Issue 789 of the 1984 French comic magazine Pif Gadget devoted a sizeable chunk of its pages (including the cover) to the latest video game reviews and features, including some great video game adverts.

Cover for PIF Gadget N° 789, 1984. “Adventures in the world of video-games!”

There are several full-page reviews of games, each one with a panel showing a screenshot of the game plus a stylish artist impression of the main characters.

BURGER TIME

I haven’t included the Pif Gadget written reviews, instead opting to show the artist panels, the screenshots, and the five-star rating given for important game elements such as: Graphisme (game graphics), Intérêt (gameplay interest) and Bruitage (background sounds)

Frostbite Bailey's

Ghost-Manor

Kangaroo

Dink, Catapult, Scooby Doo, Mario, Dig-Dug, Zaxxon

Next up is a page showing six reviews. The article invites the reader to make their own video-game reviews just for fun and become video-reporters!

Pitfall II

As well as the reviews, issue 789 also featured some cool adverts to compliment its video-game feature. This great Pitfall II ad proclaims: The triumphant return of Harry Pitfall!

Parker Video Games

And here we see a great Parker ad “At the heart of the action” with Frogger, Q*bert, Super Cobra, and others!

Nintendo handheld and tabletop games

The front endpaper shows adverts for sister publications Pif Poche and Placid et Muzo Poche, and the chance to win prizes of Nintendo Donkey Kong handheld games and Snoopy Tennis tabletop games.

Atari prizes!

and finally, an Atari advert with cut-out coupon to win Atari prizes!

To conclude, I think issue 789 of Pif Gadget has some neat features and gives us a good idea of how the video games back in the 1980s were perceived and marketed in countries like France. Thanks for looking 🙂