Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This Sega CD commercial is one of the most historically significant pieces of gaming advertising ever made, because the game being shown in it — Night Trap — literally changed the law around video games. Night Trap was released in November 1992 as the first interactive movie on the Sega CD, becoming a North American launch title for the add-on. (Hardcore Gaming 101) Night Trap was developed over six months in 1987 with a budget of 1.5 million dollars and 16 days spent shooting 35mm movie footage, but Hasbro canceled the Control-Vision console it was being made for in 1989, leaving the game on a shelf for years. (ebay)
The gameplay shown in this footage is the exact system that made it infamous. You play a surveillance agent watching over a house full of teenage girls by switching between eight hidden cameras and triggering traps to catch vampires before they get to the girls. You are part of an elite team codenamed S.C.A.T., with your commanding officer Lt. Simms alerting the team to the disappearance of several teenage girls last seen at the Martin estate. (Sega-16 Forums)
Night Trap was one of the principal subjects of a 1993 United States Senate committee hearing on violent video games. Lieberman claimed Night Trap featured gratuitous violence and promoted sexual aggression against women, prompting toy retailers Toys R Us and Kay-Bee Toys to pull the game from shelves that December, and Sega to cease producing copies in January 1994. (Hardcore Gaming 101) Senator Joe Lieberman admitted never playing the game, (Sega-16 Forums) and Nintendo's then president Howard Lincoln used the game during the hearing, claiming it would never appear on a Nintendo system. (Sega-16 Forums)
In May 1993, British censors had already banned the game from being sold to children under 15, which led to Sega creating the Videogame Rating Council age rating system. (Hardcore Gaming 101) The Senate hearing then pushed the entire industry to create the ESRB, the rating system stamped on every game sold in North America to this day. Should you ever wonder how much video games and society have evolved since Night Trap earned an M rating in 1993, here's a good indication: this disgusting game is now rated T for Teen. (ebay)
Let me know in the comments if you ever owned a Sega CD or played Night Trap back in the day. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#segacd #nighttrap #segagenesis #sega #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #esrb #consolewars #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #youtubeshorts #gaming
This Sega CD commercial is one of the most historically significant pieces of gaming advertising ever made, because the game being shown in it — Night Trap — literally changed the law around video games. Night Trap was released in November 1992 as the first interactive movie on the Sega CD, becoming a North American launch title for the add-on. (Hardcore Gaming 101) Night Trap was developed over six months in 1987 with a budget of 1.5 million dollars and 16 days spent shooting 35mm movie footage, but Hasbro canceled the Control-Vision console it was being made for in 1989, leaving the game on a shelf for years. (ebay)
The gameplay shown in this footage is the exact system that made it infamous. You play a surveillance agent watching over a house full of teenage girls by switching between eight hidden cameras and triggering traps to catch vampires before they get to the girls. You are part of an elite team codenamed S.C.A.T., with your commanding officer Lt. Simms alerting the team to the disappearance of several teenage girls last seen at the Martin estate. (Sega-16 Forums)
Night Trap was one of the principal subjects of a 1993 United States Senate committee hearing on violent video games. Lieberman claimed Night Trap featured gratuitous violence and promoted sexual aggression against women, prompting toy retailers Toys R Us and Kay-Bee Toys to pull the game from shelves that December, and Sega to cease producing copies in January 1994. (Hardcore Gaming 101) Senator Joe Lieberman admitted never playing the game, (Sega-16 Forums) and Nintendo's then president Howard Lincoln used the game during the hearing, claiming it would never appear on a Nintendo system. (Sega-16 Forums)
In May 1993, British censors had already banned the game from being sold to children under 15, which led to Sega creating the Videogame Rating Council age rating system. (Hardcore Gaming 101) The Senate hearing then pushed the entire industry to create the ESRB, the rating system stamped on every game sold in North America to this day. Should you ever wonder how much video games and society have evolved since Night Trap earned an M rating in 1993, here's a good indication: this disgusting game is now rated T for Teen. (ebay)
Let me know in the comments if you ever owned a Sega CD or played Night Trap back in the day. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#segacd #nighttrap #segagenesis #sega #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #esrb #consolewars #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #youtubeshorts #gaming
