#bandai — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bandai, aggregated by home.social.
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業務拿這個出去遞名片應該會令人印象深刻才對... XDDD #BanDai
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Bandai transforma o icônico Tamagotchi em anel inteligente
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Retro Gaming Ads Blast – Part 46
Welcome back readers, fellow geeks and electronic gaming fans!
In this edition of the Retro Gaming Ads Blast (RGAB) series, we will take a look at another batch of retro gaming print ads from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
For the newcomers reading this, Retro Gaming Ads Blast (RGAB) looks back at the many print ads of games (console, arcade, computer and handheld) that were published in comic books, magazines, flyers, posters and newspapers long before smartphones, social media, the worldwide web and streaming became popular. To put things in perspective, people back in the 1980s to the 1990s were more trusting of print media for information and images about electronic games and related products.
With those details laid down, here is the newest batch of retro gaming print ads for you to see and enjoy…
1. Frogger Print Ad
Do you find this old ad humorous?When Frogger was first released in video arcades in 1981, it easily attracted countless gamers offering them bouts of fun and the video game critics were very impressed with it. Considering its massive arcade success, it was unsurprisingly ported to the game consoles and home computers of the time. Parker Brothers secured the license for cartridge versions and the company produced Frogger ports for not just the Atari 2600 but also the Atari 7800. This print ad they came up with had a deliberate cartoony artwork (with a touch of humor) and an artist created a hand-drawn illustration intentionally made to resemble a screenshot from the game. I saw this ad a number of times when I read comic books in 1982.
2. The Legend of Kage Japanese Arcade Flyer
Action and excitement in ancient Japan!In my life, I never had the opportunity to play the original arcade version of The Legend of Kage and ended up playing only the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) port. Behind the scenes, Taito itself came close to preventing The Legend of Kage from being released in the arcades. The company placed it in a certain game show where it received praise by many which prompted Taito to give it a full arcade release. To promote the game, the Japanese arcade flyer had lively hand-drawn artwork that perfectly reflected what the game is about, who the playable hero is and what ancient Japanese setting was used. Fortunately for Taito, The Legend of Kage became a huge commercial hit and this led to the production of ports for different consoles and computers.
3. Hyper Olympic Japanese Arcade Flyer
Arguably the best track and field game ever made for the arcades.In 1983, Konami released their summer Olympics-inspired arcade game Hyper Olympic (titled Track & Field in other parts of the world) which offered players the opportunities to compete in a series of events with emphasis on pressing the buttons as quickly as possible. The arcade flyer Konami came up with featured fine-looking hand-drawn artwork showing athletes competing in track and field events (with the types of events displayed at the top-most part of the flyer) while showing just one screenshot (lower right) and displaying the officially 1984 Los Angeles Olympics logo (lower left). In my view, this old arcade flyer does a good job promoting both the arcade game as well as the 1984 Olympics itself. Too bad nobody makes this kind of arcade flyer anymore.
4. Terra Cresta Japanese Arcade Flyer
Did you ever play Terra Cresta in the arcades in Japan?Nichibutsu, which produced a lot of arcade games that were released only in Japan, released Terra Cresta in Japanese arcades in 1985. It turns out Terra Cresta is a sequel to their 1980 game Moon Cresta which itself was their first big arcade hit game. Nichibutsu literally loaded the front of Terra Cresta’s arcade flyer with lots of visuals and details. As you can see, seven screenshots of the game were displayed (each with descriptive text), a fancy looking artwork that emphasized the science fiction setting, some English descriptive text, the cocktail table arcade machine and a pretty Japanese lady wearing an aerobics outfit with legwarmers (popular in the 1980s). This flyer truly has a strong 1980s flavor.
5. Sega Master System European Print Ad
From the early days of Sega’s console business.After many years doing arcade games, Sega made the bold decision to start competing in console gaming with the release of the SG-1000 in 1983 in Japan. Even though Nintendo was a very tough competitor with the best-selling Famicom, Sega did not give up and proceeded to launch their console in America and Europe referred to as the Master System. In a serious attempt to gain customers specifically in England, Sega made a print ad showcasing a family sitting in front of a TV set with the young boy playing a racing game on a Master System. Looking at how the descriptive text was presented, it was clear that Sega emphasized bringing the arcade game experience into the comfort of home while also promising that a lot more new games will be released in the near future. This is an eye-catching ad and also a fine example of aggressive marketing by Sega.
6. Ken Griffey Jr.’s Winning Run North American Print Ad
What was the best baseball video game you ever played?Following the commercial success of the 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball, Nintendo got Ken Griffey Jr. again as endorser and proceeded with the follow-up Ken Griffey Jr.’s Winning Run. With the highly talented Rare (Donkey Kong Country) chosen as game developer, Nintendo was highly confident with the baseball sequel and the 2-page print ad reflected that. The Ken Griffey Jr.’s Winning Run ad had a striking image of a broken baseball bat on one side while the game’s details, two screenshots and the creative description dominated the other side. While I am not so interested in baseball, I can say that this old print ad is indeed attention-grabbing.
7. 2Xtreme North American Print Ad
From the time when the X Games were wildly popular.Remember how popular the X Games (Extreme Games) were back in the 1990s? Early in the life of the PlayStation console, Sony released ESPN Extreme Games which sold over a million copies worldwide. As expected, a follow-up titled 2Xtreme was approved for a 1996 release. Sony came up with a 2-page ad that had an upside-down X Games participant with roller blades dominating most of the space and six screenshots were displayed. The descriptive text in the lower part of the ad was deliberately written to be hip and cool.
8. Macross Plus Japanese Arcade Flyer
The front. The rear.Based on the mid-1990s anime OAV, the Macross Plus video game from Banpresto was designed as a vertical-scrolling 2D shooter that captures the feel and intensity of the anime’s spectacle. The front of the Japan-only arcade flyer showcased the YF-19 Excalibur, the YF-21 Sturmvogel and the VF-11 Thunderbolt (plus the basic arcade controls on the lower-left) which were all rendered in 3D polygons to delight Macross fans and gamers who are interested in new 2D shooting experiences. The rear of the flyer showed additional details and it even includes English text descriptions. Strangely, no screenshots of the game were displayed. Being a long-time Macross fan, I can say this old arcade flyer is still engaging to look at.
9. Macross VF-X2 North American Print Ad
An impressive looking print ad for a Macross video game that never got released in North America.In the late 1990s, Bandai prepared to launch Macross VF-X2 (the sequel to 1997’s Macross Digital Mission VF-X) on the PlayStation console in North America. This was a very intriguing move because Bandai never brought the mentioned 1997 Macross game outside of Japan. Shortly after the official announcement of a North American release, Macross VF-X2 got featured in video game magazines, an English demo of the game (first mission only) was distributed through Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, and Bandai came up with the 2-page print ad you see here. Unfortunately, Macross VF-X2’s North American release got cancelled because of copyright issues and legal obstacles (note: Harmony Gold held the Western rights to Robotech and actively blocked the release of genuine Macross products in America). As such, this impressive looking Macross VF-X2 print ad for North America ended up as a promotion for nothing!
10. Star Wars: Racer Arcade Japanese Print Ad/Poster
This is one of the many video games based on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.In 1999, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was a massive box office hit in theaters around the world and it marked a new era of Star Wars movies with digital effects available. Similar with 1993’s Jurassic Park, George Lucas’ movie also had a huge lineup of merchandise, action figures and video games. The pod racing from the movie became the basis for Star Wars: Racer Arcade which was released in Japan on June 2000, and then in America a month later. To help arcade operators attract gamers and Star Wars fans, a print ad and poster were released featuring a very dynamic image of pod racing from the game dominating the background, a few screenshots displayed and some computer-generated of characters and vehicles. At the lower right part of the ad/poster is the image of the arcade machine which has a huge screen, a seat and control panel. The descriptive Japanese text was written to excite both fans and gamers. Did you play this Sega-produced Star Wars game in the arcades?
11. Konami Wai Wai World Japanese Print Ad
Can you spot Simon Belmont, Mikey Walsh and King Kong in this Japan-only print ad of Konami Wai Wai World?Going back to the late-1980s, Konami released a 2D adventure game on the Famicom that was very ambitious as it featured side-scrolling treks, vertical-scrolling shooting sequences and, most notably, a cast of characters that emphasized crossovers between intellectual properties of gaming. I am talking about Konami Wai Wai World (sometimes called Konami World for short) which had characters, settings and elements of Konami’s own properties like Gradius, Castlevania and Twin Bee. Not only that, King Kong of King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch and Mikey Walsh of The Goonies were also featured which is astonishing because they represent entertainment intellectual properties that were licensed to Konami for video game adaptation. That said, the emphasis of crossovers and excitement was shown in the form of 2D character sprites in this Japanese print ad of Konami Wai Wai World. This is the kind of game that Konami itself will never be able to make again and to do a remake or an enhanced re-release of Konami Wai Wai World will require overcoming all the legal obstacles in the way.
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#1980s #1990s #2DShooters #2DSprites #2Xtreme #action #adventure #advert #advertisement #advertisements #advertising #adverts #America #amusement #anime #arcade #arcadeFlyers #arcadeGames #arcadeGaming #arcadeOperators #Atari #Atari2600 #Atari5200 #AtariVideoComputerSystem #Bandai #Banpresto #baseball #Battroid #CarloCarrasco #Castlevania #CD #CDROM #ChatGPT #cinema #comicBooks #computers #console #consoleGames #consoleGaming #consoles #crossover #DonkeyKongCountry #electronics #England #entertainment #entertainmentBlog #ESPN #ESPNExtremeGames #Europe #fantasy #Fediverse #fighterPlanes #film #Frogger #fun #gameConsole #gameConsoles #gamers #games #gamesConsole #gamesConsoles #gaming #gamingConsole #gamingConsoles #geek #Gerwalk #Google #GoogleSearch #Gradius #GreatBritain #HarmonyGold #HyperOlympic #Instagram #Investagrams #Japan #jets #JurassicPark #KenGriffeyJr #KenGriffeyJrSWinningRun #KingKong #KingKong2IkariNoMegatonPunch #Konami #KonamiWaiWaiWorld #KonamiWorld #LegendOfKage #Macross #MacrossDigitalMissionVFX #MacrossPlus #MacrossVFX2 #magazines #MajorLeagueBaseballMLB #MajorLeagueBaseballPlayersAssociationMLBPA #marketing #Mastodon #MegaCD #MikeyWalsh #MLB #movies #Nichibutsu #Nintendo #Nippon #nostalgia #OlympicGames #Olympics #ParkerBrothers #PCGames #PCGaming #PlayStationOne #podRacing #posters #printAds #printMedia #promos #PS1 #PSOne #racingGames #Rare #RetroGaming #RetroGamingAdsBlastRGAB #Retrospective #Robotech #robots #sciFi #scienceFiction #Sega #SegaCD #SegaGenesis #SegaMasterSystem #SegaOfAmerica #SG1000 #shooter #shooters #sideScrolling #SimonBelmont #SNES #socialMedia #Sony #SonyComputerEntertainment #spaceTravel #sports #StarWars #StarWarsEpisodeIThePhantomMenace #StarWarsRacerArcade #StarWarsThePhantomMenace #SummerOlympics #SuperDimensionFortressMacross #SuperNES #SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystemSNES #Taito #technology #TerraCresta #The1980s #The1990s #TheGoonies #TheLegendOfKage #TrackField #TwinBee #UnitedKingdomUK #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #UnitedStatesOfAmericaUSA #Valkyrie #verticallyScrollingShooters #videoGames #WordPress #WordPressCom #XGames -
More than 180 toy makers are exhibiting new products and flagship items as an annual toy show kicked off in Tokyo on Thursday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/08/27/tokyo-toy-show-begins/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #toys #children #tokyotoyshow #tokyo #bandai #tomy #megahouse
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Galactic Wrestling Featuring Ultimate Muscle with Josh “Anoriand” Fagundes
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if professional wrestling, superhero nonsense, and a generous helping of “did they really just do that?” collided in a PS2-era video game, congratulations you’ve found your people.
This episode dives headfirst into Galactic Wrestling Featuring Ultimate Muscle, a game that asks the important questions, like how many absurdly named wrestlers can fit into one ring and whether flexing harder is a legitimate combat strategy (it is). Along the way, we’re joined by Josh “Anoriand” Fagundes. Yes, that Anoriand from Twitch. He brings his streaming-honed wisdom and an appreciation for delightful chaos.
Between the manga roots, anime flair, and a game that absolutely commits to the bit, there’s plenty to grapple with here. So lace up your boots, oil up your… everything, and get ready for a match that’s less about winning and more about how spectacularly weird the journey can get.
Learn such things as:
- How do you make a sequel to a game and not have it on the same console?
- What happens when the humor and moral values of such different societies don’t really match up?
- Does this game have anything surprisingly good in it, and does it even matter if it does?
- And so much more!
You can find Anoriand on Bluesky @anoriand, TikTok @anoriand, YouTube @AnoriandGD, and Twitch @anoriand. And he was on Super Deluxe GamesCast but as this is getting published, it was announced a few days ago that they’re changing the name to Maximum Hearts and I want to make sure that this horrible timing is saved for prosperity.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
The next episode is going to be Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2, so get your thoughts ready and over to me if you want to hear them in the show.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.
If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.
A big thanks to Lee Carvallo’s Podding Challenge and Peace Down and Down for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who would probably have a glitch somehow as a special move.
#AKICorporation #Anoriand #Bandai #Barracuda #Beetlebomb #BigBudo #Blackhole #BoneCold #BrockenJr #BuffaloRampage #Buffaloman #Checkmate #ComradeTurbinski #DikDikVanDik #Eskara #GoldRogue #GrandpaMuscle #Hanzo #Jeager #JoshFagundes #KevinMask #KidMuscle #KingMuscle #Lomeinman #LordFlash #LordMuscle #LordWrangler #Manitoban #Neptuneman #NinjaNed #Poseidon #PrinceLouOw #PS2 #Ramenman #RobinMask #Rocardo #RogueShogun #Shivano #Skullduggery #Sosumi #Specialman #Starface #StreetScrapper #Sunshine #SunshineSupreme #TerryKenyon #Terryman #VanceMcMadd #WallyTusket #Warsman -
Digimon Digital Card Battle with Sahoni (Bramble Wolf Games)
Digivolve your PlayStation controllers and prepare to shuffle your way through the most wonderfully confused identity crisis in gaming history, because this week on Play Comics we’re tapping into the pixelated card-battling chaos that is Digimon Digital Card Battle for the PS1! Released in 2001 when every entertainment franchise on Earth was racing to cash in on the trading card game gold rush sparked by Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, Bandai decided their digital monsters deserved a piece of that sweet, sweet card-slinging action. The twist? They didn’t just adapt the existing Digimon trading card game – oh no, that would be far too simple. Instead, they created an entirely NEW card game exclusively for this PS1 title, because apparently someone at BEC thought “You know what kids collecting physical cards really need? A completely different set of rules that only exists in digital form!”
What emerged was a gloriously polygonal fever dream where Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon became your partners in a card-battling odyssey through Battle Arenas, all while you sacrifice Digimon from your hand like some kind of digital monster cult leader gathering “DP” (Digivolve Points, not whatever your brain just went to) to evolve your creatures into increasingly ridiculous forms. It’s rock-paper-scissors meets card game mechanics meets “please stop making me grind the same battles 300 times to unlock the secret final boss.”
Joining us for this digivolved discussion is the phenomenally talented Sahoni from Bramble Wolf Games! When they’re not busy crafting games that actually mean something or channeling their Queer and Indigenous (ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ) storytelling magic into unforgettable tabletop experiences, Sahoni brings their narrative expertise to help us understand how this PS1 oddity somehow convinced an entire generation that carrying around 30 digital cards was infinitely more practical than the hundreds of physical ones weighing down their backpacks.
So crack open that PS1 jewel case, practice your best “I’m going to pretend I understand these Support Card effects” face, and prepare for an episode more entertaining than watching the same Digimon battle animation for the 47th time. We’ll explore whether this card-game-that-never-was actually honored the spirit of the Digimon franchise, or if it just left us wondering why we couldn’t trade our digital cards with friends like we could in literally every other TCG game of the era!
Learn such things as:
- If watching the same PS1-era polygonal battle animations 300+ times builds character or just destroys your will to live?
- Why the game forces you to read tiny PS1-resolution text on cards and whether that counts as an accessibility nightmare or just “authentic retro experience”
- Why creating a brand-new trading card game that only exists in one video game is either pure genius or complete madness (spoiler: probably both)
- And so much more!
You can find Sahoni on Bramble Wolf Games, on Tumbler @sahonithereadwolf, or on BlueSky @Sahoni.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Group on Facebook.
A big thanks to The Monitor Tapes and Nerd Best Friends for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who might actually be the champion my friend.
#Bandai #BEC #DarkHorse #PS1 #SahoniTheReADWolf #Shueisha