• Viral badge

"I Have Never Been Able To Find Any Evidence That It Even Existed Online": 35 Obscure '90s Things Have Been Completely Wiped From Everyone's Memory

"Lucky moms in the '90s got to deal with this literal hazardous waste disguised as a toy."

Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community about the things from the '90s they're convinced no one else remembers (or that Gen Z wouldn't understand). Here are 35 of their top response:

1. "A step further from the purple and green ketchup, there was that butter that came in blue or pink. As a kid, this was the highlight of my breakfast."

little boy in lab coat squeezing colorful Parkay Fun Squeeze butter onto waffles, bottle in a different color in the foreground

2. "The Nickelodeon show Weinerville. There have to be other people out there who have the image of grown men's heads on little bodies burned into their memory like me!"

Marc Weiner dressed as a baby head puppet with a bonnet and bib in a cartoonish kitchen set

Here's a promo from the show:

View this video on YouTube

Nickelodeon / Via youtube.com

3. "OK Soda. Weird advertising that didn't resonate with most people, and it tasted like a mix of cola and orange soda."

Row of OK Soda cans with stylized illustration of a man's face on each can

Watch an old ad for the soda below:

View this video on YouTube

The Coca-Cola Company / Via youtube.com

4. "Swatch Twin Phone."

Twin sisters in retro-style dresses sit on a couch, each talking on separate phones with a cord connecting them

Here's a commercial showing how it worked as two phones in one:

View this video on YouTube

Swatch / Via youtube.com

5. "Nickelodeon Gak! It was a weird and almost assuredly toxic gelatinous goop that was basically ruined the moment it touched any part of the house or outside. Lucky moms in the '90s got to deal with this literal hazardous waste disguised as a toy."

little girl joyfully stretches slime in a playful setting with patterned walls

Here's a compilation of early '90s commericals for Gak:

View this video on YouTube

Nickelodeon / Via youtube.com

6. "The board game Nightmare. Players would watch a VHS tape that guided them through the board game. After playing two or three times, it was pretty much never played again because the VIDEO WAS THE SAME EVERY TIME."

The Gatekeeper character from the VHS game "Nightmare" with a board and game pieces displayed below

You can see clips from the VHS in the commercial below:

View this video on YouTube

J. W. Spear & Sons / Via youtube.com

7. "The commercial for Creepy Crawlers that played during Saturday morning cartoons."

Two young boys excitedly make crafts with colorful goo and an Easy Bake oven-like device

Here's a Creepy Crawlers commercial from 1992:

View this video on YouTube

ToyMax / Via youtube.com

8. "Sun In. So many orange-haired people walking around after they sprayed it in their hair and went to the beach. Never really turned blonde, just ugly orange."

Advertisement showing three Sun In hair lightener bottles with the slogan "Baby Yourself, Put Sun In Your Hair"

Here's a (really weird, IMO) commerical from 1990:

View this video on YouTube

Focus Consumer Healthcare LLC / Via youtube.com

9. "Water babies — the baby doll that you'd fill with water. I loved mine, and it was arguably my favorite baby doll."

Two baby dolls in animal costumes: one in a Tigger suit and the other in a Pooh Bear suit, lying side by side on a dark background

10. "If you're American, A*Teens and S Club 7. I'd expect Europeans to remember them. My sister and I were two of the few that we knew who were obsessed!"

A*Teens and S Club 7 members pose in casual '90s outfits

11. "7-Layer Burritos from Taco Bell — and also their Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito. The BCB is pretty self-explanatory. 7 LB was rice, beans, guacamole, sour cream, pepper cheese, lettuce, and, I think, tomatoes. They had basketball announcer Dick Vitale do a TV commercial with 'seven seven-footers' for the seven layer burritos ads. I think there was a Godzilla tie-in with the BCB. Both of those items are gone from Taco Bell's menu now."

Top image shows a 7-layer burrito priced at 99 cents. Bottom image features multiple bacon cheeseburger burritos on a tray

Here's the 1994 7-Layer Burrito commercial with Dick Vitale:

View this video on YouTube

Taco Bell / Via youtube.com

12. "Pop Qwiz microwave popcorn!"

Man enthusiastically showcasing various colors of popcorn with the text "What'll pop up next?" in a playful, retro style

Here's the old commercial for Pop Qwiz:

View this video on YouTube

Pop Quiz / Via youtube.com

13. "Those little cans of air freshener that looked like Fancy Feast cat food and had a scratch-and-sniff label on top of them. They were always sitting by the checkout line in big box stores."

A hand holding a can of California Scents "Coronado Cherry" air freshener in a store shopping cart

14. "Clear phones. You could turn the ringer off, and it would just light up when it would ring! Best phone ever for sneaking on the phone way past when you were supposed to be asleep! 😂😂

Clear vintage landline phone with visible circuits and colorful wiring

15. "Mall Madness board game."

Teens playing a vintage shopping mall board game with enthusiasm. They are gathered closely, focusing on game pieces and moves

Here's the commerical from 1994:

Milton Bradley / Via tiktok.com

16. "Dolly the sheep being cloned. To quote Ted Lasso, 'Where are we at with cloning these days, by the way? Them Scottish folks have been mighty quiet on that front for a while, which means we gotta be close, right?'"

Dolly the sheep standing on hay in a barn setting

17. "VHS vs. Betamax."

Vintage Sony Betamax video cassette recorders on a wooden shelf, with video game cases and a game controller below. text says someone found it at Goodwill

18. "The Sweet Valley High TV series. I still remember the theme song, too."

Brittany and Cynthia Daniel sit smiling in the open trunk of a vintage car, displaying a casual style with floral and casual outfits

19. "Blowing into the Nintendo cartridge. I saved many a game that way. It was so standard that my friend's parents would ask if we blew into the cartridge when we said a game didn't work."

Nintendo 64 "Super Smash Bros" cartridge featuring game characters on the label, including Mario

20. "I had several baby dolls as a child, but one of my favorites was one that I got for Christmas one year (and it was a big deal — it was $50!) that was similar to Baby Born, but very distinctly not. It came with a rattle, and its gimmick, besides being hyper-realistic, was that if you shook the rattle in one of the hands, the doll’s head would turn towards the rattle. I loved this doll to pieces when I got it, and I have never been able to find any evidence that it even existed online, even though I distinctly remember seeing ads for it."

Vintage Baby Yes-No doll in original box with accessories. Doll nods or shakes head by tilting. Text: "Not sure this is the exact doll, but it's the closest I could find! If you know the exact one they're describing, let us know in the comments"

21. "I remember the sports drink All Sport. It was just as popular as Gatorade back in the '90s."

All Sport drink bottles with the text "Change Your Game"

Here's an old commerical for All Sport:

View this video on YouTube

PepsiCo / Via youtube.com

22. "Singled Out with Chris Hardwick and Jenny McCarthy! She drove me nuts, but the show was funny. And definitely not something I should have been watching at that age."

Chris Hardwick and Jenny McCarthy holding mics, Carmen Electra enthusiastically embracing Jenny. Audience cheers in the background

23. "The game Ask Zandar. I remember in the commercial, the wizard goes, 'You will get a phone call about this,' and the phone rang. That legit happened to my friend and me once, and we still laugh about it."

Zandar tells the player she'll get a phone call about the boy she likes, and she and her two friends gasp as the phone rings

Watch the commercial below:

View this video on YouTube

Hasbro / Via youtube.com

24. "Mystery Mansion. I own this game. My family and friends loved it when I was a kid. No one I know now that I've met later in life remembers this game existing. It is so fun!"

Three children excitedly play a vintage board game with a detailed mansion setup

Here's a commerical for the 1995 version of the game:

View this video on YouTube

Parker Brothers / Via youtube.com

25. "Skip-It!"

Skip-It toy and logo

You can see the Skip-It in action in the commercial below:

View this video on YouTube

Tiger Electronics / Via youtube.com

26. "Enchanted Palace!"

four little girls excitedly play with a castle board at a table

Here's an old commercial for the game:

View this video on YouTube

Milton Bradley Company / Via youtube.com

27. "Nickelodeon Flash Screen."

Nickelodeon Flash Screen toy set with flash projector, reflective screen, guide, and accessories on a table

Here's an old commercial showing how it worked:

View this video on YouTube

Nickelodeon / Via youtube.com

28. "Lifesaver Holes!"

Life Savers Holes candy package with colorful candies scattered nearby

Here's an old commerical:

View this video on YouTube

Nabisco / Via youtube.com

29. "The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth."

Two puppet characters in cowboy outfits smile in a Western-themed setting, one human-esque and one an anthropomorphic tooth

30. "In grade school, all the girls were reading The Babysitters Club book series. A new book was released about every other month, and on the day it came out, we'd all rush to our local bookstore in little groups to get our copies before they sold out. You were always guaranteed to run into several other schoolmates while you were there. It was an event!"

Books from "The Baby-Sitters Club" series by Ann M. Martin are arranged on a shelf, showcasing various titles and numbers

31. "Tacky Stretchoid Warriors."

Toy packaging with "Tacky Stretchoid Warriors" features action figures, including a stretchy arm character. Text highlights stretch and squish features

32. "Pass the Pigs."

Two small, plastic pig figurines are positioned on a wooden surface, one standing on its front legs, the other lying on its back

Here's a '90s ad for the game:

View this video on YouTube

Winning Moves Games USA / Via youtube.com

33. "The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary."

Title screen of the game "The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary" with colorful, stylized text forming the game's name

34. "Parker Lewis Can't Lose. A show I swear to God nobody I know remembers."

Abraham Benrubi holding a smiling Corin Nemec by the collar, fist raised, in front of a chalkboard

35. And finally: "How good toys from drive-thrus were! Teenie beanies from McDonald's meant we had six little white cats and one little black cat — those seven cats had so many adventures up and down our house stairs. Taco Bell had the 'Queiro Taco Bell' talking plush. Even gas stations — those Chevron collectible cars with faces that had names/profiles and blinked as you pushed them. We have boxes of those cars up in the attic for my sister to take when she has kids of her own. Feels like a fever dream."

Various little Beanie Babies arranged on boxes with text reading "Teenie Beanie Babies" at the bottom

There were quite a few foods here I wish I could time travel to try, so what's a '90s snack or fast food item you seriously miss? What made it so good? Tell me in the comments!