A viral tweet from fashion company Shreetwear unearths some Playstation 2 ads from the 90s and early 2000s. They’re odd, sexual, surreal, and just plain mindblowing.  


The ads ran in print magazines like Play Magazine UK, being put up all around Europe and Australia. The European standard for what’s appropriate in ads is far broader than the U.S., and these pics really show it. Nudity, drug use, and all-around weird debauchery were an early way for Playstation to make its mark. According to this great writeup by Sabukaru Online, the tagline for many of these ads was “Different Place. Different Rules.” No one can deny that these ads are the definition of different.  



Sony wanted to show potential players what was possible when traditional games (and reality) were thrown out the window, prepping the public for games like Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear. This Reddit thread offers another grab bag of video game strangeness. They’re pure 90s, evoking surreal movies like Eyes Wide Shut, Trainspotting, and Lost Highway. Filmmaker David Lynch even directed a PS2 commercial, wherein Bambi gets obliterated by a truck driver. 



In case those don’t impress, there’s even one heavily inspired by The Matrix. 



Sit back, watch, and bask in the glory of virtual surreality. Power to the players.