SuperPhillip's Favorite Video Game Commercials Part 1

Commercials are an incredibly important part of marketing a game. I'm reminded of MadWorld for Wii which didn't really say much about what the game was all about, what you did, or even show off some of the selling points-- the violence. A simple "censored" box over bloody parts with commentary would have worked wonders, I think. Bah. I'm playing Tuesday evening quarterback here. Regardless, I'm put together fifteen of some of my favorite video game commercials. They either spark a memory, are from a game I really enjoyed, present the game well, or are just plain cool. Maybe some of these will spark a memory from you?

There are five commercials per playlist for easy access save for the first. The Ocarina of Time commercial is a separate link since for some reason it won't show up in the playlist.



Super Smash Bros. (N64)

This is most likely a fan-favorite of any fan of Nintendo. Why does Mario instigate the fight? Why does the portly plumber have so much hostility? It's ingenius how "Happy Together" continues to play while the four are still beating the crap out of one another.

Mario Party (N64)

"But it's-a-me, Mario!"
"Tell it to the judge."
I can only imagine how many of those four squirrely kids are now behind bars. It was all fun and games until you get a blister on your thumb from Tug-O-War, the cops come over because of all the noise, and your best pal Mario gets taken to the big house for something you started.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

This commercial is a very well done one that gives chills and goosebumps to fans of the series. Perhaps not now, but when it originally aired it was darned cool. The music was also used for the unveiling of what would later be known as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Direct Link

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)

Majora's Mask's commercial nailed the ominous nature and tone of the game. This is but one of the two commercials that aired in movie theaters all across the country. How scary would that be to look up one day and see a burning red moon with a scowl on its face looking down at you?

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN)

Narrated by a mysterious girl, this commercial tells the story of a legendary hero on a quest to save a girl-- the girl narrating the ad, by golly. Showing off great cinematic effects and a high production value-- which a lot of my favorites display-- this commercial does its job very well.



Metroid Prime (GCN)

This commercial was directed by Alex Proyas who directed The Crow. The commercial masterfully blended 3-D special effects, a live actor, and in-game footage to create an incredibly clever and cool commercial.

Golden Sun (GBA)

What starts out as an ordinary orchestra concert turns awry with dragons, lightning, and a fierce battle as the music escalates. It doesn't hurt that the commercial is for a fantastic RPG like Golden Sun either.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GCN)

Fifteen seconds, but the announcer makes it all worthwhile. Not just his delivery but also the words used. It just flows well. The fact that Double Dash!! is one of my favorite Mario Karts might sway my preference of this commercial though.

Mario Kart DS (DS)

Another short commercial, this one shows off some 3-D models of Mario and Luigi racing across a globe to show of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Comparing Mario Kart DS's online to Mario Kart Wii's online really is like night and day, isn't it?

Mario Kart DS (Japanese DS Ad)

The only non-North American commercial on this list, the Japanese Mario Kart DS ad is bizarre but in a good, hysterical way. It's a commercial that spawned avatars all across the internet, so while that puts a strike against this commercial, it's still funny all the same.



God of War (PS2)

Usually when the word "epic" is used on the internet nowadays, it's used incorrectly. No, the boxart of Sonic Heroes is not "epic". However, if you're using the word to describe the God of War series and the commercials for the games, you'd be right.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GCN)

I could not find the original Sonic Adventure 2 commercial. Instead I found a lot of amateurish mock-up commercials. Regardless, both premises of the Dreamcast and Gamecube commercials are the same-- they use real-life hedgehogs for comedic results.

Jet Grind Radio (DC)

When I originally saw this commercial-- it must have been during wrestling or something similar-- I had thought I turned it on to some Japanese feed. Little did I know that this quirky and humorous Japanese-themed commercial was the American version. I still need to play the Xbox sequel now that I think of it...

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

This commercial uses the game's cut-scene engine to show off an impressive intro. While hero Nathan Drake is stealthily eavesdropping on the enemy, his phone goes off. What follows is some action accompanied by in-game footage of the game.

Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction (PS3)

Saving the best for last, the latest retail release Ratchet adventure is set to "What A Wonderful World"-- a rock cover of the song made famous by Louis Armstrong. The entire commercial is CG only with no in-game footage to speak of. Usually I'd hate that, but the commercial still shines on its own.

That wraps it up for this installment, but in the coming weeks we'll see even more video game commercials of gamer past. I hope you'll look forward to them!

Mega Man ZX Advent (DS) Review

This may seem like a strange classic review to put up. There's not a Mega Man game for the DS or any other platform for that matter in sight for the near future. The reason is that this is a game that my brother is finally getting into and enjoying. Do we share the same opinion on the game? Let's find out with Mega Man ZX Advent for the DS.

Double the Mega, Double the Man

Capcom's most industrious little mascot returns to the DS, marking his fourth appearance on Nintendo's dual-screened system (six if you count all three Mega Man Star Force titles). The newest Mega Man game is Mega Man ZX Advent, the sequel to the Metroid-styled Mega Man action of the original Mega Man ZX. Now many have shunned the blue bomber for recent rehashes of the once good Mega Man Battle Network series and the essential rehash with new characters that was Mega Man Star Force. However, Mega Man ZX Advent is one Mega Man title that old fans of the series and new ones alike should not let slip past.

This is the first boss of both Ashe and Grey--
simply at different locations.

You select from two initial characters, a boy who wakes up from a capsule in a mysterious lab in Grey, and a girl searching for that elusive booty (no, not that kind of booty) in Ashe. Both characters never meet, and they mostly play through the same levels except for their introductory stage. However, each one has a different story that players need to follow both in order to see both of their endings and the reward that comes with that. With Grey you will learn why he awoke from a capsule in a desolate lab and what his true identity is, while with Ashe you'll discover the secret of her origin. There's three modes of play so any level of Maverick and Pseudoroid hunter can complete the game as easy or as difficult as they choose. Beginners will have players hardly breaking a sweat against enemies while the unlockable Expert difficultty has enemies and bosses with more attacks, more damage on Grey or Ashe, and more defense for baddies.

There's a whole line of Mega Men competing in the "game of destiny" in order to see who will be the ultimate Mega Man, wielding the power of the omnipotent Model W. Grey/Ashe gets accompanied by a wise-talking Biometal named Model A which transforms your hero into one of the many Mega Men competing to either save the world or destroy it (most corrupted Mega Men are the latter). Of course, there's still bosses to battle that are simply Pseudoroids causing trouble like a flaming horse named Buckfire, a flowery foe named Rospark, and a bot with the feminine touch in Queenbee. The secret of Model A is that after one of the many bosses are defeated, Model A can take their form-- a nod to the original Mega Man where after defeating a boss, Mega copied their weapon. There's fifteen forms in all, and all have their uses. Buckfire can kick through breakable blocks, Rospark can scale up, down, and across iron pipes, Model H can dash upwards, Model P can chuck kunai blades at foes via the touch screen, and that's just four forms. Each form has its own special attack, normal attack, dash attack, and super attack. The only problem with all of these forms is that you'll constantly be switching through them either by selecting a form on the touch screen or cycling through them with X or the pause menu.

Buckfire can scale walls and melt ice cubes.

Mega Man ZX Advent isn't set up like your typical old-school Mega Man game. There's missions to complete like the Mega Man Zero line of games, and there's journeying to each location like in Mega Man ZX or the game that spawned the idea, Metroid. However, the map system is much better than the eyesore that was ZX. You seldom have to wonder what place goes where like you do with the original. Almost all of the different areas are located just off the main hub-- Hunter's Base. Transervers not only save your progress, but they're also great for jetting around the world in a jiffy, provided you've activated a warp point for a small fee of energy crystals (it's free in Beginner).

Model H treks through the fiery gauntlet.

Aspiring players will not only desire to finish the game by taking care of all of the story missions, but they'll also want to help everyone they can by taking care of all of the mission requests. These range from putting out fires to finding someone's lost canary. Completed missions net players with energy crystals (the currency of Advent) among other awards. There's also a wide array of well-hidden gems to find as well such as subtanks, life ups, biometal upgrades, and secret disks to be scavenged throughout the many levels of Advent. By collecting all 24 boss medals by beating a boss in a certain way from only using one form's attack on a boss to surviving two minutes against a boss and then destroying it, you'll earn an incredibly cool "small" reward. You'll have to earn that one, folks.

From gameplay to presentation, Mega Man ZX Advent looks very much like a Game Boy Advance game. It feels stuck in that graphical boundary. Sure, there are beautiful anime cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game, but the 2-D sprites and backgrounds could stand to step up. We're not on the GBA anymore, Inticreates. Nonetheless, what there is of the graphics is still pretty good, but the backgrounds and sprites could stand to have the definition that they couldn't have on GBA. Thankfully though, Advent features full voice-acting from the bosses to the main characters and adversaries. There's a lot of dialogue that can either be skipped, listened to, and/or read. Unfortunately, some of it is very hit-or-miss, especially the grating Model A.

Two against one? I like these odds.

So what do you have when you take all of this and put it together? You have a very entertaining and action-packed sequel to the original Mega Man ZX. Mega Man veterans will most likely fall in love with ZX Advent, and newcomers will find a difficulty that's right for them. There's numerous forms for either Ashe or Grey to take, two stories to play through, three difficulties, unlockables in the form of minigames and other surprises, and voice acting and anime cutscenes to boot. While the presentation could stand to step even further into the DS' technology, what is there is still adequate and neither hampers or exhilarates the experience. Mega Man ZX Advent is one of the best Mega Man games since Zero 3 which came out several years ago. This title will remind you why you fell in love with Mega Man all over again.

[SuperPhillip Says: 8.5/10] - Great. Mega Man ZX Advent thankfully takes a different route from its Star Force cousin, and what follows is an incredibly addictive game that no fan of the 2-D action genre will want to miss.

SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Rev Up and Ride Edition

Welcome to a new week with a new batch of favorite VGMs to last you each day of the work-week. This week we start off on the road with Gran Turismo 4 and Daytona USA followed by some flying in Dragon Ball Origins and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Finally we cap things off with a tension-filled boss theme from Resident Evil 5. Let's get to it!

v331. Gran Turismo 4 - Moon Over the Castle

Moon Over the Castle is the opening theme of Gran Turismo 4. It starts off small with a choir, and quickly becomes very grandiose, poignant. It sent chills down my spine when I listened to it earlier. After the classical approach, a rocking guitar riff kicks in with the same melody. Nicely composed piece for a great game.



v332. Daytona USA - Let's Go Away

"Weh heh hee. Weh heh hee."

Few know this, but that set of lyrics is actually how Takenobu Mitsuyoshi laughs in real life. This version of "Let's Go Away" is from the Dreamcast game, Daytona 2001. Let's Go Away is present through every incarnation of SEGA's Daytona series except one. The song's so remarkably cheery and cheesy.



v333. Dragon Ball Origins - Overworld

This is the theme that plays during the outdoor forest levels among other places in Dragon Ball Origins for the Nintendo DS. This particular song is very upbeat and makes you wanna bop your head to it as you play. I must admit that even though I'm no Dragon Ball fan, I found myself very much enjoying this action-adventure game.



v334. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - Gruntilda's Challenges

This is the theme of Gruntilda the Witch-- the lovable broad who can never say "die" unless it's towards the bear and bird. Hearing this theme for the first time after ten years of only hearing synth versions blew my mind. I was bouncing around like a kid who just got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas. Okay. Not THAT happy.



v335. Resident Evil 5 - Wind of Madness

This is the penultimate boss theme of the recently-released Resident Evil 5. For those who moaned and groaned that RE4 was less survival-horror than previous installments, you better steer clear of the newest Biohazard. More thrills but way less chills. It's Wind of Madness from Resident Evil 5.



Next Monday we have some tunes from House of the Dead, Final Fantasy XI, and Kirby Air Ride. That's not all though. Hope we'll see you here next Monday for more favorite VGMs!

Bomberman Live (XBLA) Review

Bomberman Ultra blasted its way onto the Playstation Network this past week, so let's take a look at the similar Xbox 360 downloadable title, Bomberman Live.

A better title than Bomberman Dead.

The tagline would have been an apropos title for the 360's first Bomberman outing in Bomberman: Act Zero. And unlike the expensive console game, this arcade title is a mere ten bucks. Thankfully in Bomberman Live, Bomberman is back to the cute model we've all grown to know and love, and yes, he's still a little pyromaniac.

This edition of Bomberman brings with it eight maps, numerous modes and power-ups, and best of all eight-player multiplayer over Xbox Live. For those who have never picked up a traditional Bomberman title over the past decade and some change, the aim of Bomberman is to blow up the opposition until they are the last Bomber standing. How does one blow away the competition? Simple- bombs, and lots of them. Each arena is one screen big and is littered with boxes that can be destroyed with bombs. Each player is positioned on one isolated corner of the map, and they'll need to blow up boxes to reach other players. Inside boxes are power-ups such as fire up which expands the blast radius of your bombs (normal bombs blow up in a cross pattern). Bomb-ups give your an extra bomb you can drop instead of just one. All power-ups are cumulative, so picking up a fire-up won't cancel out the bomb-up a player picks up. Collecting power-ups is key to scoring large explosive combos. Just don't get caught in the crossfire!

Welcome to the jungle.

There's eight arenas to play in. Each has its own theme and gimmick to them. Classic is as ordinary a stage as any you'll see. Others include arrows which will send your bombs soaring in the direction the arrows face and transporters that will move the player to another point in the arena.

As aforementioned up to eight players can play over Xbox Live. The host chooses the rules whether the game will be player or ranked, and then the fun ensues. There's really nothing like ragging on a bud for blowing himself up for the fifth time that evening. One might notice that each player has a differently dressed Bomberman as well. Unlockable costume balls will give a player access to different hats, helmets, faces, and costumes for both online and offline play. There's a plethora of combinations to choose from allowing a player to create their own custom Bomber to blow the CPU and human opponents to smithereens.

A pyromaniac's wet dream.

Overall, Bomberman Live is a fantastic party game that anyone can get into. Unlocking costumes and completing achievements boosts replay value, and playing online with up to seven other friends adds more fun to an already explosive package. For only ten bucks it's really hard to say why anyone shouldn't pick up this title.

[SuperPhillip Says: 8.0/10]

Comments Like This Annoy Me.

Hey, gang. I'd like to refute various comments I've read on the internets since E3. This isn't meant solely for the person who wrote them (it's really not for them at all), instead it's for like-minded people. Perhaps you'll agree with some of (or none of, pessimists) my points.

"No one gave a shit about four-player Super Mario Bros. I dunno about you. But I really don't care any more about jumping and hitting brick platforms with my skull to elicit coins and mushrooms. I've grown up. I'm not a Toys R' Us Kid any more." - James Mielke

Now for those who don't know who James Mielke is (everyone basically), he is the person who was under leadership of EGM when it went out of business. I will not say that he is the reason it happened, but if 1up somehow goes under as he's the leader of that, then we'll know for sure, right? I winked right now. Did you see it? He also said in his LittleBigPlanet review that-that game had more originality in it than the last five Mario games put together. I'm sensing a bias here, yeah? He runs 1up, too. That's the sad thing.

That notwithstanding, I'm sure the millions who purchased New Super Mario Bros. and haven't become jaded manchildren can say that yes, they "gave a shit". And let me say that yeah, people like Milkman (that is his nickname, right?) still are Toys 'R Us kids. Instead of playing with your G.I. Joe action figures, you're now playing your Halo, Gears of War, Killzone, and any of the plethora of lack-of-personality military shooters. You just don't have the power anymore of posing Marcus Fenix with his hands on his crotch like you could with the Cobra Commander action figure. What? We ALL did it. Instead of facing off against Cobra, you're now facing off against the Horde, the Locust, or the Helghast. Instead of shouting "die, Cobra Commander" you're shouting "get raped" or "die, n*****".

To somehow say that people who enjoy Mario, a game with personality and doesn't need to pretend it's mature by adding guns, blood, swearing, and a lack of primary colors, are childish is an incredibly incompetent and hypocritical stance to take. Is there any wonder why so many of you game jour-- game press people are continuing to become more and more irrelevant? If that makes me a "Toys 'R Us" kid, then bring Geoffrey over so we can laugh at 30 year old bodies with 14 year olds trapped in them. What annoys me most is that these people being in the industry, having a bunch of sheep who hang on their every word, and then these people shout out the same garbage on message boards everywhere because their fearless leader said it, spreading the ignorance to an insufferable level.


"Super Mario Galaxy 2 sums up everything wrong with Nintendo." - GamesRadar

I think we could easily find a bounty of articles summing up everything that is wrong with the industry and GamesRadar in general, but I digress. The argument is that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a rehash because it's not a new IP or whatever. InFamous is a new IP, yes? But it's really just Crackdown with electrical powers. That makes it automatically better than an old IP tied with a totally new gameplay mechanic? No. It makes you an idiot. Congrats. So tell me why Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time-- a game that is somewhere around the seventh game in seven years or so with the same formula isn't called a rehash but the sequel to one of the greatest games of this generation is-- especially when we've just seen ONE trailer? Are some of you REALLY that against a video game company? Well, enjoy staying irrelevant. Between mouth-breathers and socially accepted people, I'll take something inbetween.


"Natal = Wii killer" - Bette Midler

Microsoft's Natal is an impressive piece of technology. I mean, sure now motion controls are cool and Nintendo is doomed. I'm sure a bunch of message board people have blown their loads when they smiled and said that. Then their moms came in and kicked them out of their basements. Regardless, how is it a killer of the Wii? Suddenly a company that has never put out a mass-market product of any success will do so? Suddenly a bunch of the mass market Wii owners will buy 360s? It doesn't make sense. I don't understand why anyone would want a console to fail either. That's extremely embarrassing. You don't get to whine that the industry isn't taken seriously and then post such garbage. Then again, most who post such slime are the same ones who think all Wiis are in the closets, no one buys games, and everything that is positive towards the Wii isn't true.


Regardless, I really hope Natal allows current HD games with motion control. I'd love to play Halo with Natal or something like that. It's good for all gamers, so don't try to bring your console wars nonsense into everything.