Advertising From Yesteryear…Game Genie

Long before there was an Internet to search for clues and codes to hack your way through a stubbornly difficult game, Codemasters brought a product into the game market which permitted access to your video game’s code, thereby letting you add unearned lives, power-ups, and so forth. The Game Genie was an accessory that you could insert into your game console, and then the game would attach to the Game Genie, allowing the Game Genie to act as an intermediary between the console and the game.

Many gamers found this helpful, and different Game Genies were produced for a variety of game consoles, including the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Nintendo GameBoy, the Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis, and the Sega Game Gear. Two different companies distributed the Game Genie over the years it was being manufactured: Galoob and Camerica, one of which (Galoob) was actually sued by Nintendo in an effort to prevent the Game Genie from being sold. Fortunately for many gamers, Nintendo lost their legal battle and had to pay Galoob for damages.

Time marches steadily on, however, and the Game Genie is now in the dustbin of gaming history, while Nintendo continues to be a gaming powerhouse.  All we have left of the Game Genie are the few units that can be found here and there in the retrogaming marketplace, and our memories. Speaking of which, see if the following ad brings back memories of how you salivated over the thought of finally mastering that one irksome game, if only you got a Game Genie. Click on the image below to see an enlarged version, and enjoy the trip into yesteryear!

Full page advertisement for Game Genie

Happy 17th Anniversary to the Sega 32X

It’s been 17 years since Sega released their 32X enhancement device for the Sega Genesis and Sega CD  in North America on November 21,1994, and it remains on my list of most intriguing and yet most disappointing game systems of all time.  Essentially Sega created an attachment for their popular Genesis game system that used two 32-bit RISC processors to improve the graphics quality of their 16-bit video game console.  The 32X was inserted into the Genesis into the game cartridge slot, and used a separate power supply, which made it a tad cumbersome.  (If you had a Sega CD accessory, you could have three power supplies and a mess of cables.)

The short-lived Sega 32X

A small variety of games were released for the 32X on both cartridge and CD formats (36 in total), including Doom, Virtua Racing, NBA Jam TE, Virtua Fighter, Star Wars, Mortal Kombat II, and the brilliant Kolibri (the only game I know of where you play a hummingbird).  However, the game library never achieved the status of other game systems simply because the 32X was discontinued within one year after its release (in October, 1995), as  Sega’s management team decided to move forward with the CD-based Sega Saturn game system, and the 32X soon became a mere memory, selling only 400,000 or so units.  Regardless, the 32X is still enjoyed by some Sega enthusiasts in the retrogaming community, remembered for the promise of its potential rather than the disappointment of its execution.  Though we hardly knew ye, Happy 17th Anniversary to the 32X!

Advertising From Yesteryear…Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game

Back in 1993, the Sega Genesis was still at war with the Super Nintendo, and both enjoyed full-page spreads in various comic books.  The back cover was usually a full-color extravaganza showcasing the newest and potentially best-selling games for whichever system paid the most for the coverage.  Today’s installment of Advertising From Yesteryear features Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game for the Sega Genesis, with “real martial arts action!”.  Enjoy!

Happy 20th Birthday Sonic the Hedgehog!

It’s been 20 years since Sega released their first Sonic the Hedgehog game on June 23, 1991. (Aack! 20 years!) Sonic was Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s Mario, replacing the much blander Alex Kidd, who had a good run as the Master System icon. Sonic was designed by Yuji Naka and Naoto Ōshima, and refined by a committee of Sega programmers and artists. An interesting piece of Sonic trivia: his first appearance in any video game was not in his first Sega Genesis/MegaDrive game, Sonic the Hedgehog, but as a picture on an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror in one of the vehicles in the Sega stand-up arcade racing game called Rad Mobile, released on April 26, 1991.

Since his debut, Sonic has starred in game for many platforms, including the Sega Genesis / MegaDrive, Sega CD, Sega Game Gear, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Windows PC, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, and Nintendo Wii.  He’s also starred in his own comic book and cartoon series.  Now that’s a sign of an enduring character!

Although he never became the cultural icon that Mario did, Sonic has endured for two decades, and games with his brand continue to be released, albeit without the same sales figures as a Mario Bros. release.  So, Happy 20th Birthday, Sonic – here’s to another 20 years of spinning your way to gaming glory!