
A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years - utkarshs12
https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/3/16086120/classic-video-game-ads-nintendo-parker-brothers
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alanfalcon
He could have asked a graphic designer. Those screenshots aren't "as small as
possible" \- they're as large as possible! You've given this poor designer a
256x240 pixel image and asked him to "make it look good" in a full page print
ad. Even at a less than ideal 150ppi, that screenshot is going to be less than
two inches wide. Now you have 90% of a full page ad to fill up, so what
follows is pretty natural.

(I bet there was some Frogger marketing guy who kept insisting, "can't you
make the screenshot just a little bit bigger?" And the hand-drawn mock
screenshot was the eventual compromise to make him shut up.)

~~~
edkennedy
I get what you are saying, but this is not an issue in this case. Most
screenshots were done with analog film cameras pointing at a CRT. So
resolution is not a limiting factor. See:
[http://www.usgamer.net/articles/back-when-screenshots-
really...](http://www.usgamer.net/articles/back-when-screenshots-really-were-
screen-shots)

~~~
thefalcon
I had to know more so I looked up how they made those screenshot maps in
Nintendo Power:

"That machine that we had at Work House in Tokyo looked like a VCR or
something. It was huge. They'd hook it up to the game system, and then it
would print out a picture that was maybe four postage stamps big. It wasn't
even as large as a Polaroid. It would print out this beautiful color picture,
and then these guys would sit there and take their X-Acto knives and cut out
the trim, and then they'd paste them onto this larger board, and make this
huge board that was the entire map."

[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/183233/nintendo_power_...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/183233/nintendo_power_remembering_.php?page=3)

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bluedino
What is that format/style called? I remember reading all the late 70's to
early 80's magazines in my our basement as a kid, and all the ads had that
look to them. Take for example this Ford ad for a car:

[http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-
content/uploads/201...](http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/Ford-1975-Granada-ad.jpg)

The style kind of goes, big headline, then 2-4 fairly detailed paragraphs
about the product. You never see that any more. The video games always
followed the same template:

CAN YOU HANDLE THE ACTION

 _Are you ready for craziest alien battles on the Frobozz Computer System?
Then play Foobar 2000, the ultimate adventure! You 'll face dastardly demons
and high speed challenges, sure to make you ask for more!_

~~~
noelwelsh
I believe it's a style that David Ogilvy popularised. Take a look here,
particularly the Rolls Royce ad: [http://www.ogilvy.com/our-
history/](http://www.ogilvy.com/our-history/)

~~~
hetspookjee
I find it quite delightful to look at these advertisements having binged Mad
Men for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Cool to see that car news
advertisements haven't changed their format in over 60 years. One can almost
literally place the ad on a website such as top gear and it'd blend in just
fine.

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brandonmenc
I collect old PC magazines from the 80s and 90s (ex: PC/Computing.)

The business software and hardware ads look very similar. Image search
"software computer ad 80s 90s" if you don't believe me.

It's just what was popular in advertising graphic design back then - it's not
particular to video games.

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lobf
Any copies of PC Accelerator?

~~~
brandonmenc
No, too new of a magazine ;)

~~~
lobf
Ha okay. Do you host your magazines anywhere?

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agumonkey
Nice point, although I believe someone influenced that board game company.

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wolco
The ad and the imagination created the game. That's why older games feel
better than many modern games.

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jlebrech
it makes sense, as pixels were like game pieces and the imagination filled the
blanks.

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khedoros1
It seems like it's still ongoing. TV ads for mobile games, especially, seem to
avoid showing actual gameplay for more than a tiny part of the ad. A lot of
them stick to fancy CG and actors.

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protomyth
related: [https://www.polygon.com/2014/3/26/5482198/the-art-of-
atari-a...](https://www.polygon.com/2014/3/26/5482198/the-art-of-atari-a-
celebration-of-game-packagings-golden-age)

The Atari cartridge artwork which was parodied by Panic
[https://panic.com/blog/panic-retro-art/](https://panic.com/blog/panic-retro-
art/)

