Ad critic retro: Perfect Dark (N64)

31 Comments by Alan Rose Jul 15th 2006 3:05PM
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Action, First Person Shooters, Business

One of the nice things about hanging on to old gaming magazines is the archive of classic ads they provide. I found this promo for the original Perfect Dark in the 10th anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly (Spring 2000). Rare's sultry heroine is ready for war against the evil dataDyne corporation and those menacing Skedar -- notice the subtle alien presence in the upper right-hand corner.

But how does this Joanna Dark model stack up (pardon the pun) against the lovely ladies who portrayed Ms. Croft? Her hairstyle and skin-tight, black leather outfit certainly seem to have inspired the wardrobe department for the Aeon Flux movie and game.

It's interesting to note that a key promotional element persistent in today's gaming ads is absent here, which is a little surprising given the influence of the Internet on the gaming community at that time. Maybe Rare was too busy making a kick-ass game to bother with a web site (anybody remember if there was one?). In retrospect, it didn't really matter as Perfect Dark became one of the most popular and successful titles for the Nintendo 64. In fact, it was so good, I bet they'll make a sequel some day!

Update: Thanks to RyanH for helping my tired old eyes. There is indeed a tiny "www.perfectdark.com" URL embedded in the fine print. Also, thanks to NothingShocking for posting URLs of the game's viral marketing campaign.

Tags: Ad Critic, Ad Critic retro, AdCritic, AdCriticRetro, joanna dark, nintendo 64, perfect dark, rare

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

neale: Jul 15th 2006; 3:13PM

cant wait for the sequel. hope they dont give it a crap story

darko82: Jul 15th 2006; 3:17PM

Sweet! Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

CAL_GORE: Jul 15th 2006; 3:17PM

I remember there was a website for the game. It was a flash based site that had you sneaking through the DataDyne building. However, I remember getting bored of it in the first room or two because the damn thing wouldn't load fast enough.

Felix Andrews: Jul 15th 2006; 3:33PM

Oh, god yes! That awesome dataDyne/Carrington Institute viral website with password protection and the surveillance videos... that was a small slice of genius, and probably one of the first examples of 'ilovebees'-style viral marketing.

bounchfx: Jul 15th 2006; 3:43PM

a sequel or even a straight up remake would be welcome. although that would probably feel too outdated.. like 0... but if they tried again hopefully they would make it a bit more enjoyable. I liked zero for a little, but it got stale fast.. come on rare..

Ladnar: Jul 15th 2006; 3:46PM

Felix answered my question. The iLoveBees thing was a total rip off of What Nintendo and Rare did with Perfect Dark. It was a good build up. How can Joystiq not remember that!?? :)

007craft: Jul 15th 2006; 3:49PM

I liked perfect dark zero, but I like it as a game on its own. I dont even consider it tied in with the perfect dark series, since it does not feature any alien weaponry, and the game is a prequel which leaves all the sci-fi out of the game.

They need to make an actual sequel to PD feature sci-fi and aliens and alien weapons, etc etc. And not have it as some fast paced unreal/doom/prey/quake shooter either.

Extinction: Jul 15th 2006; 4:00PM

Perfect Dark still stands as the best FPS in my books, the Gran Turismo of FPSs. I keep comparing every FPS I buy to it, and I keep getting let down. PDZero was my last hope, and it too failed to do everything PD did so well. Sigh...

NothingShocking: Jul 15th 2006; 4:12PM

Ah yes, the Perfect Dark viral marketing campaign. I remember not being quite sure if they were real or not. Let's travel back in time!

http://web.archive.org/web/20000621234327/www.datadyne.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/20000621091327/http://www.carringtoninstitute.com/

Decla: Jul 15th 2006; 4:25PM

That is a much hotter Joanna than the zero one. Why did they uglify her?

RyanH: Jul 15th 2006; 4:29PM

There is a URL on that ad. Look very close at the bottom right fine print. It's there.

Todd Rabanus: Jul 15th 2006; 4:52PM

"Her hairstyle and skin-tight, black leather outfit certainly seem to have inspired the wardrobe department for the Aeon Flux movie and game."

Actually the Aeon Flux cartoon ran on MTV in the mid-90s inspired the wardrobe for the movie and game.

Just a little note

trevor_goodchild: Jul 15th 2006; 5:06PM

I don't think the movie Aeon Flux costume looked anything like the cartoon's - one of the film's many disappointments. At a quick glance, the Joanna Dark outfit and hairdo in this ad definitely resembles Charlize Theron's look. Or maybe even Kate Beckinsale's look in Underworld.

shattered_fixtures: Jul 15th 2006; 5:15PM

Just a little note to Todd, Aeon Flux actually debuted in the early 90's (1991, to be exact) on MTV's Liquid Television. And I agree, the movie costume bared little resemblance to the animated version. The movie isn't a bad rental though.

As for this ad, you need a friggin' magnifying glass to see the web addy. Why did they bury it?

saboola: Jul 15th 2006; 5:21PM

Ah 2000, good times. Stocks up, Mambo #5 on the radio, and we were not in a war. Oh, and the Dreamcast still rocked my socks.

Zdog88: Jul 15th 2006; 6:13PM

"The president is about to be cloned."
He has this is george #2 and they had some problems.

elmer: Jul 15th 2006; 6:35PM

I'm not sure that 19th best selling gains it the status of "most popular and succesful". Yes, it's true. According to Wikipedia and its slew of sources, 18 other N64 games outsold it. That having been said, at 2.52 million copies sold (1/3 of goldeneye's sales), it would have been the 4th best selling Xbox game ever, and almost certainly the best selling Xbox 360 game to date, had it been released on either of those systems. Of course the industry likes to remember the N64 as a failure and the Xbox as a success, but who's counting... Certainly not Microsoft, who paid 300..oops 550 Million dollars for Rareware (300 was only the Stamper Bros. 51% share, who are both still in some control at Piniataville). I'm sure every last Windows funded dollar was worth it.

Tommy: Jul 15th 2006; 7:40PM

Those talking about ilovebees being a ripoff of the PD site: ILB wasn't entirely viral marketing, it was an Alternate Reality Game. Check http://unfiction.com for more info.

Todd Rabanus: Jul 15th 2006; 7:42PM

#13 yes i did debut in 91 on liquid television, but i was going by the fact that it was picked up as a full series in 95.

we'll flip on it

Probot: Jul 15th 2006; 8:12PM

#17
I was under the impression that viral marketing meant a website wasn't advertised by traditional means. And since the ad does mention the website, and according to archive.org the Perfect Dark website did specifically mention the Infiltrate Datadyne game, it wouldn't count as viral marketing.

However, since the Infiltrate Datadyne game used websites that were created to look like real company sites, it would count as an ARG. I didn't play the game, so maybe I'm wrong on this.

epobirs: Jul 15th 2006; 11:07PM

I recall the actress Nintendo hired for the TV spots and public appearances. She was very attractive, to say the least. The TV ad was surprisingly risque for Nintendo back then.

Rob X.: Jul 16th 2006; 12:15AM

@16 I don't think anyone ever considers the N64 as a failure, just a bunch of missed opportunities. Considering that Nintendo had relatively few releases on the system in that console's life, of course the top 20 games sold a ton of copies.

The Gamecube is following the same pattern. The big Nintendo published release comes out every quarter and will be the overwelming top seller among all consoles because Gamecube owners are starved for good games.

DJ: Jul 16th 2006; 1:53AM

Dayum, she's a frickin babe...the hell did Rare do to her in PD: Zero! lol

Azerael: Jul 16th 2006; 3:57AM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u2WoP51iXHw&search=perfect%20dark

The year is 2000... Jack Thompson is about to be cloned...

Rymix: Jul 16th 2006; 4:33AM

Thems were the days...

http://web.archive.org/web/19981207025426/www.rareware.com/recent/games/pdark/

Felix Andrews: Jul 16th 2006; 7:34AM

#22

Aw, the British version had a way better voiceover. Really rasped out 'Perfect Daaaahhhhrk!' at the end. Sounded better than I bring it across.

darth_xamus: Jul 16th 2006; 2:09PM

Extinction

try to find this rather old game called

System Shock 1 & 2

It's one of the best IMO along with Metroid Prime

Jim: Jul 16th 2006; 3:55PM

I liked the original Joanna Dark much better than the new "pop girl" in PDZ.

Great video ad!

jekiwi: Jul 16th 2006; 11:13PM

i'd have to say that the joanna dark from N64 definetely looks cooler/better than the new one they came up with for Perfect Dark Zero. there's a certain resemblence of her and that one lady from AeonFlux. they both look kickass.

Oscar: Jul 17th 2006; 4:01AM

Oh the good old days. I also think this Joanna looks way cooler than the PDZ version.

32_Footsteps: Jul 17th 2006; 9:32AM

Wow, I had forgotten that Joanna Dark's hair didn't always look so bad.

The ad is a solid one for the most part, although it's perhaps a little too dark - I actually have a hard time reading the text or picking out individual elements on there. I know the ad should be dark, but maybe making it a bit more easier to read would have been nice.

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