't have ended too soon, and it seems to me that Earthbound's sales were a casualty of that era, which is a shame because aside from their poor advertising, they did everything right, from a solid translation to including a player's guide with the game (as well as some scratch n sniff stickers, though really that only tied into the gross out thing, with them asking you to willingly smell clouds of noxious green gas and garbage).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)