Back in the day all we had to rely on was the telly; there was no Internet, and the early magazines weren't even in colour. Frankly, given the state of some of these efforts, it's a miracle video games even took off at all.
Consequently, Sinclair went big on selling the professional keyboard (and extra keys) - with "positive typing action" - over the games (though they do sort of pop up at the end, along with some suspiciously utilitarian-type screenshots).
£179.95 though! How did my parents ever afford that? They were so broke they even had to get a hairy lodger called Keith at one point. No wonder they didn't want me to enjoy myself. They were probably full of resentment.
Also, a mate of mine went out with that one-hit-wonder Zoe person, who sings the song. Which has only made watching this ad even more intolerable.
Also, it once again bangs on about there being "thousands" of colours. Given that this came out a few years before the CD32, it suggests Commodore might've been taking notes. Albeit by the time they issued their response, the market had moved on. Good old Commodore.
Though the Jimmy character was wholly unlikeable - presumably intended as some sort of aspirational figure - the whole "Cybo-Razer Cut" nonsense was the point at which console manufacturers started selling the lifestyle potential of their machines, rather than, y'know, a lump of consumer electronics.
It worked at the time, but with hindsight, it's all a bit try-hard... and Jimmy just has one of those faces that you want to hit with a brick.
All the cliches were there: sci-fi cyber technology, some sort of electronic screen which rises out of the floor, a cool boy with nice hair, who bangs on about the amount of colours, voice-over about "Experiencing the future" - and "3D graphics" (over a series of very 2D footage) - and "Even more enemies".
What's most jarring is how the quasi-edgy tone doesn't really sit well with Nintendo's more family-friendly games. It's like trying to flog My Little Pony with an advert that shows a bunch of greased-up bodybuilders writhing around on a yacht.
Also... oh how they pushed that ruddy number - trying to make us understand that "16 and 32 are less than 64". Because, you see, yeah... the higher the number, the better something is. Which is fair enough, but it depends on your perspective; is it better to be beaten up by 64 toughs, or 16 toughs? Or to have 64 diseases instead of 32 diseases? Think about it.
Still, some decent full-screen footage at least. Not that it - or the woman screaming "Jaguar! Jaguar! Jaguar!", like she'd been entombed in an old railway tunnel - made a jot of difference.
Still... he's got the floppy hair, even if he's rendered decapitated by the end of the footage. You can't be in a game ad unless you've got the floppy hair. At least they've stopped banging on about the colours by this point.
This early ad isn't the most inspiring, but it's clever nevertheless - using reverse-psychology by taking the form of a warning by the Society Against PlayStation. It was subconsciously selling the PlayStation as dangerous, prone to corrupt the youth of the nation, and as cool... Also, no floppy hair, and no talk of colours. <APPLAUSE>