takunomi

#Zeruda no CM

Being admittedly quite hyped for Breath of the Wild on friday, I thought I'd watch_ all of the Japanese Zelda commercials_.

I probably didn't quite manage that though, since there are close to a hundred billion, but I saw at least like... ten. Talking about them is probably more marketing talk than game design, but it's still fun to think about what the commercial makers have been trying to convey. The old commercials could be super campy, like the NES, GB and SNES games, with plenty of over-acting actors and curiously specific references (Compare to Link's Awakening).

Another running motif, is to use cute girls to play the game in relaxing manners (Like Shokotan of Pokémon fame and Gogo Yubari!). This is pretty common for Nintendo games (and games in general, I guess). This long one for Phantom Hourglass is quite endearing, and, really, a bit brave, since it's so slow moving.

My favorite was the one I've used as a header image, for the Wii U hd remake of Wind Waker. It seems to play on the nostalgia that Wind Waker is bound to carry by now, but it's also really refreshing to see the commercial simply say "This game has some amazingly cute characters and great designs, and really, it it brings the world to life".

Sometimes weird stuff happens. The Ocarina of Time commercials exist in two versions: One showcasing a girl playing the game, one with a boy. Later on though it seems, since the games sold a lot, new ones were released only showing the fucking ending and final battle. Such an odd choice.

The commercials in Japan for Breath of the Wild have so far been a bit uninteresting, although quite useful from a consumer point of view: They show the game. I can't help hoping for some more weird stuff. So hyped for friday.