Demon Sword for NES (1990)

Original advertisement published in VG&CE (June 1990)

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Yellow and bland publicity

Demon Sword for the NES, released in North American in 1990, was a typical side-scroller as so many other of the era. It featured floaty gameplay, repetitive stages and very little sense of control. Graphics and music were meh, as were the sounds. In consequence, the ad for the game was also mediocre.

Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy for NES (1990)

Original advertisement published in VG&CE (June 1990)

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Adults-only game for your Nintendo with beautiful artwork

Japanese and American gamers are well known for having different aesthetic values, specially in video games. Most of those differences were molded by Nintendo themselves, since they held a rigid censorship system for games sold in the Western world. But some games were able to pass the big N’s censors and left the original Japanese game practically unchanged. One such instance in Golgo 13 (1988) and its sequel, which you see here.

Technos company NES games (1990)

Original advertisement published in VG&CE (June 1990)

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Game developers can also make good print ads

Technos was a prolific Japanese developer during the 80s and a better part of the 90s. Now defunct, the company nevertheless left its mark on the console and arcade fronts with such classics and Double Dragon, Super DodgeBall and River City Ransom.

Gate of Thunder for Turbo Duo and TG-CD (1993)

Original advertisement published in Turbo Force (January 1993),

a pack-in magazine of Electronic Gaming Monthly.

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Possibly the best system-starter game ever

By 1993, NEC had tried and failed to establish the PC-Engine brand in North America. Their Turbo-Duo system would be their last effort to break Nintendo’s and Sega’s fierce control of the American video game market.

Battle Chess for NES (1990)

Original ad published in the September 1990 issue 

of Electronic Gaming Monthly (no. 14).

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Great artistic concept but slow gameplay

Animated battle chess is possibly the only subgenera of games that originated from the Star Wars scene were the heroes are playing the space version of the game. Ironically enough, the Star Wars version of the game, released in 1993, is still considered the best realization of the concept. 

Rolling Thunder II for Geneses (1992)

Original ad published in the April 1992 edition of EGM (no. 31)

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Spy vs. spy with and lots of guns

A competent port of good arcade side-scrolling action game, Rolling Thunder II became well-known as one of the better Genesis offerings by Namco thanks to its outstanding soundtrack and sound effects. Gameplay was smooth and responsive, very Shinobi-like, something that makes or breaks this kind of fast-paced shooting games. Even though the graphics on Sega's console could not compete with those of the arcade, they were still noteworthy, specially when you take into account that the home-console port featured additional levels and cut scenes between stages.

Stolen for PS2 (2005)

Original ad published in the April 2005 edition of EGM (no. 190)

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Female objectification combined with a poor man's Metal Gear Solid

Riding high on the Metal Gear Solid/Splinter Cell wave that propelled those franchises through the better part of the new millennium, Stolen presented itself as a sexy clone of those games, as you can probably guess by the printed material shown above. Sadly, it was a mediocre effort.