Showing posts with label The Game Handler for NES print ad (1992). Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Game Handler for NES print ad (1992). Show all posts

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The Game Handler for NES (1992)

The Game Handler advertisement
Original ad published in the March 1992 edition of EGM (no. 32)



Historical Background and Graphical Analysis



Gyroscopes became all the rage some years ago when Nintendo's Wii included an all-new controlling scheme and controller pad right out of the box. Today, every video game corporation includes some kind of gyroscopic function with their consoles and, by all accounts, the technology seems quite established. Today, your Playstation and Wii U controller feature this technology seamlessly built in.   

But back in 1992, gyroscopes were not very know at all. "The Game Handler", by a company called IMN Control, featured this new interactive process but, as history would have it, practically no-one remembers their astounding technological leap.

I've included some pictures of the instructional video of this thing so you can get a good idea of the types of movements "The Game Handler" would allow you to perform in certain NES games, although I'm assuming it would work with any game for that console.

As for the artwork itself, I think IMN Control lost a great opportunity to display some of the key features of its product. You would never know the control was very different from the other dozens of similar after-market joysticks sold for the NES at the time. Also, it does not help that the shadow of the picture looks like a hand grabbing a penis.








Original copy for The Game Handler print ad:



The game has changed!* 
The Game Handler 
The only hand-held controller
you only need one hand to play. 
A new universe is at hand
Can you handle it?
*The Game Has Changed! GAME HANDLER actually "changes" pre-existing software you already own. Now with GAMEHANDLER not only are your games more challenging, but more interesting and more fun, too! Do moves you never thought possible before. Make Mario run backwards in Super Mario Bros. I and Turtles disappear in TMNT II, and many more secret tricks for you to explore and discover. We'll even send you a video tape showing you how to do some of these tricks, plus a newsletter to update new tricks found by our game players like you!