10 Video Games With Shameless Product Placement

8. James Pond 2: Robocod - Penguin Biscuits

92029 Zool 2 (World) 4
Codemasters

Another Amiga platformer, another floppy disk full of e-numbers. Despite penguins subsisting exclusively on a diet of fish, save the odd occasion where one turns vegetarian through a moral quandary and decides to eat nothing but snow, underwater agent extraordinaire James Pond was happy to assist his would-be feathery foes for 1991's Robocod. The reason? Many fishy dollars deposited in the river bank.

Pond's spheniscine associates were grafted into the game as proxies for Penguin Bars - produced by British biscuit company McVitie's - appearing both in and out of their wrappers. The game's opening splash-screen even advertised Penguins as "one of the chocolatiest biscuits in the world," which is fair enough, but seemed somewhat irrelevant. Subtlety may deceive you, integrity never will, but neither gets you a shopping trolley full of cash.

The trespassing penguins might have made Robocod less cool, but McVitie's didn't care. For the first time in the company's history, Penguins outsold the rival Kit-Kat brand soon after the game's launch, allowing them to p-p-p-p-p-ick up a tidy profit.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.