About Face

I have a fascination on seeing printed gaming adds from the nineties / early 2000s. They always have this quality to them about who can be the most amusing and who can have the most attitude (and thereby the most cringe-worthy). Therefore, it is interesting to look back at them as relics from the distance of twenty-odd years.

One ad I remember vividly is this one, for Gameboy / SNES game Faceball 2000:

 Original image located here. Accessed 19th February 2020

It is fair to say that is very much a product of the nineties: A Virtual Reality game! Use of language! However, what i can gleam from this, at least from a modern perspective, is this is a first-person perspective shooter and an early attempt at 'arena' shooters (currently popularized with the likes of Player Unknown Battlegrounds).

Recently I did try Faceball 2000 on the SNES and found all my assumptions were correct: This is indeed a first person arena shooter. Alas, it has not aged well: i found the things slow, clunky and the impression that this was a game that pushed the SNES to the limit (although not in a good way).
Still, I will give it credit for it's pioneering spirit.....