Ah, the games of yesteryear. In those days graphics were less than realistic, so advertisers used artwork to sell their product. Such as these fine examples:
I would bet money that the two Epyx games are just Temple Of Apshai with new graphics and monster names 🙂
But computer ads in Dragon weren’t all about the games. This was, after all, a magazine for AD&D players and Dungeon Masters so why not try and sell a few utilities?
The map software looks craptacular (and would have massively impressed 12-year-old me), but software to simulate AD&D weather?! Whoever used weather rules, much less enough to pay good money for software to do it??
But weather seemed to be a big draw for these coders, and I could have scanned a half dozen or so ads for different weather system programs:
I find it intriguing. The above ad, by the way, is oh-so quaint. Sinclair 16k software for encumbrance? At $12.95 (now about $25). The world was so much less complex back then 🙂
Here’s the big daddy of DM assistance software, judging by the advert:
That art is soooo 1980s.
What about this ad, for an early MMO?
It’s from 1992, and is almost certainly a text MUD. The best thing about the ad is the cost: $3 PER HOUR! That’s 144 times more expensive than Warcraft is today!
I save the best two game-related ad’s for last.
This one is for a game that simply defies credulity:
Yes, a game about spinning plates! I had to go and do some research on this and you can bet it’s as awful as you imagine. Here’s an (emulated) screenshot of Plattermania, proving just anything was made into a game in those early days:
And last but not least, an ad for Wizisystem. There is so much win here it’s hard to describe what’s so good about it, but I salute the guy who made a business out of (essentially) selling what we would one day called an FAQ:
Gotta love it:
The best Wizardry players worldwide use the Wizisystem!
You know what… I didn’t 🙂