On Wednesday, November 21, 1990 Nintendo stunned the gaming world with the Super Famicom, the sequel to its incredibly popular Famicom console. 300,000 consoles were sold within the matter of a few hours, forcing the Japanese government to request that manufacturers release gaming systems on weekends in the future to avoid a similar disturbance. Nintendo famously shipped units during the night to avoid the attentions of the Yakuza, such was the interest in this new entertainment platform.
The video shown above is a promotional tape distributed to press and retailers which was designed to create hype for the Super Famicom's launch, and it obviously had some impact. Running for around an hour, the tape features Super Mario World, F-Zero, Bombuzal, Pilotwings, Populous, Gradius III, Final Fight, ActRaiser, SD The Great Battle, Gdleen, Hole in One Professional and Drakkhen, all early titles for the platform.
At the end, there are comments from a quartet of individuals, one of whom is dressed like a Mexican wrestler while another appears to be an elderly Aladdin. Destructoid claims that the young man sitting at the end of the row is none other than Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai, who somehow looks younger now than he did 26 years ago.
Several of the older members of the Nintendo Life team can vividly recall seeing the first screenshots for games like Super Mario World, Gradius III and Final Fight in magazines at the time, so this footage brings back some very happy memories. Give it a watch and let us know if it stirs any recollections for you personally.
[source destructoid.com]
Comments 13
Now this is going to be a sweet watch!
Gonna watch.
Ah, the simpler days...
If thats Sakurai the he must age backwards....
@Alex. You'll notice how "Yoshi" is pronounced in that video. Stop doing him a disservice by saying it wrong.
I remember when this was the kind of way we saw footage of new games. I remember getting a VHS cassette on the front of an N64 magazine that contained footage of some games. I watched it over and over until I got the console.
Why - at about 58:43ish and for seconds thereafter - does the 'elderly Aladdin' play with his nipple?!?!?!
How can this be a Nintendo video and that made it through review? Wow!
And ew. Creepy. I wasn't even sure what I saw at first.
what i don't understand is ever moving away from the cape power-up. it's the single most fun thing ever designed in a video game. the propeller helmet is a disgrace in comparison.
Ah the golden age of vidoegames! best console ever
One of my friends still owns SD The Great Battle. I loved that game, he leant it to me back in the day, must have beaten it quite a few times. I actually still own Gradius III and Actraiser myself in Japanese too.
The noble days.
Love this, definitely going to convert this to VHS
@BionicDodo Me, too! Matter fact, I still have mine buried deep in some VHS tapes somewhere!
And I also remember watching it OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!!
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