Showing posts with label FaceBall 2000 for Game Boy print ad (1992). Show all posts
Showing posts with label FaceBall 2000 for Game Boy print ad (1992). Show all posts

Friday, January 23, 2015

FaceBall 2000 for Game Boy (1992)

FaceBall 2000  advertisement
Original ad published in the March 1992 edition of EGM (no. 32)


Historical Background and Graphical Analysis


FaceBall 2000 (1991) for Nintendo Game Boy holds the privilege for being the first 3-D shooter for any handheld system. It's a retake of the 1987 Midi Maze game for Atari ST (and Maze War before it), which introduced the know ubiquitous concept of "death-match" in every first person shooter. Also, it was very cool indeed as 4-player game on your Game Boy.

First-person shooters exploded in 1992 after Wolfenstein 3-D was released for the PC. So FaceBall 2000 actually predates what is considered the first and still one of the best games of the genre. Bullet Proof Software, of course, introduced only the most basic aspects of the shooter in the tiny Game Boy.  It's sparse graphics and repetitive soundtrack did not help establish it as a shooting legend.

The ad does give some insight about the gaming landscape of the early 90s. The text is written to convince you about the new gaming experience related to a first-person shooter. It even mentions "virtual reality", which would gain serious traction in the years to come.  This was, more or less, the start of the FPS in console gaming, handheld or otherwise. A quirky footnote in gaming history.






Faceball 2000 for Game Boy print ad copy:


Wipe the smile off this face!

(And maybe a few of your friends, too!)


Here’s your chance to wipe the smiles off those annoying happy faces once and for all! In FaceBall 2000, “Have a Nice Day” takes on a whole new meaning—in first-person perspective, with 3-D graphics and 360ยบ maneuvering!


Get into your Game Boy


And we mean into! FaceBall 2000 is a new virtual reality game. You don’t just see your character, you are your character. Feel like you’re actually inside your Game Boy as you move through CyberScape’s more than 70 treacherous mazes—or the Arena, in fast paced rounds of high-tech combat.

Bring your friends along!

Sure. You can take on the Smilies alone. But with your Game Link cable or Four Player Adapter, those faces can belong to your friends! Play one-on-one, two against two, or free-for-all!

It pay$ to play together

Don’t miss your chance to get up tp $5 back with our multiplayer rebate! You’ll find all the info inside your FaceBall 2000 package when you ope it up for the game of your life! But hurry. Some of your friends might be buying FaceBall 2000 right now. If they get in too much practice without you, the smile that gets wiped might be your own!

Watch out! They only look happy!

More than four times the fun with Four Player Adapter!

FaceBall 2000

A whole new way to get into your Game Boy

The Best Games in the World

Bullet-Proof Software