Nintendo 64 Games Console Ad

This advertisement was submitted by Nintendo in a competition for television ads of over 30 seconds. It shows Tim Ferguson as 'Rick Hazard', an Evil Knievel-style stunt performer, trying unsuccessfully to imitate the action of the gaming character Super Mario as he appears in Super Mario 64.

The game was the first in the Super Mario series to feature three-dimensional gameplay.

Tim Ferguson is better known as one of the performers in the irreverent musical comedy trio, the Doug Anthony All Stars. We are invited to laugh at Tim's repeated failed attempts to emulate the impossible stunts performed by Mario.

With its intentional lo-fi production values, Tim's ridiculous costume and empty proclamations ('Fear is for those who are scared'), the advertisement has a distinctly Australian-underdog sense of humour that would have appealed to local consumers.

Extended cutaways to game play also effectively promote the product that the advertisement is selling.