Over the years, Nintendo has put out some truly weird adverts for its consoles and games, including the wonderful SNES collaboration with the late, great Rik Mayall, and the bizarre sing-a-long commercial used for Super Mario Sunshine.
Many of them pale in comparison to the NES Legend of Zelda advert starring comedian and prominent voice actor John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt, Bayonetta), which takes place within a padded prison cell in which Kassir randomly shouts out the name “Zelda” along with multiple enemy names.
Now, in a recent Video Game History Hour podcast (via Time Extension), ex-Nintendo of America employee and “marketing mastermind” Gail Tilden shares details that shed some light on her mindset once she got wind of exactly what the commercial would entail.
According to Tilden, the advertising department at the time had given the green light to shoot a commercial once it heard that John Kassir would be involved. When she arrived at the shoot, however, she wasn’t particularly keen on what she saw…
“We did a TV commercial that’s kind of crazy. So if you get a chance to look at it, it’s the first Zelda commercial, and it’s a crazy comedian in a padded cell.
“He’s screaming. He says, “Ahh, peahats!” And so at the time, since I was still working in the advertising department, I think at that time, maybe– again, we were only with three or four people. And when the agency pitched that there would be a stand-up comedian doing something about all the fun things in this game we all said yes.
“So then I go to this shoot in Los Angeles, and it’s this crazy guy in a padded cell, and I’m like, This, I can’t go through this, because this is not what we agreed to. This is not what we were expecting. We thought (it would be) a guy standing at a mic in a spotlight. And so we called the agency, we called back and to the executives, and they said to go ahead, maybe because we were there already, but very quickly after that, we did another Zelda commercial, so you’ll have to look at the two knowing in that order and what happened, and that one is called, is called Zelda Rap, and I really don’t think that probably neither of them is very appealing.”
Tilden also briefly touches on NoA’s approach to the packaging design for The Legend of Zelda, remarking that it was “an expensive endeavour”. Of course, the gold cartridge and box design would resonate with fans deeply, and would serve as the foundation for the series’ branding for many years to come.
What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s weird John Kassir advert for The Legend of Zelda? Are there any other commercials that stand out as a particular favourite? Let us know.
[source gamehistory.org, via timeextension.com]
