Showing posts with label Interplay Company print ad (1992). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interplay Company print ad (1992). Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2015

Interplay Company (1992)

Interplay Company advertisement

Original ad published in EGM's 1994 Video Game Buyer's Guide (late 1993).
Press to view or download image in higher resolution.

The good times at Interplay


During the early 90s, one of the biggest companies of the PC world tried with enormous effort to crack the North American video game market. The company was of course Interplay, seedbed of future behemoths Bioware and Blizzard. The company's rocky history can be summarised as a thespian tragedy: pride comes before the downfall.

And man did Interplay fall hard. Check out the gigantic list of games they produced during the 80's and the 90s for the PC and Mac. It was only natural they try to enter the booming video game market. For financial or planning or pure destiny, they never really made it.

If you really want to plunge into the history of Interplay, check out the video down below. It's a the first of a three-part series that analyses practically every major decision the company made during it's lifespan. Most of the good and bad decisions can be traced back to its founder: Brain Fargo. It's a case study in dubious business planning and quick wealth that evaporated into nothing.

Still, Interplay had the uncanny ability to partner with talented individuals or startups that would become bigger in a future time: such is the case of Bethesda, Smily Entertainment and the aforementioned Bioware and Blizzard.

The list of quality games for the Super NES by Interplay (or published by them) can be resumed as thus: Out of this World (1991), Clayfighter (1993) and the incomparable Rock 'N Roll Racing (1993), which features one of the best licensed heavy metal soundtracks ever on any video game. So even if they offered good quality gaming, Interplay's catalogue for the Nintendo's platform--the best 16-bit console of the era--was very limited. They would have to wait quite some time to leave a mark in the console world, but under vastly different financial conditions.



Interplay Company print ad copy


You’re gonna be late for dinner.

You won’t even think about stopping once you start playing Interplay’s five newest games.

From barbaric vikings to dastardly racers, champion hurdles to out of this world monsters, these exciting programs won’t even give you time to catch your breath.

So c’mon, what are you waiting for?

You never liked meatloaf anyway

To order any of these products, call 1-800-969-4263, or see you local Nintendo retailer.

  • Track Meet
  • 4-In-1
  • RPM Racing
  • Out of this World
  • The Lost Vikings

Interplay.