KCL Productions, a company focused on mascot costumes, has produced the costumes for many Nintendo advertisements in North America. These commercials are characterized by their signature full-body costumes and goofy plots.
Many of these commercials are well-known amongst American gamers. They're known for both their costumes and the pure oddity of the advertisements. Instead of being straightforward advertisements, most do the bare minimum of being related to the game being advertised in exchange for having wacky, eye-catching gags. Their most iconic ad is their Super Smash Bros. 64 ad that starts with the roster strolling happily together in a meadow before it turns into a free-for-all brawl and is narrated by Don LaFontaine no less!
The games featured in their ads are: Super Smash Bros. 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Super Mario Advance 2, Super Mario Advance 3, Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing (2001), Mario Party 4, Mario Party 6, Kirby: Canvas Curse, Mario Superstar Baseball, Super Mario Strikers, Mario Sports Mix, and Super Mario 3D World. Mario Sports Mix also has a 10-minute interview between one of the reporters and a fully voiced Mario.
These commercials provide examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: The Mario Kart Super Circuit commercial: Is the driver of the minivan aware of what's going on? Or are the kids controlling both him and the van this whole time? That we never see him after the first few seconds only makes it more hazy as to what's truly happening. Likewise Toad and Mario's situations after getting hit by the van's powerups aren't shown in full, though the full version shows Toad possibly dying or being led to his death at the hands of some sketchy doctors.
- Blush Stickers: The female reporter in the Mario Sports Mix ads has pink cheeks.
- Butt-Monkey: In general, Luigi and Yoshi often end up being the most abused and mocked in these commercials.
- Luigi gets his car blown up in one Mario Superstar Baseball commercial.
- The Mario Sports Mix interview has a few potshots at Luigi. For example, Mario's reason for how he got Luigi to play sports with him?Mario: And Luigi, well, he's my bro. He's got nothing to do and he was up for it.
- Bowser gets put through the wringer in a series of sleepover pranks in a Mario Party 6 commercial.
- Donkey Kong, Toad and Mario all end up on the receiving end in the Mario Kart Super Circuit commercial. All being the victims of the kids playing the game from the minivan. DK ends up getting off easy compared to the other two, being forced to have his kart towed after getting tripped up by banana peels.
- Darker and Edgier: The Mario Kart Super Circuit commercial notoriously had a scene in the original cut involving Toad seemingly dying by some rather brooding doctors after being taken out by the van. This was soon trimmed down.
- A Dog Named "Dog": In the Kirby Canvas Curse commercial, Kirby is accompanied by a giant finger simply called "Finger" by the company.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: In one of the Mario Superstar Baseball ads, Peach hits a car with a baseball and it instantly blows up into flames. For the record, the car was Luigi's car
- Hurricane of Puns: One of the Mario Sports Mix commercials contains several puns on "Mii".
- Interspecies Romance:
- Played for Laughs in an Animal Crossing ad when two villagers are happy that a walrus moved in:Kelli: A walrus moved into the village today.
Leslie: (high five) Hot! - In a separate Animal Crossing ad, two male villagers are excited that a sheep moved to town:Jeff: A sheep moved into the village today.
Rob: Sweet.
- Played for Laughs in an Animal Crossing ad when two villagers are happy that a walrus moved in:
- Live-Action Adaptation: They're all live-action commercials of video games.
- Mood Whiplash: The Super Smash Bros 64 ad starts out as saccharine fluff starring Nintendo characters holding hands complete with "Happy Together" by The Turtles in the background, until Mario kicks Yoshi in the shin. It then turns into a fight.
- Punny Name: The reporter Miis in the Mario Sports Mix commercials are named Miichael and Miichelle.
- Vocal Dissonance: Played for Laughs in the Animal Crossing ads, which feature naturalistic voices but cartoony Super-Deformed characters.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The Animal Crossing ads parody the reality show The Real World.
