While Nintendo hires Haruka Ayase to hawk Super Mario 3D Land in Japan, we get… eShop hipster John. Who’s just as awkward as ever in this Valentine’s Day spot. 

I actually like John (somehow), so it’s nice to see him kinda paired with an alterna-girl here. I guess things didn’t work out with that Samsung Galaxy S II lady.

Buy: Super Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil: Revelations

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tags / super mario 3d land / valentines day / resident evil revelations / gaming / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / commercial / ec

Yogurt is great for calcium! Resident Evil: Revelations, not so much. The two unlikely companions, though, join together in this commercial for the 3DS game in France.

Here’s another spot of a poshly dressed lady, just walking around a cruise ship playing her Nintendo 3DS.

Preorder: Resident Evil: Revelations

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tags / resident evil / resident evil revelations / gaming / capcom / commercial / france / ec

All right, yule logs, time for some new 3DS commercials marketing the system to jerks. In this first ad, the gang gathers around to humiliate John. Why is John the subject of constant ridicule? Well…

“You guys probably don’t even know about Freakyforms, do you?”

All right, I’ll get back to John the eShop hipster in a minute, but there’s something really important about this commercial I wanted to mention. It’s a commercial for Nintendo downloadable games, and that is incredibly rare. In fact, I don’t think that’s ever happened in American advertising.

Okay, now back to the contents. Who are these people hanging out together watching videos on 3DSes? Dude, your friends are right there, and you’re just watching Dinosaur Office by yourself?

Buy: Nintendo 3DS console (Flame Red, Black, & Blue)

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tags / you probably don't even know about freakyforms / advertisement / commercial / jc / gaming / nintendo 3ds / eshop

PlayStation Vita teaser commercial. In the grand tradition of PlayStation launch commercials (see: creepy baby, URNOTE), I have no damn idea what this is supposed to be about.

Actor “Eita” will star in some other upcoming Vita commercials (taglined “if we play, we’re friends”), in which he and Ryuhei Matsuda play games on a giant screen projected over a crowd. That at least makes sense, in that it emphasizes the images of video games. You know, video games?

Preorder: PS Vita

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tags / ps vita / jc / gaming / commercial

Monster Hunter Tri-G commercial. This is a weirdly straightforward effort for a game ad — just “here’s a bunch of gameplay footage” played on a white 3DS (looks soooo nice). It’s none of the distracting bullshit you’d expect from a video game commercial.

Don’t worry, Capcom did plenty of distracting bullshit too. Here are some costumed Japanese actors ambushing people with Monster Hunter Tri-G demos:

Buy: Monster Hunter Tri, a Nintendo 3DS

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tags / gaming / jc / monster hunter / monster hunter tri-g / imports / commercial / nintendo 3ds / 3ds

Mario Kart 7’s U.S. commercial. Oh crap, this is coming out soon! I’m still trying to make my way through Skyward Sword’s latter dungeons and get to Super Mario 3D Land’s for real-real final stage — when am I going to find time to migrate my Legendary Super Saiyan racing powers from years of playing Rally King into this?

Buy: Mario Kart 7 (December 4), Nintendo 3DS

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See also: More Mario Kart 7 posts

[Via Go Nintendo]

tags / mario kart / mario kart 7 / commercial / gaming / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / ec

3DS firmware update coming November 30. Nintendo intends to keep its promise to release its next major 3DS update — adding 3D video recording, 3DS-to-3DS software transfers, StreetPass improvements, and various eShop features (demos, DLC, etc) — before the end of the month, according to this UK ad. The company typically releases new firmware on the same day worldwide.

Unlike Super Mario 3D Land, which required an automatic update that blocked flashcarts and implemented minor Friends List functions, Mario Kart 7 will not come packed with the latest firmware (it will probably include the week-old SM3DL update, though).

Now what about those GBA Ambassador games…

Buy: Nintendo 3DS console (Flame Red, Black, & Blue)

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See also: More 3DS firmware news

[VIa Nintendo Life]

tags / 3ds / firmware / gaming / nintendo 3ds / update / commercial / ec

Trash talking Star Fox 64 3D commercial. If you’d rather watch a multiplayer Star Fox 64 3D video without these guys — maybe you feel sorry for the ginger that everyone’s making fun of — Nintendo just put up a trailer showing off the new four-player, local-only versus mode.

And! If you connect to eShop with your 3DS, you can hit the new Star Fox 64 3D category to watch the Battle Mode clip and other videos with the stereoscopic 3D effect.

Preorder: Star Fox 64 3D (September 9)

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tags / star fox 64 3d / commercial / star fox / star fox 64 / gaming / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / ec

Comboy (Korean NES) commercial. Some things to watch for: the adorable, Mr. Sparkle-esque cartoon Mario flying around! Super Mario 3 and … Batman promoted as marquee titles! Dad waving his fist menacingly at his happy kid!

The SNES/Super Comboy commercial is even better, featuring a cartoon chorus of game characters including Bowser, Ryu, the hero from Dragon Quest V, Goku and Krillin, a Ninja Turtle, and Buster Bunny!

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[Via Famicom no Neta]

tags / comboy / korea / commercial / commercials / jc / gaming / nes

Nintendo 3DS’s new fall line-up/pricing TV commercial. My two takeaways from this advertisement:

1. Looking to dispel arguments that the system has nothing worth playing, the spot immediately begins with “The games you’ve been waiting for.” Most of the featured titles, other than Ocarina of Time, aren’t out yet, but Nintendo’s trying to assure customers that big titles are coming soon.
2. Everything here is first-party, which is in line with Nintendo’s new focus on its own games to push the 3DS — NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime recently told IGN, “I think the launch of 3DS affirmed that it is the role of Nintendo first party content to drive the install base… We hoped that third party titles at launch would drive that base, and that didn’t happen to the degree that we needed.” 

Nintendo has a similar second commercial with gameplay clips and comments from the press.

Preorder: Nintendo 3DS (Flame Red, Black, & Blue)

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tags / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / gaming / commercial / ec

Japanese Kirby: Mass Attack commercial. After some initial skepticism, I liked my E3 demo of this game, but couldn’t quite get a handle on what it reminded me of.

Watching this, I realize that the action/strategy game to which it bears the closest resemblance is my beloved Little King’s Story. Something about the way the crowd of little guys tears up the landscape in a flurry of activity reminds me of that game more than it does, say, Pikmin.

So I’m probably going to like it.

Preorder: Kirby Mass Attack

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See also: More Kirby posts

[Via NintenDaan]

tags / gaming / jc / kirby mass attack / kirby / commercial / nintendo ds

Gero Gero: For the Frog the Bell Tolls commercial. It’s surprising how often frogs appear in Nintendo games — there’s even a frog suit in Super Mario Bros. 3. JC pointed out that this video actually looks a bit like Rhythm Heaven’s “Frog Hop” minigame.

And with all the frogs in Flipnote Studio/Hatena, I wonder why there aren’t any cameos from For the Frog the Bell Tolls in the animation app, like in Link’s Awakening.

Anyway, I must mention once again that an English patch for this Game Boy title released recently, and you should definitely play it if you’re interested at all in offbeat, import Nintendo games. There’s a guest appearance from Mother/Earthbound-creator Shigesato Itoi in it!

Import: Game Boy games

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See also: More For the Frog the Bell Tolls posts

tags / commercial / ec / for the frog the bell tolls / game boy / gaming / frogs / imports