Marketing Ploys
It would be a good idea to load up that EarthBound shop music midi while you read this. It is never the advertisements that make a game great. Nor does the free demo disc improve the quality of the graphics, sound, plot, or gameplay of a game. While all of those factors of video game quality do make or break a game in the end, it is in fact things like the heavy advertisements, the commercials on MTV, and the free super-huge upcoming game demo disc that gets the ball rolling and gets the games selling. Take one look at EarthBound from a moderate standpoint. As far as I know, a quarter-page ad in Gamepro is as far as Nintendo got in advertisement of the game. However, EarthBound.net receives over 1,000 hits a day. So how can a game acquire such a cult following with little or no promotion?
For one thing, the massive box is easy to notice while strolling around Electronics Boutique or some other game store. Bigger things usually tend to stand out, so I suppose that was pretty much the only thing catching the eye. Now to say that kind of advertising is primitive would be an understatement. I know I'm sounding like the AWOL Cut Man right now, but what if you had this guy with a massive gut walking around Electronics Boutique draped in EarthBound paraphenalia? You'd take more than a second look at the game, wouldn't you? I knew you would. All I'm saying is that Nintendo could have done a lot more with EarthBound in the U.S. Take a look at Mario Bros. The basic idea of the games are just as quirky as EarthBound's. The gameplay and graphics of early Super Nintendo Mario games were just as simple.
Another fine example of the power of advertising is the Dragon Quest series. The original RPG series. Brilliant, simple games. In Japan, it's like a national holiday when a sequel is released. Here, we're lucky if Enix takes a second thought of releasing it. A supporting character, from one part, of one Dragon Quest game has had two of his own massive spin-off games. Ness meanwhile gets a near-cameo appearance in depth-less (but packed with solid gameplay) fighting game. To my knowledge, there are EarthBound novelizations, encyclopedias, and comics existing in Japan. Ridiculous. Suppose there was EarthBound Tactics, or EarthBound Racing, with mad amounts of commercials. With fat scientists, hippies, and strange little creatures with massive schnozzes, how can you go wrong??
It would be a good idea to load up that EarthBound shop music midi while you read this. It is never the advertisements that make a game great. Nor does the free demo disc improve the quality of the graphics, sound, plot, or gameplay of a game. While all of those factors of video game quality do make or break a game in the end, it is in fact things like the heavy advertisements, the commercials on MTV, and the free super-huge upcoming game demo disc that gets the ball rolling and gets the games selling. Take one look at EarthBound from a moderate standpoint. As far as I know, a quarter-page ad in Gamepro is as far as Nintendo got in advertisement of the game. However, EarthBound.net receives over 1,000 hits a day. So how can a game acquire such a cult following with little or no promotion?
For one thing, the massive box is easy to notice while strolling around Electronics Boutique or some other game store. Bigger things usually tend to stand out, so I suppose that was pretty much the only thing catching the eye. Now to say that kind of advertising is primitive would be an understatement. I know I'm sounding like the AWOL Cut Man right now, but what if you had this guy with a massive gut walking around Electronics Boutique draped in EarthBound paraphenalia? You'd take more than a second look at the game, wouldn't you? I knew you would. All I'm saying is that Nintendo could have done a lot more with EarthBound in the U.S. Take a look at Mario Bros. The basic idea of the games are just as quirky as EarthBound's. The gameplay and graphics of early Super Nintendo Mario games were just as simple.
Another fine example of the power of advertising is the Dragon Quest series. The original RPG series. Brilliant, simple games. In Japan, it's like a national holiday when a sequel is released. Here, we're lucky if Enix takes a second thought of releasing it. A supporting character, from one part, of one Dragon Quest game has had two of his own massive spin-off games. Ness meanwhile gets a near-cameo appearance in depth-less (but packed with solid gameplay) fighting game. To my knowledge, there are EarthBound novelizations, encyclopedias, and comics existing in Japan. Ridiculous. Suppose there was EarthBound Tactics, or EarthBound Racing, with mad amounts of commercials. With fat scientists, hippies, and strange little creatures with massive schnozzes, how can you go wrong??
