Friday Starter – Let’s check out some magazine ads

 August 11, 2023  Posted in Friday Starter 224 Views

Some cool magazine ads

Baseball games are cool and all, but some of them are old and hard to play :^(

You know what’s easy and always fun? Scoping out some sweet art in old baseball game magazine ads. Let’s freaking go:

Battle Baseball, 1993. The actual in-game NES art is a little primitive so it’s nice to get some big full-sized illustrations of a Gundam hucking a baseball at some kaiju.
Bases Loaded, 1987. I like the “still life” ad thing they had going on in the ’80s, though I’m less sold on the spectral ball players. Those screenshots look killer for the era though.
The Pro Yakyuu, 1990. Japanese ads like this one for Human Baseball seemed more willing to feature a bunch of weird, old managers, a decision I approve of.
Jikkyou Pro Yakyuu ’97 Kaimakuban, 1997. The leering giant Pawapuro-kun cuts a menacing figure here.
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu ’94, 1994. I can’t totally get behind the nearly South Park-ish early Pawapuro-kun character design here, but I must have that physical one in the bottom right made out of clay or whatever.
World Series Baseball ’98, 1997. Late ’90s Sega had a cool factor to them, man. It’s a shame what happened to the Saturn.
Super Famista 3, 1994. 8800 yen is freaking pricey but check out the art quality here and the nerdy sim game-looking screenshots and tell Namco they aren’t worth it.
Finally I will leave you with this ad for Konami-branded credit cards, including our friend Pawapuro-kun again. I would absolutely get a credit card with either Shiori from Tokimeki Memorial or our little round baseball friend on it.

You can now get an Ichiro gachapon

Three Pawapuro gachapon figures stand next to each other: Ichiro throwing, Ichiro posing with his bat, and Pawapuro-kun standing in a neutral pose.

If you’re in an area where you can find them, there is a new wave of Pawapuro gachapon out now, including two Ichiros. They’re beautiful objects.

I can’t say I really know why there is a seagull hidden behind his legs in his batting pose one, besides that Pawapuro characters don’t have legs so something has to connect his feet and his torso. I would like to have one of each please.

OB Challenge is like Moments but cooler

The above is from Pro Yakyuu Netsusta 2006, a Bandai Namco PS2 game.

The Show is halfway to this with the dramatic staredowns from your opponents in the Showdown mode. But when you win, you should absolutely grin and shake hands with Randy Johnson or whoever while Mr. Met twerks in the background.

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Slightly down week on the ol’ 30-30 Channel. Some of my normal recording time went to a longer-term project relating to a certain controversial home run king. Look for that video in a couple weeks.