’90s Battletoads commercial shows heyday of ethical games journalism
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In 2014, a subsection of the video-game playing public found themselves longing for a simpler time in gaming journalism, one that paired incisive commentary with passion and, perhaps most importantly, integrity. “Actually, it’s about ethics in gaming journalism,” they gently implored their critics, all while watching the halcyon days of the art form slip further into the rearview.
Today, however, an artifact from that peak era of gaming journalism has surfaced in this 1991 commercial for the Nintendo game Battletoads. In it, we see the guys behind “Jeff’s Video Game Review,” a show that highlighted a gonzo style of criticism that’s simply too extreme for this modern era of political correctness.