Judging a video game by its cover

Why not show the Japanese Box Art for The Legend of Zelda instead of making me look it up.

SEGA's box design was pretty hip in the 80s.

It's pretty bland by current standards, but that clean, geometric look was cool back then.

I bought Zelda (technically pops bought it) soley based on its cover. There was something about that little bit of gold shinig out of the box that grabbed my attention. Felt like there was magic inside. Upon playing it, I discovered there was indeed magic inside.

same with Zelda 2. Solitary sword lying as if on the ground. Beautiful.

And is was that awesome 80's fantasy art style too.

That Intellivision Donkey Kong might just give me nightmares.

What can I say? Zelda is the epitome of quality in the game industry.

There were some classic boxes, and there are still are. Though art is always nice, we mustn't not forget the comic book industry in the mid-'90s that almost destroyed itself selling comics with holographic-ultra-variant-collectible properties on comics that really meant very little. There was a lot of success for a short time but everyone just bought the comics for their 'collectibility' and didn't really stay for the long run for the more standard, monthly comics.

One of the companies that sort of cashed in on this was Valiant, who also published Nintendo Comics System. I don't think there were any "ultra-special" Nintendo comics though, just for their original series. :P They're pretty valuable for their fun writing though. :)

There's a YTMND that reveals that the two guys on the NES Contra box are actually traces/tweaks of Arnold Schwarzhenegger.

http://contrarnold.ytmnd.com/

Despite it saying Stallone as the second person (the YTMND creator's decision), the guy to the right is a trace of Arnold from Predator. :P

I have Zelda II: Link adventure on Famicom Disk System. Its all in Japanese, so Its kinda hard to play. I have the english version too though.

Yes, Master System boxes are "cool"...
http://www.kidfenris.com/wbcover1.html
And that's not even the most horrible one...

A good cover can sell the game. At least I like to stare at nice covers.

Here you go, Boba Fett:

http://zs.ffshrine.org/album/legend-of-zelda/cover-scans-packaging/z1j-box3-0-front.jpg

Nice art,

That takes me WAY back.

I found this game mint state in a electronics store in Panama, I just had to buy it... even though it cost me 60 bucks... =0S

On the flip side, one of the worst transitions was Rockman, cute robot to Mega Man, 40 year old pervert.

One of my friends used to buy games solely on the cover. After we saw The Omen we went to a nearby EBgames and looked around. She kept on picking up really horrible games with nice looking boxart... I had to teach her not to judge a game by it's cover, because she might end up extremely disappointed in the end.

America sure botches a lot more than making things better, that's for sure. Look at Final Fantasy III for the SNES and compare it to Final Fantasy VI for the SNES. What a difference!

I still loved the way that blue text looked on the gold cover of Zelda 2.

what can i say? zelda kicks ass.

"1. I bought Zelda (technically pops bought it) soley based on its cover. There was something about that little bit of gold shinig out of the box that grabbed my attention. Felt like there was magic inside. Upon playing it, I discovered there was indeed magic inside."


Amen..

I'm with #11 (crono141) - this pic takes me way back. Back too far actually. Bleh, where did the time go. :-(

ahhh the US Megaman box art.

frightening.
but fun.

The article seemed to be well-argued up until the Shadow of the Colossus/Nausicaa comparison. To say that the font-faces are similar is like saying that Arial and Verdana are similar, both are san-serif typefaces to be sure, but anyone can tell the two apart.

Hey, why is the upper left square on the seal of the Zelda cover blocked out like that? Looks like a staticy TV. It's the same in the Joystiq article. Isn't there supposed to be a heart in that quadrant, just like in the lower right?