from Hacker News

Old video game advertisements

by rayrag on 9/29/21, 10:36 AM with 67 comments

  • by allenu on 9/29/21, 7:03 PM

    There's certainly an amateurish charm to old video game ads. Today, everything is pretty slick and there's a general base understanding of how to write copy and how to make ads look polished (probably thanks to the internet), but back then it was really a free for all.

  • by acheron on 9/29/21, 7:11 PM

    See also the CGW Museum: http://www.cgwmuseum.org

    Scans of every issue of Computer Gaming World, ads and all.

  • by rayrag on 9/29/21, 6:45 PM

    There is no scrollbar on sidebar thus tags are cut off so for easier/faster browsing go to archive page: https://retrocgads.tumblr.com/archive

    RSS is also available: https://retrocgads.tumblr.com/rss

  • by LaserDiscMan on 9/29/21, 8:14 PM

    Having a Sega Genesis helps you take on bullies, and get the attention of girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vjv5LKrOq8

  • by dom111 on 9/29/21, 8:11 PM

    I have a vivid memory of an ad for, I want to say a joystick, from when "force feedback" concept was quite new, it's stuck with me since the mid-nineties perhaps?

    It was a picture of someone putting a fork into a toaster with the caption "there's an easier way to get force feedback...". I want to say it was for something in the Microsoft Sidewinder range, but I can't find it! It's stayed with me though as I thought it was both clever and terrifying!

    Might even be in that collection somewhere...

  • by thought_alarm on 9/29/21, 8:09 PM

    So mid-90s. Seeing this makes me want to program my VCR to record the series premiere of Ally McBeal.

  • by Apocryphon on 9/29/21, 7:01 PM

    We need to go back.

  • by et-al on 9/29/21, 8:25 PM

    How do we get these mirrored on Archive.org?

    I noticed the Wayback Machine doesn't fare well with Tumblr and images.

  • by solidist on 9/29/21, 8:21 PM

    Did the publisher Manning get book cover inspiration from "INTERACTIVE MAGIC?"

    https://retrocgads.tumblr.com/image/663605323106582528

  • by spywaregorilla on 9/29/21, 8:00 PM

    Gotta love the graphics card one.

    Graphics Meltdown. That's right, now we have some textures.

  • by axpy906 on 9/29/21, 8:58 PM

    Wow, look at all this print! These either came in comics or magazines. Funny that gamers read so much back then. I know I did.

  • by bencollier49 on 9/30/21, 12:53 PM

    For some reason, the adverts for "Game Over" and its sequel made the greatest impression on me as a boy in the late 1980s.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Over_(video_game)

    That and Barbarian...

  • by aasasd on 9/29/21, 8:31 PM

    Apparently every single one of them had to have an edgy snappy tagline, preferably in quotes.

    Gotta say though, seeing quasi-cubist art, for ‘Hyperblade’, is a bit of a pleasant surprise. Even if it's quite in vein of business magazine illustrations from the 90s to this day.

  • by ArtDev on 9/29/21, 8:03 PM

    Yes, so much cringe.

    "quit smoking? Hey, you've got two lungs!" https://retrocgads.tumblr.com/image/663553593320898560

  • by anarbadalov on 9/29/21, 8:45 PM

    nice! i love this poster for Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: https://www.etsy.com/listing/690646890/1992-final-fantasy-my...

    edit: they also have Chuck Rock! https://www.etsy.com/listing/690598064/1992-chuck-rock-super.... This is bringing back good memories.

  • by cm2012 on 9/29/21, 11:47 PM

  • by fatnoah on 9/30/21, 4:52 PM

    Interstate 76 was such a great game. One of the discs was an honest-to-goodness funk CD that I'd listen to all the time. I still have it somewhere.

  • by drivers99 on 9/29/21, 9:54 PM

    One of the fun things about reading 90s and 00s comic books is seeing the full color full page video game ads for whatever system was current at the time.

  • by christrowe on 9/30/21, 12:47 PM

    It's quite nostalgic; reading these kinds of advertisements truly brings you back to the times of the early stages of gaming.

  • by bitwize on 9/29/21, 10:00 PM

    Oh man, 90s so edgy. Many of these wouldn't even fly today.

  • by nomdep on 9/29/21, 11:32 PM

    How many years until Tumblr disappear like Geocities did?

  • by hubblesticks on 9/29/21, 8:45 PM

    The font gore is strong on some of these ads.

    "How many different a fonts can we jam into a single ad!?"

    Apparently all of them!

  • by hammock on 9/29/21, 6:56 PM

    These are so cringe, I love it.