Having spent some time puzzling this together, I now believe this to be one long 14-page advertorial. There's a big focus on Advantage, my thinking is mid-1987. I'd have to check my previous research to see when this ran, I'm pretty sure I saw it in Playthings at @museumofplay
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Okay here's the fun stuff: UNRELEASED GAMES. The highlight here is Irem's 1987 version of Kung-Fu II, a home version of the arcade Kung-Fu Master II...which ALSO was never released. Don't confuse this with the also-unreleased 1991 version of Kung-Fu II, a totally different game!pic.twitter.com/HuhtfaqU2P
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Two VERY early Sunsoft flyers I've never seen before. The Sky Kid art is from the arcade game and I love it.pic.twitter.com/iAG5qQOnvT
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This might be the first 3rd party directory for NES, which became a staple in every media kit at every show. Unreleased games: Makai Island (Capcom, dumped) Speed Rumbler (Capcom, lost) Side Arms (Capcom, lost) Kung-Fu II (Irem, lost) Psycho Soldier (SNK, lost)pic.twitter.com/A0PkdOrWwO
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That's about it for 1987, other than corporate info and sales figures and stuff. Moving on to 1989, which looks to be mostly photos and fact sheets.pic.twitter.com/DWEBk5T92u
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Lots of product photos with fact sheets in here, mostly just for the NES and Game Boy systems. The one obscurity here is the Hands-Free Controller, a really cool early example of a game company taking accessibility seriously.pic.twitter.com/ocApCHON3Z
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So this kit is also from Summer CES, this time 89. So what was Nintendo's line-up at "E3" 21 years ago? Kind of an odd year, as internal dev was moving on to Super Famicom: Dragon Warrior Tetris Short Order/Eggsplode Barker Bill Faxanadu Play Action Football To the Earthpic.twitter.com/lRBKQnQ0F9
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Corporate headshots, including rare appearances from Bruce Donaldson and Bill Whitepic.twitter.com/CSnsfO0KOY
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Two years later Nintendo was still pushing "plays games for a living!" in its PR, but was now spotlighting the newly formed Gameplay Counselor group instead of Phillips as a solo act.pic.twitter.com/lemWqtdejg
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Okay! That's it from me, the rest is just pages and pages of corporate number-gloating. If you liked this thread and the idea of material like this being study-able by historians, maybe consider tossing a donation (or Patreon sub!) to
@GameHistoryOrg, the non-profit I run.Show this thread -
For those asking if Kung-Fu II was actually based on Vigilante...maybe? Here's a comparison, I think his color scheme more closely matches the Kung-Fu Master II prototype in the centerpic.twitter.com/rF1TcvAI15
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End of conversation
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