First Advertisement for the NES Has Been Found

Over the last several years, a greater emphasis has been placed on the video game industry’s need to preserve their history. While video game preservationists have become more common of late, the sad reality is that there are a number of things that have been completely lost to time. Advertisements, box art, sometimes even games themselves, have all been lost or destroyed as a result of an industry unwilling to safeguard its own history.

Fortunately, a small piece of Nintendo’s own past has recently been located by one such preservationist. The item in question is a rather simple one: the first ever advertising for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The pages were located by archivist Frank Cifaldi. Cifaldi had apparently been searching for the ads for more than five years, but was finally able to acquire a copy of the Consumer Electronics issue they were contained within for a mere $6.99.

The console pictured inside the magazine is actually the Advanced Video System, an early prototype for the NES. The system would have apparently used wireless controllers, which can be seen next to the console in the picture above. The original AVS prototype is currently housed in New York City at the Nintendo World Store.

While a couple pages of advertisements may seem trivial, it does add more perspective to the earliest days of one of the most influential consoles of all time. With Nintendo celebrating the history of the console with the NES Mini this year, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Source: Kotaku