The first NES advertisement ever? (New York Magazine, 1985)

[TheRedEye]

Check it out, a full-page NES ad in a November, 1985 issue of New York Magazine, advertising the test market launch there: (via Google Books) (http://books.google.com/books?id=7McBAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=nintendo&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1984&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1987&as_brr=0&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q=&f=false)

I found it randomly browsing Google Books and thought some of you might enjoy.

[Kevincal]

I like how the ad calls the carts, "game paks". lol, NOBODY calls them that anymore. :P

[XYXZYZ]

Ah, a quick burst of 1985 before work in the morning.


I like how the ad calls the carts, "game paks". lol, NOBODY calls them that anymore. :P

Yeah, after the video game crash of 1984 Nintendo's marketing demanded that their advertising never use terms like "cartridge" or even "video game" as those equated to "throw my money away on crap" to consumers at the time. So they came up with stuff like "game pak", "control deck" and "entertainment system". The cart slot on the toaster NES was even modeled after those Betamax VCRs (where you push the tape down) because those were hot a the time.

[Nz17]

Betamax VCRs

Blasphemer! It is a Betamax cassette deck and you know it!

[aclbandit]

"You'll use it now. You'll use it later. You'll use it much later." Thus spake the ad.

And ya know what? They were right. We're still using it... what, 24 years later?

8-bit will never die. And you know it's true.

[SparTonberry]

I see Nintendo wants to supply us "with as many arresting games as possible"?

Are they talking about this one story I read about a burgler that fled a house after hearing a cop voice while somebody was playing GTA? :P

[acem77]

false advertisment!
"We deliver instead of seeing 16 colors on screen, the nintendo entertainment systems offers an outstanding 52 colors,"

realistic 3d? and actual shadows? lol

got to love how far we have come.

back then the nes was for graphic whores! lol
the graphics sure sold me, but at the age of 6 1985 i never thought wow look at those shadows and 3d effects.

[jb143]

false advertisment!
"We deliver instead of seeing 16 colors on screen, the nintendo entertainment systems offers an outstanding 52 colors,"

Even more colors if you put a magnet on the screen.


realistic 3d? and actual shadows? lol

Maybe they're talking about the system itself???

I don't see it much anymore but for a while I though it was funny that every new computer/graphics card/game system said it had "blazing fast graphics". Either their definition is changing or it didn't have better graphics to begin with because they descibed the older stuff the same way. That's marketing for you.LOL

[TheRedEye]

false advertisment!
"We deliver instead of seeing 16 colors on screen, the nintendo entertainment systems offers an outstanding 52 colors,"

Yeah, doesn't the NES literally display 16 colors at a time?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yeah, but if you use some tricks, you can display more. Like crosshatching - place pixels of different colors next to each other and you can trick the eye into thinking it's a new color. :p Kinda like what newspapers do, only not as well.

The effect works well on an old TV, but not on emulation.

[Ricochet]

I'd love to know how they define realistic graphics. "Wow, is that actual footage of a plumber running through a kingdom of mushrooms?" I don't think even today's games can be described as realistic.

[Lady Jaye]

What programmable games? Did Nintendo originally intend on releasing the Famicom BASIC cart on the NES?

[InsaneDavid]

I'd love to know how they define realistic graphics. "Wow, is that actual footage of a plumber running through a kingdom of mushrooms?" I don't think even today's games can be described as realistic.

That's as in a little single color stickman before and now a multicolor animated walking cartoon man on the NES.


What programmable games? Did Nintendo originally intend on releasing the Famicom BASIC cart on the NES?

Excitebike, Mach Rider...

[Thrillo]

Haha, love the intimidating "THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" text with a picture of lowly R.O.B. trying to look mysterious and advanced.

Yeah, doesn't the NES literally display 16 colors at a time?
Yeah. The NES does have a 52 color palette but the ad's specifically referring to 52 on-screen colors so I guess it qualifies as false advertising...well there is that 52 color tech demo floating around the internet though...

[otaku]

I love the ROB looking all menacing haha.

[tom]

What programmable games? Did Nintendo originally intend on releasing the Famicom BASIC cart on the NES?

Yep, originally it (NES) was called AVS (Advanced Video System) and came with a keyboard, music keyboard , tape storage device, and totally failed, twice (source: Game Over).

[tomaitheous]

Yeah, doesn't the NES literally display 16 colors at a time?

Actually, up to 25 colors onscreen without any tricks.


well there is that 52 color tech demo floating around the internet though...

There's also a 400+ colors onscreen demo on the net for NES.

[Agressivadue]

3D images! LAWL!

[MetalFRO]

Thanks for sharing that ad - MAN that was busy! Too much information to expect anyone to read in an advertisement. Interesting, nonetheless.

[ryborg]

Too much information to expect anyone to read in an advertisement.

It appeared in New York Magazine, which has a literate readership. If this ad was in Tiger Beat, I'd agree with you.

[Ed Oscuro]

The NES provides more "lasting memories" than that very '80s horse jockey chick on the next page's ad. :P

Also...does this look familiar to anybody? (http://books.google.com/books?id=7McBAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=nintendo&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1984&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1987&as_brr=0&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q=&f=false) (1985 = two years before the infamous 1987 stock market bust.)

[A Black Falcon]

First ad? Who knows, maybe... the system had been out for several months (in the test markets at least), so there could potentially be an earlier one... I don't know when they started marketing though. Either way, definitely interesting. :)


I like how the ad calls the carts, "game paks". lol, NOBODY calls them that anymore. :P

... Nintendo called their cartridge games 'paks' as long as they made cartridge games, you know. NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBC, GBA... they're all 'paks'. Any longtime or not-so-long time Nintendo fan should definitely recognize the word...

Also see things like the Controller Pak for the N64 (the memory card), or the Expansion Pak for the N64 (the RAM expansion), etc. "Nobody calls them that anymore"? Maybe not... but in the NES and SNES days, lots of people did! Nintendo game paks, you know? Nintendo Power called them that, so kids did as well. :)


Excitebike, Mach Rider...

And Wrecking Crew. In Japan the three games had saving, by saving to a cassette tape; the tape drive attached to the Famicom Basic Keyboard, an early Famicom accessory. They never released the Basic Keyboard here though, so no saving until Excitebike 64 included a version of the game with saving, and then the Wii VC did the same for all of them. Given that those are the only 'Programmable Series' games I know of only in Japan, obviously the idea didn't catch on their either... too much trouble obviously, and I doubt that the Basic Keyboard had done very well. :)

It is interesting that Nintendo chose the consoles-only path in the US, and in Japan after they dropped the Basic Keyboard, while most other videogame companies kept trying to make their consoles into computers, or set-top media boxes, CD players, DVD players, whatever... Nintendo focused just on games.

(There were actually evidently a couple of tape-only games or demo games or something, I think... nothing big though if I remember what I read about it, just some small stuff. I saw a site somewhere describing some at some point...)

[RPG_Fanatic]

I like how the ad calls the carts, "game paks". lol, NOBODY calls them that anymore. :P

Nintendo Power had a section called "Pak watch" games that were coming out soon.

[Aussie2B]

Pretty interesting. The picture of ROB busting out of the shell is kind of scary, though, haha.

[SparTonberry]

From what I read, it sounded like Nintendo was considering releasing the data recorder and so the save options were left in.
So, would saving still work if you put a US cart in a Famicom with the recorder?
(more just a curious question for me. I hear the recorder is kinda valuable now, but supposedly you could standard audio cassettes?)

I remember I had one of those Nintendo Power coupons as a kid with a choice of Death Valley Rally or Firepower 2000 for SNES (both published by Sunsoft). My parents tried to use it to buy one, but apparently the Babbages or Software Etc. or whatever guy thought "Good for one Game Pak" meant they had to buy an elusive pack of both games. :P

[A Black Falcon]

From what I read, it sounded like Nintendo was considering releasing the data recorder and so the save options were left in.
So, would saving still work if you put a US cart in a Famicom with the recorder?
(more just a curious question for me. I hear the recorder is kinda valuable now, but supposedly you could standard audio cassettes?)

Quite possibly, yeah, it well might work... but you will need a Famicom, though. The Data Recorder plugs into the Famicom Basic Keyboard, which plugs into the Famicom's expansion port -- which, because the NES has removable controllers, is not present on US systems.

Actually you probably just need any tape recorder which has data in/out, I think, not a specific one, to attach to the Basic Keyboard... and any tape obviously. But obviously it's much easier to just use a Wii or, for Excitebike only, N64.

But yes, they definitely were considering releasing a version of the keyboard and/or tape drive, the manuals for those three games say that there may be an addon later that'll allow saving. It never happened... but if they put it there they must have been considering it.


Nintendo Power had a section called "Pak watch" games that were coming out soon.

Yes, but it wasn't just that, they called their games Paks everywhere in the magazine, their advertising, etc. They kept it up as long as they used cartridges, too, right to the N64 and GBA. I'm a little surprised someone here wouldn't recognize the term...

[calistarwind]

I thought by programable games they were stretching a bit and talking about Excitebike where you could customize your own tracks.