Miscellaneous NES Media

As a reminder, all images on this portion of the site -- other than screen stills and those otherwise noted -- are courtesy of Spazzoid's NES Stuff (which I miss, dammit).

-"Nintendo Cereal"-

I'm aware that food does not techinically qualify as a form of media. However, this product is certainly indicative of the NES's staggering popularity, so I've elected to include it here.

I only bought this cereal once, and thus do not remember it very well. Anyway, this item actually consisted of two thinner bags of cereal, based upon Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, respectively. Though there were traceable differences between the two, I believe they were both fruit-flavored cereals. Like most "fruit-flavored" cereals, however, they tasted very little like fruit, and tended to lend their color to the milk. Notwithstanding, I recall having enjoyed this NES delicacy quite a lot. Plenty of things are very palatable that do not taste like fruit.

That's about all I remember of this product. If you can provide more information (assuming there is more), please enlighten me.

Erin Berg submitted the following response. Unfortunately, I have lost the e-mail, and so fail to remember the address. Still, Erin's comments are below.

"I, too, have memories of that time period (mid- to late 80s) when practically everything was made into some sort of cereal. I was pretty young when Nintendo Cereal was actually on the market, but I do remember that the cereal pieces representing "Mario" and "Link" looked *exactly* alike."

The following additional information was submitted by eglomsta@linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us.

"I, like you, only purchased the cereal once, and thoroughly enjoyed it as well.... To this very day I have my Nintendo cereal box standing in my closet on the top shelf. The flavors of the two cereals are (also printed on the box) 'Mario Fruit' and 'Link Berry.' The Mario cereal tasted like 'Trix' and the Link side tasted something like 'Berry Berry Kix.'"

ChrisAtUTK@aol.com submitted the following reproduction of the jingle's lyrics.

"As I remember it (and something may be off here), it goes like this, with the "Nintendo" spoken in a sort of computerized voice and the other lyrics spoken/sung by kids:

'(Nintendo)
It's for breakfast now!
(Nintendo)
It's a cereal, wow!
(Nintendo)
Super Mario jumps,
(Nintendo)
in a fruit-flavored crunch!
(Nintendo)
There's Zelda too!
(Nintendo)
That's berry good news!
(Nintendo)
Two cereals in one! Wow!'

(I'm sure there's some crap about "Nintendo Cereal is part of a complete breakfast" too, but that part just wasn't quite as catchy.)"

This section seems to be getting quite popular. The following snipit is from Jeff Cranford:

I only ate this cereal once. It was at my cousin's and if I remember correctly there were little marshmallows shaped like swords for Link.

I honestly could not have anticipated that my sketchily discussing cereal would spark a nostalgic outflow of this magnitude, but I'm tickled about it. The following is from TEARGOLD.

I remember eating Nintendo ceral like it was going out of style. Being a total Nintendo freak, I got as much of it as possibble before it suddenly dissappeared. I recall that there would sometimes be a Nintendo related prize inside such as stickers or iron -on pictures of popular characters like Mario and Link. I also remeber ads for Nintendo power on the back of the box.

The scenes from Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda on the front of the box varied. I think I remember about three or four different scenes shown on various boxes. I also know that the ad for Nintendo Power showed issue 3 so the cereal had to have first come out around December of 1988.

-"The 1990 Nintendo World Championship/Power Fest"-

Among the net's most fervent admirers of videogaming, one will hear quite a few resonant gripes about the exclusive nature of the E3 show. Nintendo's "Power Fest" of 1990 was a similar exposition, but designed for the general public, and staged at various major cities around the nation. And it was, to forsake moderation for a moment, one of the greatest things to which I've ever born witness.

Many forthcoming NES games were available to be played. As a testament to the system, though, an incredible number of people attended the many shows. This resulted in very long lines at each game station. However, as an even greater testament to the NES, every individual in those lines stood silently mesmerized by the game before him/her, even if they were not presently playing it.

In addition, each expo sponsored a competition -- a subsidiary of the "Nintendo World Chammpionships". Those who elected to compete were presented with a single challenge, composed of three tasks. They had to obtain 50 coins in Super Mario Bros., complete one-quarter of Rad Racer's first course, and acrue eight lines in Tetris, all in a set span of time whose specific parameters I've forgotten. I was unable to advance past the preliminaries, but I gather the competition diverged with the second round. However, because I never advanced that far, I do not know exactly how it changed.

Personally, I recall having numerous discussions with other people in the many lines in which I waited. Ordinarily, we discussed the game before us. But the spans of our conversations were vast, and not restricted to any one topic. It was a remarkable thing Nintendo here achieved, for a contingent of thousands of NES fans were, for these days, as one. This was, and is, the power of the NES -- to unify massive numbers of people by their common interest.

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