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During the various console wars throughout video game history, Nintendo has largely maintained a quiet status. The company has made a practice of simply not acknowledging its competition, cheerfully marching along to its own tune. But during the 16-bit era, there was no ignoring Sega, a competitor who had taken more than a sizable bite out of the video game market with their Genesis (Mega Drive) console. In fact, by 1992, Sega had a 55% share in the US market after an aggressive marketing campaign. The company’s in-your-face image and popular new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog spoke to the young generation in a big way! Nintendo had to do something.
What resulted was Nintendo’s “Play it Loud” campaign, an intense marketing push in an effort to better appeal to Gen Xers. It’s a far cry from their usual stance as a family friendly game company, and this commercial serves as a perfectly preserved slice of that strange era. Rapid fire clips of gameplay, edgy teens hanging out, random 90s eye candy, Nintendo imagery, and even a rock band was the company’s surefire way of riling 90s kids into a frenzy. But Nintendo didn’t hire just any rock band – they brought in Butthole Surfers, the noisy, experimental, and downright badass rock n’ roll band to take things from weird to wild. While the sixty second ad definitely has its over-the-top, even cringey moments, it’s a fun blast from the past with a killer soundtrack!
