The greatest Zelda commercial ever

[esteban]

Never thought twice about the black buttons on the unit used in the commercial. They're from the first run of NES units from 1985. I can only surmise that just a small percentage of NES units sold had the black buttons since the design was changed soon after (in the February 1986 nationwide release, the console had the typical gray buttons), and the vast majority of people, since they didn't buy the NES as soon as it came out (remember, this is the console that ended the video game crash, but it took awhile, people weren't so hocked up on video game steroids at the time), wouldn't remember the black buttons. The information is even hard to find on video game history sites. I just find it rather strange that the gameplay film was shot with a first run unit and the shot at the end was done with a second run unit. That tells me that they had shot the gameplay segment long before the game was actually ready for release in the US.

Wow. I never knew that. A friend of mine received, as a gift, what I thought was a first run NES model. Either I don't remember the black button, or he got the NES later than I thought he did. Regardless, I'm intrigued because this model has eluded me all these years! I wonder if the first run NES units were only available in certain regions (I don't know how Nintendo's distribution was when NES launched... too lazy to look it up).

[Dark Fact]

If those black button Nintendo's are that rare, just imagine how much a pristine mint condition model could fetch up on eBay!

[Keranu]

Never thought twice about the black buttons on the unit used in the commercial. They're from the first run of NES units from 1985. I can only surmise that just a small percentage of NES units sold had the black buttons since the design was changed soon after (in the February 1986 nationwide release, the console had the typical gray buttons), and the vast majority of people, since they didn't buy the NES as soon as it came out (remember, this is the console that ended the video game crash, but it took awhile, people weren't so hocked up on video game steroids at the time), wouldn't remember the black buttons. The information is even hard to find on video game history sites. I just find it rather strange that the gameplay film was shot with a first run unit and the shot at the end was done with a second run unit. That tells me that they had shot the gameplay segment long before the game was actually ready for release in the US.

Awesome info, nod! Thanks for finally answering this question I've been wondering for years .

[grahf]

I love that commercial. Its cool how they actually put all the gameplay elements into it. And might i add that zelda is looking allllllright

[GUTS]

Haha, "your parents help you hook it up!", how sweet.  Like kids were so f*cking stupid back then that it was a dangerous and complicated task to hook up a Nintendo.

[nodtveidt]

In late 1985, the first run NES systems were test-marketed in limited scope in just a few major US cities. I don't have information offhand about the cities it was released in but the number was rather small, as the USA Nintendo operation was rather small at the time. It wasn't until 1986 that Nintendo of Japan noticed a re-emerging industry in the US and decided to give USA Nintendo the go-ahead for nationwide distribution with the new stock of units, which were the common gray-button variety that they stuck with until production of the original design was stopped. What I'm not entirely sure about though was the decision to make the change...the timing of the Zelda commercial would probably clarify the issue though...since it was released in 1986, it's very likely that the black buttons were changed as a result of the US test market.

And yes...the black-button version of the NES is extremely rare...they wouldn't make up even 0.01% of all the NES units manufactured. Considering Nintendo's claim of over 60 million NES units produced during its lifetime, and the first run being a very low number for a first-run console (I believe it was actually under 5k units total)...good freakin luck finding one at all, let alone a minty fresh one.

[Keranu]

Wow that's some cool information.

[GUTS]

Do the controllers also have black buttons?  Its kind of hard to tell in the video.

[Black Tiger]

Haha, "your parents help you hook it up!", how sweet.  Like kids were so f*cking stupid back then that it was a dangerous and complicated task to hook up a Nintendo.

Back then, even more so than today, it would be the parents who'd need the kids to set the NES up for them, as soon as they were done with the VCR. 

[cavein2000]

WTF?!!!  That was amazing!!

[Black Tiger]

Don't kids "serve" one another like this nowadays?

They should use this ad on american television to promote Zelda LTP VC.

[Keranu]

They should use this ad on american television to promote Zelda LTP VC.

I agree 100%! This brings up a good point, do you think it's possible that there could be commercials for Virtual Console or X-Box Live games?