Worst console slogans

How would you convince someone to buy a gaming console?

“Hey there, buy this console because its graphics are, like, really sweet, and it dispenses ice-cream when you finish a level.” (Sold! – Ed)

While this may sound as if the speaker has gone bananas (b-a-n-a-n-a-s), it is arguably better than some of the slogans used by console manufacturers over the years.

Here are some of the worst console slogans ever farted out of the brains of marketing professionals.

PlayStation

“If you want a Saturn, your head must be in Uranus”

Yes, Sony made a Uranus joke, that was the level of advertising in the days of the Sega Saturn and early PlayStation.

“This is living”

Used to advertise the PlayStation 3, “this is living” was rather lame. If paying several thousand rand for a console in 2006 was living, then I must have been in a coma during those years. Wait, didn’t I buy a PS3?

Sony has had a long, long history of really bad marketing ideas – so this is not really a big surprise.

Xbox

“Jump in”

Where would you like us to jump into, Microsoft? I know they meant it figuratively, but come on, you can do better than that. Maybe they could have gone with “Sit down”, that makes more sense.

Nintendo

“Now you’re playing with power”

Nintendo might not be the worst offender on the list, but let’s be honest, their consoles are not known for their raw power.

The original NES was advertised with this slogan, which was transferred to the Game Boy: “Now you’re playing with power – portable power”.

When they launched the SNES, Nintendo took it to the next level: “Now you’re playing with power- super power”.

Sega

“Genesis does what Nintendon’t”

Competitive advertising is not something we experience in SA, but it is still in use internationally. Sega decided to take advantage of this, and threw in a Nintendo pun to show their superiority. How’d that work out for you Sega?

“The more you play it, the harder it gets”

As you can see in our headline image, Sega weren’t above making penis jokes (but then again, neither was Sony) in an attempt to punt their console. As for the white residue at the tip of the controller/phallic symbol, we hope that is only a reflection of a nearby light source.