[ Retro Scan ] Super NES Play It Loud Poster
September 22nd, 2017 by Benj Edwards
Side 1: Grunge fonts galore
1994 was a very good year for the Super NES. It’s around the time when US Super NES sales began to exceed those of the Genesis again, and of course, the release year of some of the games listed on this large fold-out poster. Chief among them, of course, is Super Metroid, which I consider to be one of the greatest video games of all time.
Some people like Donkey Kong Country as well.
This poster came packed with first-party Super NES games sold around 1994 — and I quite possibly got it from inside the Super Metroid box itself. (I wish I hadn’t separated all those documents out long ago, but I did it mainly to focus on scanning them for this very column.)
I’ve talked about Nintendo’s Play it Loud campaign before (especially here and here, and here), so I won’t go into it again. But it was a very effective campaign that found back against Sega’s assault on Nintendo’s kiddie image.
The back side of this fold-out poster contained the obligatory Nintendo Power magazine ad, coupled with a non-obligatory Star Fox graphic. Neat.
Side 2: While you’re at it, subscribe to Nintendo Power
Discussion Topic: What’s the most underrated Super NES game?
September 23rd, 2017 at 1:06 am
I felt (feel) the same way about Super Metroid & Donkey Kong Country, though I don’t remember enough about DKC to remember why.
I don’t really have an opinion regarding which game was the most underrated—unlike with the NES, our friends & the rental stores didn’t seem to have a wide variety of games. The only truly non-popular title I recall playing was Merlin, and it would be difficult to underrate.
September 23rd, 2017 at 1:59 am
Man, I remember those ads. I remember throwing them all away because the StarFox thing was useless as a pinup. I still have one of the Zelda 3 ones on my wall today. Go ahead, laugh.
Most underrated Super Nintendo game… geez, that’s kind of a hard one. Largely because my tastes at the time aligned fairly well with the mainstream.
…
It IS weird to consider how much effort was put into selling Illusion of Gaia. Seeing it on the fold-out poster alongside Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country reminds me that they went all-out with that one, with magazine ads everywhere and a friggin’ pack-in T-shirt on the first run for some reason(my copy didn’t come with the shirt). And it is a fine game, but it is largely forgotten today.
I wish Enix had put even half the effort into localizing it that they and Nintendo put into marketing the dang thing, because the translation is abysmal and it could be so much MORE with remotely competent english writing.
September 23rd, 2017 at 5:56 pm
I’m going to suggest The Firemen (1994) Human Entertainment for its unique theme and gameplay elements, and the fact that it’s a genuinely fun quality title that probably few know about then or even now.
September 25th, 2017 at 9:44 am
It’s amazing how well Nintendo tracked to that generation of kids. It was very close to a monoculture in my school.
I honestly can’t remember if you’ve interviewed someone from Nintendo’s in-house marketing team. I bet they were feeling pretty good for much of the 90’s.
September 29th, 2017 at 7:12 am
I think for me it was Zombies Ate My Neighbors. What an awesome fun game with cheesy 50’s sci-fi level titles and such. Was awesome fun, just needed a better save feature.