10 Major Controversies That Killed Great Video Games
9. Marlboro Adverts - Super Monaco GP
Released in 1989 as the sequel to the classic 1979 Monaco GP arcade hit, Super Monaco GP was Sega's foray into the world of racing simulators for the 1990s.
Whilst the original release for the Sega X Board only featured the one race across the famous grand prix circuit in Monaco, later ports on various consoles would bring with them new courses and challenges centred around the Formula One World Championship, giving gamers one of the best instances of an immersive simulator based on real world competitions.
Remember, this was way before the likes of Fifa came to the party.
The game's groundbreaking potential was seriously stunted however by a decision to include Marlboro (renamed 'Marlbobo for copyright sake) advertisements in the game. This proved to be the biggest obstacle for the game when Philip Morris, the makers and distributors of Marlboro cigarettes, filed a trademark lawsuit against Sega for using tobacco advertisements in a game that was readily available for children to pick up and play.
Ultimately the trademark dispute was nothing more than a slimy publicity stunt used by Philip Morris to try and appear as a morally conscious brand, but it did harmfully affect Sega and Super Monaco GP with the Japanese company forced to settle up, redevelop aspects of the game to remove the Marlbobo adverts and even pay arcade operators $200 and supply them with chips of the new version of the game to use.