I think this is one of the more recent ones that takes the prize. Ever wonder about some guy buying this game based on the boxart only to find out it was an anime inspired shooter, instead of someone buying it because it was an anime inspired shooter?
I always found that most of the time the American box art was an afterthought. More and more however publishers are starting to use one box art world wide. I know this gonna sound crazy, but I always thought he American cover for sf2 and 2turbo for the U.S. looked better then the American version. While of course the mega drive Japanese art for street fighter 2 was always better.
The Mega Man one is bad, but it's so bad it's fucking awesome, you know? Some box arts are just flat-out embarassing to your nationality. This one would be embarassing to find in your standard, run-by-jocks, game shop because they'd assume you have horrible taste in games or are just buying some crap game because it's cheap. Well, at least I think I'd feel the need to explain myself. Even worse, is the fact that this is the cover of the 'original': Which I believe is Gunbird, whereas the second is Shikigami... :banghead: Seems oddly familiar... like I've seen it before somewhere.... I really want to see the look on a little kid's face when they get their ass handed to them playing Charlie's Angels.
cool.. the americans got a fancy "angels for charlie" part 1 & 2 game, while the poor japanese got only a gunbird and a shikimigami gew gaws non-sense.
You can tell that so many westernized covers were the result of a phone call from marketing to the artist, and nothing more. The artist went wild, but also tried to include a checklist of details dictated to him. I like how many covers have NOTHING TO DO with the actual game: I'm sorry, but the characters were NOT senior citizens, and the Mother Brain was not actually a brain. Two conventional-looking jets, taking on two brown mechs. Sorry, that's not in the game! The artist got confused on that one. Yet another conventional-looking jet rather than a spaceship. Wait, it looks like the same jet from the Herzog box. Same artist?
There are some good western examples like Metal Gear Solid 3 and FFXII, but i think 90% of all games have better covers in Japan.
We need to make a criteria for how awesomely terrible an American cover is. Something like: 1 point for women (+1 point if scantily clad) 1 point for explosions 1 point for vehicles of some sort (+1 combo point if paired with explosions) 1 point for robots 1 point for aliens 1 point for more than 5 completely different colors in the scheme (rainbows don't count) 1 point for guns/swords 1/4 point for each person on the cover larger than 4cm
Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 2 however was a rare instance where the US got the better piece of cover art.
Am I the only person in the world that really likes that Phalanx cover? It's a really cool idea, the guy with the banjo.
Word. It's an excellent way to get someone's attention. I don't think it makes too much sense for a video game...but still...it's interesting. I don't think it's too hard to defend any of those Genesis boxes above. They get the basic point across. They're not terrible. It's easy to complain when you don't get the Japanese box art...but it wouldn't have worked well in the U.S. anyway. I don't blame companies for switching to something that they think would have a greater appeal to American audiences. Lord knows I wouldn't have gone for some of that Japanese art when I was a kid. Some things are inexcusable, though. Mainly just about every SMS cart. Terrbile. One thing I have to point out... Athena? Really? The japanese art is superior? Chubby bikini girl on bland pink background versus bikini chick w/ sword and minotaurs? The American version looks sorta like the cover of a heavy metal album. Awesome.
Some of you guys have no taste! Those chequered Master System boxes are timeless, and those few megadrive ones above, particularly the Phantasy Star II one is fab!
This doesn't make any sense. I can probably find a Japanese cover that has all these criteria as well. Maybe I could add some for bad Japanese covers. -Has lolis -Has scantily clad lolis -Has a retarded title that sounds like random words from a thesaurus put in. -Has random shit from various religions on the cover to make it appear "cool" to the Japanese -"ridiculous" outfits (see pic)
