Where the system gets its energy

With advertising like this, is there any wonder why the TurboGrafx-16 didn't succeed? I'm a huge fan of the system but will be the first to admit they did a horrible job marketing it.

The higher energy video game system

Another puzzling ad - "The difference between the new TurboGrafx-16 and other video game systems is all in your head." Did whoever wrote that ever consider how incredibly negative it sounds? Yeah, I was totally going to buy a TurboGrafx-16 but then this exploding head ad told me I was only hallucinating when I thought it looked great.

Splatterhouse

Alright, a good TurboGrafx-16 ad. Of course it had to come from a 3rd party rather than NEC. Splatterhouse had to be the best promoted game for the system. There were tons of ads and crazy promo items given out at stores. Unfortunately I don't own any of them (yet).

Splatterhouse Comic

Finally, a comic that explains the Splatterhouse canon.

Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition

My brief recollections on the Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition launch.

Flashback

Interesting slant on this ad - a CD quality game in a cartridge. Since most of the Sega CD games didn't really look much better this was a fair enough claim for the time.

Comix Zone

This is one of the earliest ads to include a web site URL - http://segaoa.com/ - don't go there now.

Streets of Rage

Usually I don't care for ads without screenshots but I'll make an exception for this one. I think the little caricatures of the various moves is an effective plug for Streets of Rage.

Kid Chameleon

Now available exclusively on every Genesis collection ever made.

WWF WrestleMania

If you want to know how much pro-wrestling changed between 1990 and 1995 just compare this ad to the WWF Raw one farther down.

The Death and Return of Superman

I included this only to talk about my memories of all the nerd hype around the death of Superman comic. I don't read comic books myself but I worked in a video game store in a mall with comic book shop when it all went down. All my recollections are based on what I overheard, here's the deal:

Whoever it is that publishes Superman was planning to kill off the character. The edition where he died was going to be some massively collectible thing even though it would be the highest selling single comic ever making it about as collectible as a Big Mac. Even though he was dying they were still publishing the comic which should have been a pretty good indication that he wasn't really dead and this was all hype. At some point four, or possibly more, dudes emerged all claiming to be Superman. One, or possibly none, of them actually were Superman.

Boxing Legends of the Ring

A rather uneventful ad and game.

Top Gear

Seriously, someone thought this was a good idea for an ad?

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Somehow I've never played Final Fantasy Mystic Quest but would like to someday. From what I hear it's basically "Final Fantasy for Dummies"; much like the GBA and DS remakes of the original series. Based on this ad, that seems to be an extremely accurate description.

Wizardry V

This is very similar to the Mystic Quest ad in that it suggests you may suffer some medical emergency from playing it. We should market games like that today. How about "Hey kids, play Grand Theft Auto V and you'll catch herpes"?

Super Battletank 2

This ad is attempting to shame people who like Mortal Kombat I guess.

Batman Returns

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, I'm not a fan of Batman or this game. Maybe I just enjoy the challenge of trying to merge these multi-page ads.

Mario is Missing

Alright, I saved the worst for last. I'm not talking about Mario is Missing, which is a bad game, or the preposterous claim that this is "Mario's Greatest Adventure Yet!" Nope, I'm talking about the quality of this scan. It was a multi-page ad that spanned the last page and back cover so it's two different textures. The end result looks pretty bad.

Warlock

Great CompuServe reference on the bottom.

WWF Raw is War

This ad is rather depressing, three five of the wrestlers pictured here are now dead and two are permanently injured. I suppose all of the surviving wrestlers have some chronic issues but I'm thinking of Lex Luger and Bret Hart specifically.

T2

This was a good arcade shooter but light guns weren't all that popular for the Genesis or Super Nintendo. It bet it still sold reasonably well anyway. I have no idea how/why this was done on the Game Gear.

Dual Turbo controllers

I spotted a set of these at a thrift store but they were selling the controllers and receiver separately. It came out to something like $20 and I didn't have the energy to try and haggle with them.

Super

Super what?

Super

Hmm.. I'm still totally stumped.

Super Street Fighter II

Oh, now I get it.

Sears

Sears attempting to re-claim their once dominant position in the video game retail business. Obviously it did not work out for them.