RBI Baseball
Watch the ad (603 KB, RealVideo)
"When you really want to get into the game..."
| This is a fairly disturbing commercial. If the music
was in a different key and there wasn't any narration, the opening would have been perfect
for a shelved episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? And while AYAOTD was never
actually scary, it was at least supposed to be, which raises uncomfortable issues
about this commercial - why do they want to scare you? They're trying to sell a
product here. It's possible the creators of the ad hoped to disorient you so much
with the nightmarish imagery that you wouldn't notice the "Actual Game Play
Differs" fine print (suspiciously written in a tiny, poorly-colored typeface).
I'm not sure anyone who's ever used a Nintendo would really believe the actual game play
included digitized-film versions of baseball greats with flawless AI, but you never
know. I guess I was pretty gullible back then, because I actually sacrificed
numerous good toys for the chance to get some Flexi-Blocks (As seen on TV!). But I
didn't fall for the Tengen RBI Baseball ad, and neither should you. Seriously, I gotta wonder whether the ad agency here was trying to get out of a bad contract with Tengen. The entire ad makes the product seem faintly dangerous, from its sinister electric charge to the warped, amphetamine-abusing announcer who rants about the virtues of the game halfway through the ad. I'd like to get some more history on this commercial, so anyone who was involved with its production - please email me promptly. |
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