It Was a Thing on TV: An Anthology on Forgotten Television

Arcade games exploded onto the scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several shows, animated or otherwise, airing on TV.  Jump ahead to the 1990s and video games left the arcade, going to living rooms everywhere.  One popular franchise, still popular to this day, was and is Mega Man, which had an animated show from the masters of adapting video games to television, Ruby-Spears, the minds behind cartoons like Pac-Man, Saturday Supercade, and Dragon's Lair.

We're a few days away from Christmas and we thought it would be appropriate and timely to look at commercials for the must-have gift of 1989, an item celebrating its 35th birthday this year--the Nintendo Game Boy.

Here are the commercials in this episode, with links:

Original GameBoy with Tetris - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ej_8XBwmI
Super GameBoy - https://youtu.be/50qlX1kF2Vc
Donkey Kong - https://youtu.be/s4dinHwO2nU
Super Mario Land - https://youtu.be/yyZ65k3vpSU
Tetris/Qix - https://youtu.be/VeLixGKaij4
F1 Race with 4-Player Adapter (1991) - https://youtu.be/_PJZ6HipNxg
Original GameBoy Commercial from Japan, Part 1 - https://youtu.be/Pe6tW69QAeQ
Part 2 - https://youtu.be/UkOk_E_3J0E
Super Mario Land/F1 Race/Tetris/Dr. Mario - https://youtu.be/6CgGwNJxhHs
Have You Had Your Fun Today? - https://youtu.be/dDXJCf29cSE
Kirby’s Dream Land - https://youtu.be/_Z8ECstDtQg
Super Mario Land 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZm5cXRShO4
Game Genie - https://youtu.be/osJkdIWgBFI
Yoshi - https://youtu.be/4ezEh-GP8do
Spot/7up - https://youtu.be/HldFL4445WI
Zelda: Link’s Awakening - https://youtu.be/w4mdmeMuYo4
Super Game Boy with The Wu-Tang Clan - https://youtu.be/9sfiTMybZTs
Dr. Mario - https://youtu.be/vS4RIOFhyL4
Japanese Kirby Pinball Land - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzi9rWVo4so
Mario’s Picross - https://youtu.be/9DXjZ6UJpKk
Kirby Block Ball - https://youtu.be/xuK7xLJW--k
Pocket Monsters Red & Green - https://youtu.be/z4JeRKo3Rr4
Pokemon Red & Blue - https://youtu.be/qzAo9HzOgtQ
Game Boy Camera - https://youtu.be/gYjU5nE9SbE
Castlevania Adventure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjrFq2z9PXE

After the last video game show (episode 201), we said it would be our last look at video games based on TV shows.  We lied!  We found nine more games worthy of covering for what we believe will truly be the final video game show we cover.  This time, we found some truly bad games from a variety of genres, from dramedy to animation to action shows.

In the fourth edition of It Was a Thing on TV Presents: Before the Show, Mike and Greg discuss the recent news of the merger between the USFL and the XFL as the new version of the United Football League (UFL).

They also discuss "Steamboat Willie" and the OG Mickey Mouse entering the public domain along with the really bad horror attempts with Mickey along with Greg recently getting a PS5.

Then, Chico joins in for Segment 2 where they talk about Ric Flair shilling crypto, the latest headaches at ESPN, and Hulk Hogan with the cast of "Silver Spoons"?

We did this for the first time last November.  So much stuff happened in the last week that we decided to do it again.  In this "Before the Show" conversation, among other things, we talk about what might be the greatest episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the start of Threads, "Super" SNES games, and Secret Invasion on Disney+.

This weekend Universal Pictures, Illumination and Nintendo released the long anticipated Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters. Chico finally got a chance to see it and gives his thoughts about it. Was it faithful to the game series? Let's a go listen!

In honor of the upcoming release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters next week, we present this episode dedicated to commercials to our favorite 8-bit and 16-bit systems.

NES Commercials

NES “Will You Be the One” with Rob and the Zapper (1985) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-CwI14vaL0

NES “You Are About to Come Face to Face” (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gP1XYki8Ew

NES “Will You Be the One” Commercial with Super Mario (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uSOESHNhHY

NES “What Will the Future Bring?” (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMroWPYQD9A

The Legend of Zelda Rap Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c17DYpe1APU

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Z6PW9HhFY

Konami NES Commercial (1987) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_dNjJKsBOI

RBI Baseball from Tengen (1988) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkv2Y_d_yA

NES Power Set with Power Pad (1988) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdXW5i1cjXY

Top Gun from Konami - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtnyivyK-M

Anticipation Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXTqPKXi2o

Super Mario Bros. 2 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-oxEaddsUY

Acclaim Remote Controller - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cyZZIcdQCQ

Double Player System from Acclaim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWMwfJ5hEO4

Tetris from Nintendo (1989) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeQttn23Rk

Back to the Future from LJN (1989) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtdLs85J4k

Power Glove from Mattel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1IfM6nA6s

DuckTales from Capcom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zroYGD7iGV4

WWF WrestleMania from Acclaim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BOmloRumKI

WWF WrestleMania Challenge UK Commercial (Nintendo World News) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLEypfdVMT4

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSaHaIAYBgU

Supersonic The Joystick from Camerica - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPoD2V6B7U

Fester’s Quest - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEOPztGblf4

Little Nemo the Dream Master from Capcom (1990) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNoAujWCIPM

Bases Loaded II Second Season from Jaleco - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqRR7eJSWxA

Super Mario Bros. 3 Commercial (1990) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZex2enPtNs

StarTropics from Nintendo (1991) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CE-pOTbrrA

Star Wars from JVC (1991) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetkiWhvi8c

Game Genie from Galoob - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4wwXyKFeFA

Super NES Commercials

Toys R Us Super NES Commercial with Alan Kalter Voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUpKdkZ6QZo

Super NES Commercial with Paul Rudd (1992) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBFw93V3Rg

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Commercial (JPN) - https://youtu.be/cjpHzLYHkwA

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Commercial (US) - https://youtu.be/7yjfTQ009ms

F-Zero commercial - https://youtu.be/c_i2caefzJ0

Street Fighter 2 Turbo commercials (JPN) - https://youtu.be/zmc1p3e0hc8

The same (Edited for the US market) - https://youtu.be/Eg-VGKEPNMw

Super Mario Kart commercial - https://youtu.be/5Wxklxi1lGs

Super Mario All-Stars commercial - https://youtu.be/XSiciyc20Sc

Super NES/Pepsi commercial with Bo Jackson - https://youtu.be/DBwbQU_3My0

StarFox Commercial - https://youtu.be/8FTZD-lljaU

Super Scope 6 commercial - https://youtu.be/CtvFZhwoGCE

SNES Super Set Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw8g9I3fHD8

Turbo Touch 360 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYmnTTwp8g

TMNT Tournament Fighters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVyN6qQA7Y

Final Fantasy III commercial (or Final Fantasy VI if you want to get super official about it) - https://youtu.be/hk5RLCIhtMo

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball Commercial with Cito Gaston - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnFEBLSwHt8

Super Punch-Out!! Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4lkRbAyhMo

Troy Aikman NFL Football - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_eTdrhTSdM

Super Mario RPG Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzVQUOgSnk

Yoshi’s Island Commercial -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHUyqDBmZQ

SNES 1996 “Now $99” Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNPtCVzBNyQ

We have brought you shows on Hulk Hogan commercials, Ric Flair commercials, and three separate installments of Hometown Commercials.  Our early Christmas present to you is a look at ads for something everybody wanted under the tree from 1979 to 1982--the Atari 2600 VCS, and games for the system.

Atari 2600 Commercial (December, 1977) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJNbhekKShI

Atari VCS Commercial with Pete Rose, Pele and Don Knotts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs34_7_kC64

Atari VCS Commercial with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Carol Channing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lexverCcFFk

1978 Atari Commercial with Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs and Jack Palance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ary-G-GYO60

Space Invaders (1980) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_I2C_9Kf8

Kaboom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNztWEVxD4

Activision Ice Hockey with Phil Hartman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celKZ-vwsCc

RealSports Baseball with Billy Martin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SI7zqsVoas

Atari Test Facility commercial with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mario Andretti and Pele - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cSWi1V_wI

Laser Blast (1981) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SWzv

9Ses2U

Atari Toys R Us Asteroids Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFciGLGHiY4

Sears 1981 Christmas Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqBlPdz0G-M

Atari we don’t need a babysitter commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krGlnXY4HaY

Atari UK Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMLhvlAxsPw

Beany Bopper (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OK5COuF6xg

Spider-Man (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usbQDfTIqE

Pac-Man Commercial with Mr. Hooper!!! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxsUCRSoUrE

Solar Fox with Jane Krakowski - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgUTq5pL3gE

Pole Position - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhRIneQFmHA

Ms. Pac-Man with Don Pardo voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKM5-k8uD7Q

Ms. Pac-Man Australian Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp1CKap2v28

Donkey Kong (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzFCXfjuNjI

Donkey Kong Jr. (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTpXX43QxY

Dig Dug (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VFjbPlq_nw

Pitfall! with Jack Black - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLgSdAAHMA

Moon Patrol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1fp8g3yimU

Sega Star Trek with Ernie Anderson voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28r4iGf7M98

Atari Sesame Street Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnQrQE4Y6Ow

Atari Christmas 1983 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2nyvfJDwk

1984 Atari 2600 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZLov8Xne0

Urban General Atari 2600 Commercial (1984) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLryP7IrM1A

1986 Atari 2600 Commercial (The Fun is Back) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp1CbPpaWKw

In an experimental solo episode that Greg does somewhat live from his car after work, Greg talks about the shows he's been watching so far as the summer starts to heat up.

Greg talks about the new season of Stranger Things along with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+. He also talks about how he thinks the finale of Barry Season 3 will go down.

Afterwards, Greg looks ahead talking about future episodes of the podcast along with memories of playing NES including Bases Loaded, Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball and that horrid LJN Back to the Future Game.

We're back with our second (and likely last) edition of the pinball machine show.  We talk about 9 more TV-themed pinball machines, mainly from the last 15 years.