Welcome to Stiq Figures, where the sales data is after the break and the posts don't matter. Every week, we take a look at, uh, something - meanwhile, the previous week's Japanese hardware sales figures are posted after the jump, and a discussion of said figures takes place in our comments. It may not be conventional, but it's a time-honored Joystiq tradition.


This week, we're looking back at a rad 1991 TV commercial for the legendary add-on device, the Game Genie. This "pass-through" style cartridge allowed players the chance to input cheat codes for their favorite games on a number of consoles.

The ad above focused on the NES version of the Game Genie while paying homage to the comedic duo Bill and Ted. What stood out wasn't just the exploding television, but the use of "live forever" as a selling point for the peripheral. The phrase popped up in other Game Genie commercials, and clearly referred to the common cheat code players could plug in to nearly any game, unlimited lives.

The prospect of immortality in video games was strong enough for players to buy the device, and for Sega to stamp its seal of approval on it. Apparently, the Game Genie is still immortal, as it was resurrected by Hyperkin this year for PS3.Continue reading Stiq Figures, October 15 - 21: Immortality edition
Stiq Figures, October 15 - 21: Immortality edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments