Topic: Nintendo, advertising to kids is fine, but we've to talk about how you're doing it.

But, they aren't all like that...

If modern day sales are any indication, your point stands to a very small minority of the market

When did I ever mention shooters? I'm saying kids want to act older than they are, in the sense that they don't want to engage in something they may consider "for babies". That doesn't mean they want to play gritty shooters or whatever. But they want to feel "cool", in a way they may feel if they played something like Splatoon is shaping up to be. I remember a ton of commercials as a kid, and many of them absolutely had that vibe to them. For example, I very fondly remember the "Apple Jacks don't taste like apples" commercials, where kids go around correcting older adults on it.

The problem with Nintendo's Wii U marketing is that it's talking down to kids. The narration in this Kirby commercial is a perfect example of this. It sounds like it's being spoken on Sesame Street.

Maybe I'm just a relic of 90's edginess, but I honestly think Nintendo is missing the point in general.

Ah yes, and THIS is why I will always know the Gamecube will always be better than anything they dish out. Better games, much better marketing, hell, even better design of the console and controller. Nothing will ever beat the early '000's, but the late 90's was a close second. GAMECUBE FOR LIFE! #Whoareyou? #Borntoplay #Changethesystem #GetNorgetout

I wouldn't say the GCN had better marketing considering it's one of the worst selling Nintendo consoles. Maybe some might prefer whatever style of marketing Nintendo did back then, but it wasn't much more effective than what they're currently doing.

Obviously I don't have a really big sample size but from what kids around that age I know of (cousins kids, nieces and their friends etc) this isn't really the case. None of them started playing "non-kiddy" games until they were in their mid teens and I remember I was about the same. Sure there are some playing CoD or GTA at 12, which is a bit nuts, but that's not the majority. The big hits are stuff like Disney Infinity, Kinect games, Minecraft, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart and so on. Games like Kirby firmly fit within that grouping.

That's not how advertising to children works. An ad is made and is shown to children through TV on either Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or any other channels or websites that kids go on. The kids see the commercial, then they ask their parents for the product. If commercials for products that the company is trying to sell to kids, is meant to be shown to the parents and not the kids, then all children networks and websites predominately used by children would have zero ads.

Twenty-somethings now: "back in my day kids were different, we weren't into that violent shooters and so on"
Kids in the 90s: "How awesome is Mortal Kombat/Doom/Goldeneye/Duke Nukem?"

If you were a boy of that age when Duke Nukem 3D came out? There's no way you weren't interested and odds are your parents were less aware than parents are now. Things haven't changed that much at all, there's just a very, very tiny bit less of a moral panic

Yeah, I remember going over to my aunt's place a lot as a kid, and they had a Genesis, and I was always wanting to play my older cousin's copy of Mortal Kombat or Primal Rage. While I was allowed the occasional supervised bout, we spent most of our time playing Sonic 2, Sonic & Knuckles, or the Lion King (though I was just as happy playing those).

Sonic 2 and The Lion King....

ok, you've won, I have to do the "kids these days" thing for this. You've forced my hand. Kids these days just don't understand. These days they're used to movie tie-ins being crap, but The Lion King was fantastic.

Yeah, I remember it being a good time, though I never got very far in it (The second level, I think? The one where you're riding the ostrich).

Though, I remember walking in one day and my aunt had gotten to the elephant graveyard level, and I was like "WOW", lol.

I think the problem is people are assuming they should be marketing to male kids and not unisex/girls too, so yes Kirby isn't gonna win over GTA/COD kids because it isn't aimed squarely at them.

Girls play video games?

WHAT NEW FORM OF MADNESS IS THIS?!

Because games like GTA V and Call of Duty gives young people the impression they are cool for experiencing it. "If older kids are playing this then I should too". Just like watching a mature movie when you're a kid. You're doing it to be cool. Pokemon and Zelda is still " cool" which is why kids still love it. Kirby: Canvas doesn't make kids feel cool. Neither does Toad: Treasure Tracker. Its very SAD how Nintendo's charm works against them more than works for them. There ARE kids who love Nintendo, though. They just literally only buy games like Mario and Zelda.

Kids are very impressionable... Making kids feel cool for experiencing a product is huge. I wonder how many young kids are actually excited for Splatoon compared to the older Nintendo gamers who actually see something truly special in Splatoon?

Nintendo has made people feel cool for going after a game. Anybody remember Kid Icarus: Uprising's amazing commercials? I still say that's the best advertised game on 3DS besides Pokemon X/Y.

Yes, but this commercial advertises to toddlers.

I think Splatoon is the epitome of "kid cool". It reminds me of those "Slime Time" interludes on Nickelodeon back in the late 90s/early 00's between cartoons.

I don't think Rainbow curse is incompatible with "seeming cool". Some of my favorite commercials ever are Kirby commercials that manage to either be ironically edgy (Triple Deluxe's HYPERNOVA SAYONARA SUCKAAAAAA) or hilariously weird (the original canvas curse Finger and Kirby costumes). They could easily do the same with Rainbow curse. They chose not to.

How can Rainbow Curse even look "cool" in a commercial? Its art style is too cutesy.

TBH I don't see what the point of complaining is given how the previous one was advertised....

That commercial was sweet and cute. This new commercial is aimed at 2 year olds.