Christmas is always a great time. We associate good times with family and friends, holidays, and obviously the gifts (giving and receiving!).
Let’s not pretend though, as kids, we loved Christmas for one thing, the presents! It was also around this time that retailers would bombard us with their catalogues, tempting us to load up our wish-lists with all matter of toys, electronic gadgets and video gaming items. We would pore over these catalogues, circling items and then leaving the catalogues in a prominent spot in the hope that our loved ones would notice.
If you loved (still love) looking at catalogues, then let us take you back to the 1992 Christmas Sears, Roebuck & Co. ‘The Great American Wish Book’ – yep, this catalogue is a 830+ page book!
Let’s see what is inside this hefty catalogue!
We wish for a Game Boy!
Or do we wish for a Sega Game gear?
Ah yeh, of course we wish for an Atari Lynx!
Which console to circle – the NES?
Or maybe the TurboGrafx-16 (aka: American PC-Engine)?
Maybe we should go for the 16-bit beasts, like the Sega Mega Drive?
Or the mighty Super Nintendo!
We also need games!
Lots of games!
Whoa, a new computer!
A new computer will need some software and a few peripherals!
See, we told you the NES isn’t just a games machine! We can learn to play the piano!
Pfft, who needs smartwatches!
Whoa, arcade pinball action!
Oh wow, you could save $200 on the Philips CD-i! What a bargain!
The only way to listen to music while on the move!
If we buy a console, we need a CRT TV to play it on! Circle that too!
For those that want to video record their play!
Lego should be on the list, always!
Reading material is good for Christams
Yeh, why not!
A certain Mr Panek would love this TMNT madness!
Please Santa, I want a Jet Wave too!
Who could forget the Sega Powerline – the guys on the hotline were there to help you beat Robotnik with a ‘Super Dash Attack’ – they did warn kids to seek their parents permission to call, as the 70c per minute was highway robbery.
Oh yeah, there was also the Sega Club. The Club was created to entice you to become a member and get your hands on some tasty exclusive Sega gear! With an annual membership cost of $20, it was well worth sending in your credit card details.
As per usual, Ocean was peddling their latest videogame film tie-in, Lethal Weapon. Slated for all 8 and 16-bit computers and consoles, the Master System version mysteriously didn’t make it due to unknown reasons – perhaps a blessing!
Still on the Ocean bandwagon, their wares were still going strong in the early 90s. The Dream Team consisted of games that transcended popular culture, from The Simpsons and wrestling, to the T800 Arnie becoming a good guy. I won’t be back to play!
Being the festive season, Sega was eager to cash in on the Christmas rush and wrestle you away from the Game Boy and buy their newfangled handheld, the Game Gear – the ultimate escape kit. Who could resist a bit of Streets Of Rage on the go!
With grunge popularity at its peak and the video gaming industry pumping out awesome games to keep us entertained, it definitely smelled like a great Christmas in 1992/93.