What Happened to Jet Moto?

Jet Moto was a flagship franchise for Sony as the PlayStation platform rose to dominance in the late 1990s. From October 1996 to August 1999, we saw the release of three entries into the Jet Moto franchise. The first two entries in the franchise became "Greatest Hits" for the PlayStation platform, meaning that the games sold relatively well. On a personal level, the first two games made quite the impression on me when I was a pre-teen.

Three sequels in a three year window is a lot of Jet Moto. So why did it sputter out so fast? I ponder on this question and the quality of the series overall after the break, so click through whydontcha?

Square Soft on PlayStation Collector's Video from 1997!

In 1997, Square Soft released Final Fantasy VII, a supremely popular and influential RPG that still inspires discussion and debate today. It has been a topic of discussion pretty much the entire time since its release almost 19 years ago. It will continue to be in the public eye as its oft-demanded remake releases on the PlayStation 4 in the coming years.

But for this piece we are going to look back at the hype machine generated by Square Soft prior to the release of FF7. For years RPG fans poured over articles and blocky screenshots in magazines and soaked in every detail they could find. Eventually, a VHS tape was released by Square themselves to excite fans further in the final months leading up to launch.

Square Soft on PlayStation Collector's Video not only included clips from Final Fantasy VII, it had interviews with key players in the development process about the game and the creation of it. To make the video even more exciting, it included trailers of a handful of other great-looking Square Soft games coming out in 1998.

All of that stuff is great, and I'll go into some of it, but there is one thing in this video that stood out to me more than anything else;

They spoiled one of the biggest plot twists in the history of video games very casually in pre-release promotional material.

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Nintendo's Booth at a 1994 Trade Show Starring Perverted Donkey Kong!

In the 1990s, the Video Software Dealers Association would hold trade shows for the entertainment industry to promote their products with elaborate displays, giveaways, etc. The expo held in 1994 was no different, and Nintendo was one of the companies advertising their current & upcoming products to the masses.

The video I'm discussing was said to be a video recorded by Nintendo themselves to document the event. Everything starts out innocently enough, featuring a few minutes of video documenting how Nintendo's booth looked and the games they had on display, but eventually the video essentially becomes nothing more than evidence documenting the floating head of a gorilla sexually harassing every woman that comes within eyesight.

Click through for the TRUTH!

Awesome Retro Game Magazine Ads, Vol. 2!

In this edition of Awesome Retro Game Magazine Ads, we look at an American football icon, some deals, third party peripherals and a big ass eyeball!

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Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is Weird and Amazing

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for Sega Genesis is based on the 1988 film of the same name, which serves as an anthology film featuring several of Michael Jackson's music videos promoting his album Bad. The game was released on several platforms, from the arcade, to several variations of home computers (including DOS, Amiga, MSX, C64, etc.) and the Genesis and Sega Master System.

I don't think anyone needs to tell you this, but Michael Jackson was kind of a big deal in the 1980s and 1990s. Millions obsessed over his music, his style and his charisma. He was a supremely talented musician and it showed. One of those people obsessed with him was a young version of myself.

When I say obsessed, I mean obsessed. Not only did I listen to his music constantly, I would watch music video channels for hours waiting for his music videos to come on so I could hurry and record them to a VHS tape. I had tapes filled with music videos, documentaries, and even that made for TV movie that VH1 played constantly in the 90s, The Jacksons: An American Dream. 

Combine a kid's Michael Jackson fandom with his obsession with video games and Moonwalker is pretty much perfect. It is a fascinating and strange game.

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Five Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Commercials!

After a 2 month sabbatical because life tends to get in the way, Retro Game Dad is back and this time we are going to follow up on a previous post regarding Super Nintendo television commercials. This time, we want to give the Sega kids on the playground some debate ammo when the Nintendo fans come at you with their whack arguments!

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