French commercial law does not allow using other brands without their consent so we never got stuff like “Sega does what Nintendon’t” or Crash Bandicoot being a jerk, but here is a fun one that English-speaking audiences may not know about, as I think it was strictly a French campaign.
What do you do when you can’t release your console on Christmas 1995, as hoped? You instead crap on the other consoles that do come out! Reverse FOMO! This campaign ran around November 1995 in magazines (we typically buy Christmas gifts in mid-December) and it actually worked quite well among some kids.
On December 25, if you spot a gift that looks like a 32-bits, don’t laugh, it might be yours.
If you absolutely want to cry in a few months, sure, go ahead and ask for a 32-bits this Christmas.
Dear Santa, when you come down the chimney, please forget about the 32-bits I asked for.
Some notes:
- Obviously, mega bonus points for using the old ULTRA 64 name, logo and black & purple identity. This might be the main reason you have already seen these ads online. This detail tells you in retrospect how late the console really was…
- When this ad ran, the Ultra 64 was expected to release sometime in spring 1996 worldwide, hence the messaging about “just wait a few months!” to credulous kids. The Nintendo 64 will end up officially releasing in… September 1997 in France, almost two years later. (Most other European countries got it in March and April 1997.)
- As I said above, you are not allowed to directly name or compare with your competitors in France. So Nintendo went for an interesting use of “32-bits”, not even bothering to add the word “console” (same word in French). Considering the Ultra 64’s name, it made sense to remind people something twice as powerful was coming out soon!, but it also shows how common the discourse on the new 32-bits generation had become by then.
- Not sure what’s up with all the disparate font choices. Ad creatives having fun. Last one makes sense as it’s kinda like a kid writing to Santa.
