For the most part, Super Bowl commercials are usually regulated to companies advertising their next big product, or teasing movies that are coming up sometime over the year. But video games take their part as well, with some sort of clever ad to hype their next upcoming release.
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While this year won’t bring too many big-name game commercials (we’re probably getting one for Arena of Valor and that’s about it), there have been some great ads that have run in the past, including a few with a particular twist that are still fun to watch today.
Let’s take a look at some of the most noteworthy Super Bowl video game ads out there, and how they made an impact during the “big game”:
Dante’s Inferno
This Electronic Arts game was an interesting choice for a Super Bowl ad, featuring a hero pursuing his wife into the depths of Hell, taking on a number of demons along the way. But, somehow, CBS gave it the approval process, and the ad resulted in turning quite a few heads, considering it’s one of the few we saw during the Super Bowl that advertised a AAA game release (and not, say, mobile).
The ad itself is pretty cool, with a lot of hacking and slashing to the tune of “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Alas, the game didn’t perform quite as well as EA was expecting, and, within a matter of years, the development team at Visceral Games would be scuttled. Too bad – we wanted to see another ad like this make the rounds. Because we’re sure not going to see demons in Diet Coke ads.
Pokemon
Okay, so this is more for the Pokemon franchise in general, and not so much the games. Still, how cool is this commercial? In it, you see a number of aspiring players step up and say, “I can do this!” or “I can do that!” while watching others, and then eventually become Pokemon masters in their own right.
The ad was produced for the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise, and turned out to be highly effective with both die-hard fans and casual players alike. We haven’t seen an ad like that from the Pokemon company since, but it definitely inspired many players to push on. And maybe, just maybe, Nintendo can bring it back around for the announcement of its Pokemon Switch game.
Yeah. It can do that.
Clash of Clans
Okay, so this is more of a mobile game ad than anything else, but the team at SuperCell outdid itself when it produced a new ad for Clash of Clans featuring none other than Taken and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace alum Liam Neeson. He’s a dangerous man, vowing revenge when a mobile gamer obliterates his camp. Oh, but he has no trouble putting the game down for a second to correct the clerk that’s handing him his cup of coffee. (Because NO ONE mispronounces the name Liam!)
Out of all the Clash of Clans ads, this one’s definitely the most entertaining – but why haven’t seen a sequel yet? We need to see if AngryNeeson52 got his revenge or not. He did promise it, after all.
The Battle of Evony
If you really want your Super Bowl ad to have power, you get a big name actor attached – like Liam Neeson with Clash of Clans. So, for its debut ad for Evony: The King’s Return, the developer opted to bring on a few actors to get their point across, including The Dark Knight’s Aaron Eckhart and The Walking Dead‘s Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as well as Fan Bingbing, each representing leaders of their factions as they go into all-out war. We’re not sure how the game is doing nowadays, but the ad was highly effective when it came to providing weight to the battle that was to come. And, also, big nod to that attention to detail – these characters have never look so well represented.
Nintendo Switch
Finally, Nintendo, of all companies, really came through with their Super Bowl ad. After taking a new advertising approach with its Nintendo Switch announcement back in October 2016, the company followed with an ad featuring many players enjoying their Switch games in many ways, from Just Dance 2017 to 1-2-Switch! to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, all to the tune of Imagine Dragons’ “Believer.” The ad became a highly rated success, and would guide Nintendo to its big comeback on the gaming market.
So the big question is when the big “N” will make a return to the Super Bowl realm. Could we see a new ad next year that talks about Pokemon, Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3? We’d be down with that.
