Let's start with Pac-Man. I love the ad's artwork, with its colorful and cartoony Pac-Man. Although I never owned an Atari, I definitely remember this game. Maybe I played it at a friend's house or something. There are drastic differences between this game and the arcade Pac-Man (besides graphics and sound, of course). Check out a demo in the YouTube below.
First, the maze is totally different, with a horizontal orientation and pattern that isn't even close to the arcade. It kind of reminds me of Pac-Man Jr. The point system is completely different, too. And check out the ghosts... they blink for some reason. Maybe the Atari is incapable of processing those 5 moving sprites at once so it alternates blips between the ghosts. But holy crap, that's distracting. I remember enjoying this game as a kid, though... I was so into it, I would grip the controller too hard, painfully digging my palm into it. I was serious about my Pac-Man, dude. And check out the commercial below. I love the animation!
Next up is Haunted House. I've never played it, but you can see it in the YouTube demo below. I'm not quite sure what the point is. Are you supposed to be a ghost or something? But in the ad, the ghosts are supposed to "get you". Hm... anyway, the lightning and thunder effects are a nifty touch.
Finally we have the classic Super Breakout. This is an awesome game that I've played in one form or another for decades. I vaguely remember playing it for Atari, but you can see some screens in the commercial below. Truthfully, it looks like a pretty sweet conversion of the game.
Labels: Comic Ads, Pac-Man, Video Games
2 comments:
You know I miss the old school feel of vintage game ads and cartridge sticker art. It was so overly fantastic, that many of the vintage cartridge games I've purchased over the years has been mainly inspired by the quality of the art. They were always able to exaggerate the gameplay and graphics of the games they advertised. It's really something that's been lost over the years. Most game covers ads and cases show actual footage or shots of the games themselves. Marketing was so much more entertaining in the 80's. :)
I guess they show more of the game now because they don't really need to embellish the way the game looks. These days, it would be difficult to come up with art that would look better than the actual game. But you're right, showing the actual game is a lot less creative and the old ads are much more fun.
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