Tactical move

Here's another printed ad I remember quite vividly. This time, it's from the late nineties and from a game you may have heard of: Final Fantasy Tactics!

 Original image located here. Accessed 21st February 2020 

 It is interesting to compare this to the Ico advertisement that was discussed in an earlier post: Both contain little information about the game they're advertising and both are more intent on discussing the spirit of the game. Those bracketed headings ("or...") may look funny but they are indeed representative of the narrative in Final Fantasy Tactics. 
The use of humor in this ad is an odd choice considering how humorless the game actually is but, unlike Ico, I don't this game would be that hard a sell. After all, Final Fantasy 7 and 8 were big sellers so the brand recognition would well and truly be in place.

Labyrinthine

Here's a scan of a printed ad of Ico dating back to sometime in 2001:

Two things about this ad stand out immediately: One, it's a two page ad, and Two, there isn't a lot there to describe the game itself. The ratio of art and game information (ie screenshots) is way off. Sure the paragraph of text describes the game decently enough but everything else is vague.
Much like the game itself.

Still, the use of a two-page ad is surprising considering Ico's notoriety as a poor-seller. A two page ad says 'I am selling a big deal here' so someone at Sony's marketing department is clearly is trying to push the game. Still, I'll give them props for trying....

I will not deny that Ico may have been a hard sell so it is interesting that this ad is more akin to the spirit of the game rather than the game itself. A triumph of creating interest borne of confusion?

Lazing around

Here's another gaming advertisement I recall from the early nineties. A game entitled Laser Invasion that originally appeared on the NES:

 Original image located here. Accessed 17th February 2020

From what I could gather, this game was trying to merge three genres into one. Of course many games attempted such a move in the era and in this case, we have a flight sim, a gallery shooter and an early attempt at a first person shooter. It is incredibly ambitious - moreso considering that this is on the humble NES and at a time when the 16-bit era was already in full swing.

But this ad sticks out in my mind as it puzzled me: What on earth was a Helijet? Was it some weird hybrid of an attack helicopter and a jet fighter? The thing in the ad looks very unfamiliar to me - is it a real thing?

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.....