A Gallery of Retro Video Game Ads

ByPaul Posted on

Video game advertising has changed a lot over the years, and that can be evidenced in this gallery. First and foremost, I’m trying to understand why apparently people simply didn’t know how to draw in the ’80s and ’90s. You’re running a national ad campaign and you couldn’t get someone to accurately render what the human body looks like?I know the graphics were non-existent back then, but why did the promotional art have to be so sub-par?

But on the plus side, we have ones like the above with hot Contra lady that has little to no relevance to the actual game. If this were today, there would be a whole bunch of forum posts discussing Contra’s latest advertising controversy.

As for the others? It’s not all just bad art and hot ladies, there are a ton of different types in here, and you can check them all out below (via reddit):

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

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3 Comments

  3. Ahh, (Magnavox) Odyssey 2, aka Philips videopac Computer G7000, as it was marketed here in Scandinavia. I still have mine, in perfect working order, since 1982, with a bag full of game cartridges. Found a treasure at a fleamarket, another unit for spare parts, should the original ever fail. None of my later “computers” have been so resilient. As to game posters, the one promoting “Barbarian” is still among my favourites. It raised some discussion at the time, the sexism of it, of course. Fun game too, loved to make heads roll! http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fdw1ZbyQXG8/SylW2Wgt3kI/AAAAAAAABhY/Pa7xkfuNN28/s400/barbarian.jpg

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