1.  Zack Morris’ Cookie Crisp – Before he was chasing Kelly Kapowski, forming rock bands, inciting and then mending teacher’s strikes, or randomly freezing time, Zack Morris was a child who liked sugary cereal that was awful for you. Here’s Mark-Paul Gosselaar selling the heck out of some Cookie Crisp:

And just because we’re sort of talking SBTB and I love SBTB, here’s a lost scene from the School Song episode in which Ox throws his hat into the ring.  I had no idea this existed.  It looks like it barely does:

Never has the cutting room floor been more appropriate.  That was pretty bad. But amazing.

 

2.  Nintendo Fun Club – Before Nintendo Power there was a free Nintendo newsletter available to subscribers, simply called the Nintendo Fun Club.  It was basically a pamphlet that featured upcoming games, gave tips, had comics – essentially a much shorter version of what would become Nintendo Power.

It was even promoted in some games!

There were only seven issues of the Fun Club newsletter before Nintendo decided to start making those kids of America start paying up!

 

3.  Barrel Pong – On the heels of Puppy Pong and Doctor Pong from last week, here’s a fantastic ad selling a Pong cabinet for a more meat-and-potatoes kind of guy…

That leather!

 

4.  Coleco Mini Arcade – Getting pretty game-heavy this week but I saw this ad for Coleco’s mini-arcade systems, which were crude, nearly-unplayable versions of their popular games, and couldn’t resist.

So if I understand this correctly this gorilla’s heard so much about this video game featuring a gorilla (presumably from other gorillas?) that he finds an arcade and heads into an arcade (with quarters) and starts playing, and the only way to lure him out is with a miniature version of this gorilla game.  Makes sense.

 

5.   Talespin Commercial – Here’s a VERY ’90s local New York station’s commercial for their daily airings of Tale Spin, the awesome Disney cartoon featuring Baloo from The Jungle Book.

“We’re not WORTHY of such entertainment!” Laying it on a little thick, there .

 

-ds