Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

16 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. A dying trend? by duffhuff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having looked at the site before it gets slashdotted I'd like to comment on it.

    All of the box he featured were from games from the 16-bit era, or earlier. Does this suggest that hideously bad box art is a dying trend? Off the top of my head, I can't think of any recent game that has had bad box art. Most box art today is spectacular, like for Warcraft 3.

    Has anybody seen any recent (i.e. N64 / PSX and onward) games with bad box art? Maybe there was a few for the PSX / N64, but the latest consoles? It's hard to say, though recent Japanese games may have "wierd" box art.

    1. 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...

    2. Re:A dying trend? by Lank · · Score: 5, Informative

      The little parody that took the web by storm a few years ago is right here. Click on the two video links in the left bar. Go check it out!

      --
      Gotta get me one of these!
  5. 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
  6. BBC game covers? by tedDancin · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that games for the BBC microcomputer had some of the worst cover images around. Looking back to Barbarian II (love the boobs!), Frak!, or even Spycat brings back disturbingly nightmarish images from my childhood.

    --

    Ladies, form queue here -->
  7. Better one.... by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about the game that head the best looking box art but REALLY SUCKED when you played it?

    --

    Gorkman

  8. 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
  9. yo by leekwen · · Score: 5, Informative

    don't forget this gamespy article.

  10. Top 10 Worst Covers by mjjk2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out Gamespy's list of Top 10 Worst Box Covers in their Humor section.

  11. It could be REALLY worst!!! by happyhangone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hope that the illustration of this game... was somehow misleading... o not so creative like their atari siblings... trying to capture the essence of this game in an image... may need help from the goat.cx photographer

  12. 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.