Box Art thread

[Anya 0]

What are all of your favorite/least favorites?

 

I'm not sure of my favorite, but Karnaaj Rally is one of the worst I've ever seen.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Friday the 13th box for NES has a picture of Jason in a corner angle with a machette raised above his head.

 

Or that could be the cartridge, I forget. Anyone have a picture?

[AndrewTS 0]

Phalanx on SNES: Old dude with a banjo?!

 

The original Mega Man of course was really bad.

 

Other bad box art.

 

US Toshinden

US Astal

US Gunstar Heroes

US Landstalker

US Symphony of the Night (okay, I've seen worse, but leaving off Ayami's awesome artwork is a damn shame)

US Street Fighter Alpha Thankfully, the re-released version of the PS game and the Game Boy version has much better official Capcom art. However, the original Saturn and PS artwork.. *shudder*

 

Great box art:

 

Just about any Contra game pre-PS

Just about any Castlevania from 16-bit on except for SotN.

The Japanese version of the Treasure games

SNES SFII Turbo

Darkstalkers (PS)

Demon's Crest (SNES)

...in fact, most Capcom games, in general.

Comix Zone

Saturday Night Slam Masters

Mega Turrican

Super Metroid

Killer Instinct and the DKC games

[Anya 0]

The Alpha one really is bad.,

 

Good for SF II Turbo? Sagat's facial expression is funny!

 

I never cared for KI's boxart. I don't hate it, but I thought it'd be more effective with just the silver logo and no character or anything(like a MK box).

[Insane Bump Machine 0]

Some random covers I like:

 

[DerangedHermit 0]

My favorites:

Metroid Prime

Phantasy Star IV

Sonic and Knuckles (simple yet cool)

Chrono Trigger

[DerangedHermit 0]

And what's with this GTA3 one? It looks better than the original!

 

EDIT: Never mind! It's the PAL version....

[Ced 0]

Phalanx on SNES:  Old dude with a banjo?!

I remember finding that while looking for games to rent and thinking to myself "OK, what the hell is this game about?"

 

I agree with Sakura's entry as Karnaaj Racing's box art with purple goo remotely resembling a car and a blue hair guy with an expression like...well I don't even know WHAT would make that expression on a person's face, but he should feel ashamed for being the coverboy to one of the fugliest game boxes ever.

[tetsubeav 0]

Original Mega Man box art=bad:

[Slayer 0]

The Import Video-Game Elitist's Law of Video Game Box Art:

 

If a Japanese game has cool box art, invariably the American company will replace it with something nondescript at best and horrid at worst

[Slayer 0]

As for the worst box art I can think of, I've probably forgotten more bad covers than I can remember, but this one reaches WTF levels

 

[AndrewTS 0]

The Import Video-Game Elitist's Law of Video Game Box Art:

 

If a Japanese game has cool box art, invariably the American company will replace it with something nondescript at best and horrid at worst

The rare exception being Contra.

[Skywarp! 0]

Eternal Darkness is just really, really plain.

[Insane Bump Machine 0]

another great box art (and a great game btw), of course kinda ruined by the IGN quote:

 

 

and another contender for the 'worst' category:

 

[Slayer 0]

The Import Video-Game Elitist's Law of Video Game Box Art:

 

If a Japanese game has cool box art, invariably the American company will replace it with something nondescript at best and horrid at worst

The rare exception being Contra.

Exceptions are rare indeed

[Renegade 0]

Some of the worst

 

Gunstar heroes (US)

Guardian heroes (US)

The nes megamans

By the looks of it the megaman collection

Shaq-fu...well actually its pretty funny

Aria of sorrow, Soma needs a hamburger or something

Capcom vs SNK 2

Soul Calibur

Street fighter III double impact (Jpn)

 

Best:

 

Street fighter Zero 3 for matching service

Sonic 1

The SSF2 X shown by Insane bump machine

Sonic and knuckles

Guilty gear X

Sonic adventure 2 10th year special box

Nights into dreams, the pal case art

Real bout fatal fury

RB fatal fury 2 the newcomers

Garou mark of the wolves (Jpn)

 

Urgh there are many more for both bad and good, I'll post more when I go through my boxes and cases.

[Highland 0]

I like this one.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

I loved any Marvel/DC character-related artworks on boxes. For example, X-Men I & II are both really awesome, as is Superman (both the original and the Death and Return of) and most Spiderman games (including Spidey and the X-Men).

 

UYI

[AndrewTS 0]

The Import Video-Game Elitist's Law of Video Game Box Art:

 

If a Japanese game has cool box art, invariably the American company will replace it with something nondescript at best and horrid at worst

The rare exception being Contra.

Exceptions are rare indeed

Indeed. For those unaware, most of the Contra box art in the U.S. kicks the ass of the Japanese versions. The ones that aren't better are at least as good.

 

For example:

 

Contra (NES)

 

vs.

 

Contra (Famicom)

 

Game Boy's Operation C has good box art on both sides, but I like the US one more:

 

American version

 

Japanese version

 

Hard Corps' Japanese box isn't really bad...just...

 

American version

 

Japanese version.

 

In general, the American box art was usually grittier and more action-oriented, and fit the game better, especially with Hard Corps.

 

Street fighter Zero 3 for matching service

 

"For matching service" is part of the title? What's that mean anyway? I've seen it quite a bit on lists when buying imports. What's it all about?

[Renegade 0]

"For matching service" is part of the title?  What's that mean anyway?

I've seen it quite a bit on lists when buying imports.  What's it all about?

 

It means if you lived in Japan you could have played it online on your Dreamcast with other people.

[Anya 0]

"Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge - For Matching Service" has to be the funniest Capcom title ever.

[AndrewTS 0]

By the looks of it the megaman collection

Is it really all that bad? I think Rush's expression is a bit iffy and the background is a little plain, but that doesn't really make it bad, just average:

 

[Renegade 0]

No that cover looks utter crap.

[Skywarp! 0]

Why?

[Renegade 0]

- The colors in the back remind me of futurama.

- Megaman has a idiotic grin.

- Megman's body looks stretched out.

- Rush looking like scoobie doo

- Logo looks crap, the blue font with a red triangle would have been much better.

- Lack of other characters on the cover which made the series what it is.

[AndrewTS 0]

That's why I think it's average. However, it's not bad. THIS is bad:

 

 

EDIT: it's even worse close up, because Chun-Li looks like a white-trash wife that's been beat the crap out of.

[Jer 0]

I really like the box art on VF4 Evolution and Tekken 3. I also like MGS and FF3's box art, for some reason I like the simple elegance thing, especially for legendary games like those.

 

Can't think of any particularly terrible covers off the top of my head, but I doubt anything I could think of would beat Super Bust a Move anyway. Wow that's bad.

[AndrewTS 0]

One that isn't really too bad, but kind irked me:

 

The U.S. box art for Capcom vs. SNK.

 

The Japanese box art for the game is the same as seen in a lot of ads: Kyo and Ryu both punching each other at the same time close up.

 

It was replaced with the current box art:

 

 

On the upside, Kyo is replaced with Terry. As much as SNK tries to push Kyo down people's throats, Terry is much more popular. I can kinda see the point, since at least Kyo is unique to KoF while Terry is Mr. Fatal Fury, despite those games starting the King of Fighters tournament. However, it's called Capcom vs. SNK, not Street Fighter vs. King of Fighters, so their most popular fighting game characters should be on the cover.

 

Anyway, despite that upside, couple of problems here.

 

First off, the art work is vastly inferior to the Japanese version, despite being adequate. Secondly, unlike the Japanese box art, which put both sides on equal standing, Capcom's presence is made dominant on this one: Ryu's profile is up front, nearly big as life. However, Terry is waaay in the back, behind Ryu. Also, Ryu is drawn in his Alpha-style, but his sprite is ripped from SF3. Bah.

 

So it's only average, but Renegade probably would call it crap.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Deja Vu has a pretty cool cover. It's also fun to use as a "forum pic" whenever someone keeps repeating the same argument over and over again.

[AndrewTS 0]

Original Mega Man box art=bad:

For those who haven't seen it in a while--it's even worse than I remember.