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Favorite All-Time Videogame Box Art Rated
Thanks to GameSpy for its feature discussing and rating the best videogame box art of all-time. The author cheekily argues: "Video games have indeed been graced with some wonderful covers over the years, art that you'd be proud to put in a frame and hang on your wall for all to enjoy... Except when girls come over, when it must be hidden in the closet", before highlighting game covers including Pinball Construction Set ("Rather than showcase a typical pinball scene like most pinball games have done, this cover is mostly symbolic"), the non-U.S. cover for ICO ("Impressionistic and surreal, as if it's capturing a moment in fantasy or memory rather than reality"), and DOOM ("Bottom line, this is a classic.") What's your favorite game cover art of all time?
most games I had were just floppy disks with a name written on them..
Altered Beast for the Sega Genesis had a bad ass cover imho... seen http://www.roarvgm.com/COVERS/GENESIS/altered%20be ast-USA.jpg there.
How Jaded Are You?
Of course, the cover of Spellcasting 301: Spring Break is not to be missed either.
...featuring a passed out princess with big, round tits.
I could have pulled better cover art out of my ass. A lot of the "art" is only impressionable due to reminiscence.
Atari had great artwork on their boxes. Actually, they set the standard for others that followed.
Check out Defender, Berzerk and Missle Command
Even Mattel Intellivision (boo, hiss) had some cool artwork.
Article seemed kinda biased to late 80s / early 90s if you ask me.
Political correctness is the newest form of slavery.
My favorite game art is from Slashdot The Game (C)(TM). It comes with many different gameplay modes. For those who like camping in hidden places, theres snipe mode, where you constantly hit refresh, and then paste in a carefully prepared post as soon as a new story shows up. For those who are into party games, there's the mode where you say something slightly incendiary, or misguided, and try to see how many people you can get involved in the conversation. And, of course, there's always my favorite, try to post something witty or insightful to see how high a score you can get... :)
http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/suspended_mas k/suspended-mask.html
>> "What would the robut do? Frame someone!"
that the original Mega-Man cover didn't make the list. I remember being at my Dad's house and staring at my step-brother's cartridge, trying to figure out how such a fun game could have such a terrible, graphic art on the outside of the game. Oh wait. There it is. There's a link to the worst game covers top 10 list and it tops it. That's a good call.
On the other hand, I'm happy that Double Dragon graphic was mentioned. I remember seeing both the "second cheek" version and then the "one cheek" version on the back cover of comic books. I probably wouldn't remember that image as well as I do if they hadn't erased half of her butt.
Alex.
I have always been fond of the atmospheric cover art for Wasteland and the naive-yet-groovy picture on the Tass Times in Tone Town box as well as the "artist's rendition" of an LCP on the little cassette case for Little Computer People.
(I'm too lazy to google for links. Be my guest and explore the Internet yourself!)
I will give you a link to my absolute favourite, tough. I love the way it all looks completely different from what I'd pictured in my head, especially the house. I guess Infocom's motto still holds true...
Sentimentality is merely the Bank Holiday of cynicism.
- Oscar Wilde
http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/snes/ff2.jpg/
http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/snes/ff3.jpg/
Call me a marketing moron but I think this sort of smooth, simple box art is the best way to gather attention against rows and rows (or stacks and stacks) of other video game box art.
Once again Gamespy makes a Top X list, and sucks at it. Nowhere did they mention Top Secret - Hitler's Revival, known as Bionic Commando in the states.
I've always loved the cover of the first Gran Turismo. I still remember buying it at FuncoLand and being absolutely amazed, especially with how good the high res replays looked. The cover is minimilistic and mysterious. You have never seen a racing game like this... And...the only good picture I can find is on EB's website and it won't let me link to the game. *sigh* ps - What kind of car do you think is under the cover?
This article I do not agree with. To me, the most beautiful video game 'art' was in the flyers for early 1980s arcade games and their marquees. Sure, there were "cliches" such as glowing text, grids with a perspective deformation, and red-orange-yellow combos, but I love it.
Check out http://www.arcadeflyers.com/ for a gallery of some of the most(IMO) beautiful artwork to have graced the decade. Sure, some are cheesy, but that's where it's at for me.
That knockout of a redheaded Swordswoman on the cover of 'The Curse of the Azure Bonds' (http://atariforce.free.fr/st/images/scans/azure.j pg), with that 'oh, my' specially designed armor! ;)
[Now, I'm off to lift my le... Um, visit... at another place.]
From a more modern point of view..
Viewtiful Joe. Love the box art. More than likely because I love the art style. Same with Disgaea.
Final Fantasy, at least in Japan. I love the logos. The name of the game in that crystallized text, with a picture representation of a game element in the background. (X had Yuna's sending dance, VII had a comet, VI had a Magitec armor. etc)
That's pretty much the best in my book. Everything else kind of blends together.
I wouldn't dare link directly to it for fear of even a moderate slashdot effect, but if you look hard enough in the ICO fan sites you can get a printable quality cover of the non-US cover art.
The author can justify the biased towards late 80s / early 90s covers. They were a little more artistic(most were drawn by hand not by computer). A lot of cover art in the early days was fairly over the top. The graphics wern't exactly works of art, so they had to sell the game on a (very) touched up image. Also 80's extravagance came into it a lot. The game was a 320X240, blocky looking mess. Suspension of disbelief was in order just to appriciate that the characters on screen really were heros, monsters, ninjas, Arnie, lamposts etc... . Having a more exuberence cover might help aid the
Nowadays games can have relativly boring covers (Halo,GTA Vice City) by comparison to older titles. They can sell the game on its demos and even the screenshots on the back(although these aren'y usually as representative as they could be). A lot of the stuff is pretty minimalistic as they've all moved to glossy plastic, rather than laminated cardboard. Remember when they came in those big cardboard boxes.
I don't really miss 'Pop art' covers. Might be nice to have one or too, but ultimatly, they were a bit too corney.
May the Maths Be with you!
Check out this box art! Yes, this is a real game.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
Parappa 2 was a good choice, as it's a really good showcase for Rodney Greenblat's character designs... but the runner-up was kind of lame. Instead of Um Jammer Lammy, I would've gone with Sam & Max Hit the Road, which features a great illustration by Sam & Max's creator, Steve Purcell.
They also have the 10 WORST video game box-arts
Gamespy 10 worst boxes
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
Anyone else feel this article is aimed more at Penny arcade fans then Slashdotters?
The way it was written made me feel the guy was trying to hard to "be hip with the kids", he ended up just bugging me to the point where I decided not to read beyond page one (why do I need 10 pages for an article!?).
I like muppets.
The shiny pseudo-holographic box made it look like the lich was reaching right for you. Plus it was made from heavy stock cardboard and about a half-foot thick. You just don't get boxes like that anymore...
My favorite video game box is also one of the earliest I recall purchasing. I had seen the commercials Nintendo bombarded us with (also classics in their own right), but the box was a nice clincher for making me part with my money.
It was a simple, dignified silver coat-of-arms on a gold background, with a tastefully-rendered title. No other box cover has ever communitcated so little, and so much at the same time.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/489/489718p4.html
www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games// images/33334-11.jpg
features
Hell, I bought the game for $2 JUST FOR THE BOX. It looked black, but it has the heat sensitive color changing gell stuff. A wonderful time indeed.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
What, no Myth covers?
Also, not even 1 leisure suit larry cover.
C'mon!
"I forgot my mantra."
Don't forget this older /. post concerning Loguidice's "Game Packaging Treasures" article in Armchair Arcade. It goes into more detail about PC game boxes; in my opinion, that's where the real innovation was occuring.
I always hated that the cover art was always much cooler than the games I played. I think game companies should do what other product do and show you right on the front how much people are enjoying the product.
Hmmm...what to buy?? The one with the guy that looks like he hasn't slept in 3 days or the one with they guy with the half broken controller reaching for the reset button?
Ok, now that I've written it out, maybe the artwork thing is a better idea.
That airbrushed Tommy Lasorda picture looks more like Bill Clinton than any baseball player I've seen.
Then again, I hate sports.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.