The 10 Least Subtle Product Placements in Video Game History

[Sniderman]

The 10 Least Subtle Product Placements in Video Game History

From Cracked.com:

Sick of advertisements in your video games? Well, once upon a time, the video games were the ads. A number of titles were produced from the ground-up to be nothing but a sales pitch--one you had to pay to see.

Luckily for mankind, this corporate cabal shot itself in the foot. Most of the games were so jaw-droppingly shitty that few have attempted it since (we're looking at you, Burger King).

How shitty were they? Behold:

And I'll let you read the list. Pretty funny stuff and I bet most of you either own or have played every game on the list.

[Kid Ice]

It always bothered me that the one guy in the Journey ad wasn't facing the camera. What was his problem?

[Chainclaw]

You can't really count unreleased games for a list titled "The 10 Least Subtle Product Placements In Videogame History".
You also can't count promotional games that were given away to high level employees of the company they are "product placement" for.

We had Super Caesars Palace when I was a kid, and I played the hell out of that on the SNES for some reason.

Somehow, Cool Spot was really really good... and then Cool Spot 2 was horrible.

[kupomogli]

Nevermind, didn't know there was a page 2.

[Misto]

So how come Yo Noid isn't on this list?

It is, check page 2.

But I read this earlier today and got some laughs from it. I do agree that Cool Spot was actually a fun game and a pretty good platformer.

[Captain Wrong]

You can't really count unreleased games for a list titled "The 10 Least Subtle Product Placements In Videogame History".
You also can't count promotional games that were given away to high level employees of the company they are "product placement" for.

I was thinking the same, but ehhh...whatever.

[CosmicMonkey]

No Zool on the list? There's Chuppa Chups lollypops all over the first world.

[portnoyd]

I think a better list would be games like, as a theoritical example, Madden 2010 that takes a TV timeout for Pepsi.

Cracked lists. They are... interesting to say the least.

[Graham Mitchell]

They forgot Biker Mice from Mars on the Genesis. I haven't played it, but apparently there's not a scene in that game that doesn't have a Snickers ad.

[Pantechnicon]

Cracked lists. They are... interesting to say the least.

I can't start my workday without one. Seriously, cracked.com has been my #1 daily humor fix for several months now. I almost posted this list myself but figured somebody else would do it eventually.

[Draven]

i don't know the correct answer here, but i remember the first time i saw the pizza hut signs in tmnt2 on NES. it seemed cool to me at the time that a major corporation was in a game. I remember thinking "hey, i eat there! it's in a video game! Cool!!" ah, the good ole days of the young and naive.

[Jorpho]

I rather liked the Jelly Belly endoresements in Lemmings 3D. They added to the charm somehow.

[Zap!]

I knew Tapper was re-named Root Beer Tapper, but had no idea it was originally called Budweiser Tapper.

[XYXZYZ]

Wow, I always wondered what the hell Journey Escape was about.

[Aussie2B]

For what it's worth, Yo Noid wasn't designed as a game based on the Noid from the ground up. It's basically a Doki Doki Panic -> Super Mario Bros. 2 scenario. It was a completely original game in Japan, but it got a graphic overhaul for the US when Capcom got the license. So any arguments claiming that it's a crappy game because of the source material fail.

[Rom]

Pepsiman (for obvious reasons) and Fighting Vipers (at least the Japanese version) should have been on the list.

The Japanese version of Shenmue had a lot of product placement in it as well.

When it's done well, I think that product placements can add to the realism of a game (Shenmue is the perfect example of that).

[Cauterize]

Another one they missed is Penguin biscuits in James Pond 2: Robocod

In the original UK version of the game, the penguins featured as in-game product placement for the McVitie's biscuit company's Penguin Biscuits, making it one of the earliest games to use this form of advertising. According to a 1994 article in the UK edition of PC Gamer, Penguin outsold arch-rival KitKat for the first time in the product's history soon after the release of the game.

Did penguin biscuits exist in the US or are they a UK thing?

[Kitsune Sniper]

No Zool on the list? There's Chuppa Chups lollypops all over the first world.

Chupa Chups is an European thing, isn't it? They were rather big in Mexico in a few years back, but I've never seen any of their products in the US.

[spoon]

Yo Noid kicks ass. Game and the character. I'm gonna kick Adam West's ass when I get the chance.

[Famidrive-16]

For what it's worth, Yo Noid wasn't designed as a game based on the Noid from the ground up. It's basically a Doki Doki Panic -> Super Mario Bros. 2 scenario. It was a completely original game in Japan, but it got a graphic overhaul for the US when Capcom got the license. So any arguments claiming that it's a crappy game because of the source material fail.

Yeah, the game sucked anyways so