rap in The Legend of Zelda, a serious man in a PS3 ad and a poisonous Crash Bandicoot

In the 1990s and early 2000s, YouTube did not exist and television was the main marketing tool, where advertising was bolder, more stubborn and hooligans than it is today.

In this article we remember those fun days when the main character of the series Crash Bandicoot openly rolled a ton at Mario, Sony promoted the console with a creepy video featuring a scary doll, and SEGA stated that other companies weren’t competing with it at all.

Nice ad for Super Smash Bros.

The very first Super Smash Bros. was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. The fighting game was the first to feature a pool of fighters from Nintendo’s acclaimed game franchises. One of the first advertisements for the game features people dressed as Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Pikachu. They look nice, but are caricatured at the same time.

The characters go hand in hand at first, but suddenly start beating each other. KCL Productions filmed this persistent ad and made trailers for Nintendo right up to the end of the GameCube era. The authors could have chosen a simpler path – to create something more pathetic and heartbreaking, as did the creators of the video representing the console release of the first part of the folk fighting game Mortal Kombat.

A cheeky Sega Genesis ad

In the 1990s, the marketers of the 16-bit Sega Genesis were openly at war with Nintendo, trying to win back some of the audience and the competitor’s profits. To do this, they openly stated that their console is more powerful. And not for kids in general, but for progressive teens.

The laws of the time allowed such things to be mentioned in TV advertising, which advertisers used. For one of the ads, they even came up with a tagline that openly aired the statement, the gist of which was that the games on the Sega Genesis console are more mature, interesting and technically advanced. The tagline sounded like this (look at the spelling): “Genesis does what Nintendo doesn’t!”.

Pushy and funny Sega Saturn ad

Sega creatives came up with the living symbol of the Saturn console in the 1990s, martial artist Segata Sanshiro, played by actor Hiroshi Fujioka. It can rightly be called the best and most outrageous game console mascot in history.

In advertisements for the Sega Saturn, he always appears in a kimono and often demonstrates karate and judo techniques without the aid of stunt doubles, openly demanding that everyone near him play the Sega Saturn. In commercials, for no good reason, he can start beating people and create other outright games. It’s hard to describe, easier to see for yourself.

Segata Sanshiro disappeared from the media after the failure of the Sega Saturn, although the character was still featured in some Sega games. For example, he looked at Sonic & All-Stars Racing transformed and Project X zone 2.

In 2020, the work of the character was continued by the son: in honor of his 60th anniversary, Sega shot an ad with a new mascot – Sega Shiro. The talisman has a gentler character, it is still modest and young. Shiro was played by Maito Fujioka, the eldest son of Hiroshi Fujioka.

Hooligan commercial for Crash Bandicoot

In the 1990s, Sony was the second company after Sega to try to belittle Nintendo. After the release of the original PlayStation, the participants presented their mascot – the red-haired Crash Bandicoot. He became the protagonist of Crash Bandicoot, a flashy console-exclusive 3D platformer that tried to compete with the popular Nintendo 64 – Super Mario 64.

In order to introduce Crash to the public, Sony produced a series of commercials in 1996, which the authors said would discredit Nintendo games.

In one of those ads, a man dressed as Crash drives to Nintendo headquarters and tells Mario through a loudspeaker that his days are numbered. Today, no major company can afford to remove such ads.

As we know, the Crash Bandicoot game series, like Crash itself, is still alive, but the rights are now owned by Activision. The publisher will be acquired this year by Microsoft, today Sony’s main competitor. We also know that Mario games are doing well, hitting Nintendo consoles and selling tens of millions of copies. And things aren’t going too well for Crash.

We highly recommend to play Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy if you like old-fashioned gameplay and lively atmosphere.

PlayStation 3 Creep Ads

We’ve already talked about the surreal PlayStation 2 commercial shot by David Lynch in the early 2000s. Therefore, in the middle of the decade, one cannot ignore another Sony-commissioned video promoting the PlayStation 3.

In the mid-2000s, Sony spent about $150 million marketing the PlayStation 3. One of the first PS3 ads the company launched to promote is uninspiring, rather uncomfortable and even scary. In it, the revived doll is in the same room as the console. At first she just reaches for the console, but then a demon seems to inhabit her. In general it is difficult to explain, you have to look.

Friendly PlayStation 3 ad

After the downright cringe-inducing advertising, Sony nevertheless decided that in order to promote the PS3, it was necessary to find a character that would be endearing to him, which would instill a sense of confidence. To do this, the company invented a fictional business executive, Kevin Butler, who was always played by actor Jerry Lambert in PS3 commercials.

In the commercial, Butler plays basketball like a pro with adrenaline and also talks about how great it is to hit Killzone 3 with a special machine for PS Move. In the commercials, not without overt irony and with a serious face, he explains to everyone why the PlayStation 3 and games for it are worthy of the attention of housewives, middle-aged hard workers, suitable for children and teenagers.

A hip-hop and a vibrant ad for The Legend of Zelda games

today series The Legend of Zelda advertising is not really necessary. Even people not very familiar with games have at least heard about Link and projects where he has to fight evil and save (or not save) Princess Zelda.

But in the early 1990s, despite the popularity of The Legend of Zelda series, Link’s new stories had to be advertised as clearly as possible. Mystical in many ways during the promotion Link’s Awakening for Game Boy, the company decided to create an ad for the game featuring real rap. And we made Link’s Awakening remake for Nintendo Switch in the TOP 10 games with the most fun gameplay. The game deserves it.

The Japanese are on the move The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo console went even further. In the commercial for the hit SNES, Link dances to funky hip-hop with other characters. The choreography is strongly inspired by the work of Michael Jackson and his production team.

I want to end with a sincere ad for the remake The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 3DS handheld. She was filmed way back in 2011, but it’s impossible not to talk about her when it comes to games about Link and Princess Zelda.

Many people know that the great and sadly deceased actor Robin Williams (Robin Williams) loved the series The Legend of Zelda so much that he named his daughter after Princess Zelda. 11 years ago, in an ad for an Ocarina of Time remake, he remembers the game in the frame, but is interrupted by his daughter, who asks if her father is talking about her.

By the way, the well-known game aggregator Metacritic contributed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the top 50 best games released since 2010.

There used to be a lot of weird, flashy and sometimes stubborn ads for games and consoles. And this is good. Can you remember which advertisement from a bygone era you remember? Tell it in the comments.