5 Offbeat Video Game Commercials

Video game advertising in the late 80s and early 90s was an artistic movement unto itself -- especially the TV commercials, and especially from Nintendo. They sold a world of grandeur and peril and adrenaline that was always closer to the artwork on the boxes than the actual games. They were melodramatic and spooky and playful all at once - like all the best set pieces from Highlander, Total Recall, and Aliens combined into some ambitious music video environment (which we lovingly pay tribute to here). 

All that being said, the following 5 commercials have nothing to do with any of that. These are examples of the way video games made their way into other avenues of Pop Culture, along with some other properties that managed to capitalize on the craze.

After these messages, we'll be riiiight back.

- Paul

Eagle Tortilla Chips (1991)

Throughout 1991, Tony Randall and Jack Klugman tried to convince us that Eagle Tortilla Chips were better than Doritos. Can't say their attempts had any real impact, I barely remember Eagle, but I do remember Oscar shooting Felix with a Nintendo Zapper which sends him directly into a game of Duck Hunt. I'd fantasized about finding myself inside all kinds of video games around that time, but I'm sure everyone would've appreciated an opportunity to strangle that goddamn dog. 

Kellogg's Corn Pops (1993)

This was during the "Gotta Have My Pops" campaign that depicted young people spending the entire duration of a 30 second spot on the verge of a violent meltdown if they didn't get some Corn Pops cereal. (There were some crazy poisons in 90s junk food.) In addition to this Kellogg's crack, specially marked boxes came with Nintendo ID stickers, so now you and your shitty little sister didn't have to fight over whose copy of Fester's Quest is the one with the Dunkaroo frosting stain on it. 

Hot Hints Hotline (1990)

This has bounced around the internet for years so it's hard to nail down its origins. Nintendo obviously had their own licensed game tip hotline, and my 10 seconds of research mostly confirmed that this "local" commercial was off the books and possibly a scam, or scam-ola. Even still, I'd like to think some underage Nintendo wizards got together and decided to charge a fee for dispensing their wisdom over the phone, and somehow managed to produce this kickass commercial (featuring one half of The Ambiguously Gay Duo) and get it on the air. 

Nabisco Cookies (1990)

Speaking of Nintendo wizards - Nabisco held a sorta scratch-n-win promotion in which the grand prize was a trip to watch the Nintendo World Championships. They don't mention it in the commercial but the Championships (emphasis on plural) took place in 29 different U.S. cities so there was a good chance you didn't have to travel too far. They also don't mention that this was the very first nationwide Nintendo competition, which took place in the year following the theatrical release of The Wizard, and since I've never heard otherwise I like to think the movie inspired the real life contest. 

T.I.G.E.R. Paperboy (1990)

This one actually falls in line with the 90s Extreme Core Vaporwave video game vibe; it's a very lively commercial that's advertising something that's just slightly less exciting than an Etch A Sketch. T.I.G.E.R. handheld games were like Gameboys but only a fraction of the commitment and the cost; each device only played one game, so you had to make it count. Paperboy was famously monotonous and uneventful even on a home gaming system, so I'd imagine this barebones version as being something a lot less dazzling than a game of old-fashioned Pong.