Maximo: Ghost to Glory for PlayStation 2 (2001)

 

Original ad featured in the April 2002 issue of EGM.
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An average 3-D platformer with more marketing budget than originality.

A spiritual successor to 80s classics Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985) and Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988), released on a multitude of consoles and computers, Maximo for PS2 was a run-of-the-mill action game in a 3-D environment.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for GBA (2003)

Original ad featured in the June 2003 issue of EGM (167).
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Vampire Hunter A+

A beautiful game with superb publicity material.

Aria of Sorrow stands alongside Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance as a fantastic trio of classic 2-D games. Aria was the last of the three, but all of them are uniformly excellent. And really difficult.

Final Fantasy Origins for PlayStation (2003)

Original ad featured in the June 2003 issue of EGM (167).
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Fantastic artwork for a relic of the past

During the last days of Sony's original PlayStation, Japanese RPG giant Squaresoft published a series of Final Fantasy games on what was the world's most popular game console. Sadly, the games were not good at all.

God of War for PS2 (2005)

Original ad featured in the April 2005 issue of EGM (no. 190).

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The best publicity is a good game

The original Greek mythology action game featured some very solid advertising. Equally as good as the game, actually.

Shadow of the Ninja for NES (1990)

Original ad featured in the November 1990 issue of EGM (no. 16).

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A true hidden gem for Nintendo's 8-bit machine

Well-known publisher Natsume, of Harvest Moon fame, released what could be called the perfect cross of Ninja Gaiden and Contra. Sandy for them, no-one paid attention to their game during the begging of the 90s.

Sinistron & Tricky Kick for TurboGrafx-16 (1990)

Original ad featured in the November 1990 issue of EGM (no. 16).

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Two for the price of a grey one

Two-game ads were the norm in the late 80s and the begging of the 90s. Unfortunately for these two games, both ads failed to capture the imagination of young readers.

Mario Golf for N64 (1999)

Original ad published in Tips & Tricks, issue of August 1999, no. 18

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Simple and clean, just like Nintendo

A fun game for the N64, Mario Golf used a distinctive style for its publicity, neither too garish nor too loud, just like you would expect from the Big N.