Nintendo Family Good At Pretending


Found on the back of the box for Nintendo Entertainment System’s Action Set (1988) is a classic family photo full of mistakes.

It’s absolutely amazing this picture was on the most popular bundle of the NES console, featuring the Zapper, two controllers and the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt multicart. How the advertising department missed so much continuity is a great mystery, but it certainly didn’t hurt system sales!

Here is a complete list of errors:

  1. The cartridge is not inside the console
  2. The console is not on (no red light)
  3. Two kids are playing a 1-player game
  4. No one seems to be looking at the TV screen
  5. Mario is about to die

I’m also going to guess the console isn’t connected to the TV, but as they say– out of site, out of mind.

What’s even more interesting is that this is at least a second version of the photo because of the orange Zapper. Earlier Action Sets included the grey gun and so did the picture. The color change was due to a U.S. Federal Regulations requirement that all “toy guns” need to look more toy-like.

That means at some point someone went into this photo to recolor the gun. If that person noticed the gun for continuity, I have to believe they noticed at least some of the other errors and deliberately decided to keep them.

A better screen shot could have been nice. A red light on the console might have added a little more realism. They could have even restaged and reshot the entire photo then and there, but no.

Maybe this goofy photo was part of why the Action Set sold so well. Who knows. But someone was definitely aware of how everything looked before printing. Adds new meaning to dysfunctional family.

2 Responses to “Nintendo Family Good At Pretending

  • i still got NES 🙂 and many many games : zelda , mario 3, mario 2, mario bros double dragon, tetris
    and many others cant remember
    :))

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