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Celebrating Bad Game Packaging Art

Posted by timothy on from the cel-berate dept.

May Kasahara writes "Recently, I discovered The Gallery of Hideous Box Art, a collection of some of the worst illustrations ever to grace video game packaging. Many of the entries compare the US cover artwork to the (superior) Japanese ones; in some cases, comparisons with screenshots are also made. Come browse through the annals of video-game-artwork badness, from Strider on through to Wonder Boy III."

9 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. A gallery of images by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Linked to on Slashdot's frontpage... I smell disaster.

  2. Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does Windows XP constitute as a game because I hate its art. I also kind of hate it.

    1. Re:Windows XP by SirDrinksAlot · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least windows is consitantly ugly, when put in perspective its not too bad. Stuff under X11 is unconsitantly ugly. Everything is ugly in its own ugly way. One app is ugly one way, another app is ugly an entirely new way. All verry inconsistant and ruins the entire X11 experience.

      OSX's aqua is ugly on a new kinda 3dish level. Its ugly not only because its all blue and striped but because Steve Jobs said its Lick able. Ugh! Yuck! If he wants to lick his screen so be it, just dont give me that mental image. Its the last thing that I need.

      BeOS.. Now theres an Ugly OS that wasnt too bad. It was consistantly ugly and not in an in your face ugly sort of way tho. it was kind of an "Hey im ugly but not so ugly you have to stare at me like a car accident" sort of way. Slim and the bare essentials while keeping everything the same kinda cold morgue feeling. Tho that spinning teapot demo warmed it up a little.

  3. While I wouldn't say it was hideous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    While I wouldn't say it was hideous, this definitely seems to be the time to bring up the original box art for Wizards and Warriors 2: Ironsword, for the NES.

    Why? Well, for no other reason than that that is, in fact, the one and only Fabio, in silly costume, portraying the main character.

    1. Re:While I wouldn't say it was hideous by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Funny
      I would say I can't believe its not better.

      (cue Tonight Show music) Thank you very much!

  4. How could they have forgotten... by jay-be-em · · Score: 5, Funny

    Megaman? I mean it's one thing to make bad box art for a bad game (read: rival turf), but Megaman was a classic.. and the cover art, well .. check it out:
    ack!

    --
    "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
  5. Hideous? by myLobster · · Score: 5, Funny


    May Kasahara writes "Recently, I discovered The Gallery of Hideous Box Art, a collection of some of the worst illustrations ever to grace video game packaging.

    Surely not as hideous as slashdot's classic games colour scheme eh?

    --

    Ceci n'est pas une .sig
  6. Re:A dying trend? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure there's bad box art for every system out there. Check out this one for the old Commodore 64. I don't think the problems with this one end with the box art though...

  7. lmao by skinfitz · · Score: 5, Funny

    From GameSpy

    Since older videogames had relatively simple graphics, box art artists often had to "embellish" and conjure up visions of what they imagined the game would look like if the creators had more than 16k of memory to work with.

    Unfortunately, the guy who did the artwork for the Atari Computer port of Pac-Man envisioned Pac-Man as a buck-toothed, Frisbee eating, washed-up marathon runner with high socks who lived in a castle.

    There's a rumor that a live-action Pac-Man movie may be in the works, but it won't be nearly as good as my version. If I directed the film, Pac-Man would be an unemployed guy in a yellow suit who lives in a dirty apartment and verbally abuses his wife (Mrs. Pac-Man). At the beginning of the film, Mrs. Pac-Man leaves Pac-Man for Dig Dug ("At least that way I'll get a good pumping every once in awhile," she'll say) and Pac-Man soon spirals deep into a crippling "power pellet" addiction. To make matters worse, the ghosts buy Pac-Man's apartment complex and threaten to evict him. Pac-Man is powerless to stop the ghosts, so he gets chased from his home and ends up chomping up marbles on the street. Eventually, he starts having seizures due to pellet withdrawal and ends up in rehab. He's cured and released, but ends up overdosing on power pellets, bursting into the landlord's office, and eating all the ghosts to death. Then Pac-Man goes on trial for murder and it's really dramatic.

    Hollywood will no doubt steal my brilliant story idea. Just you wait.