SNES Box Art thread

[Wayler]

Here is a thread about discussing SNES box art or official art in general. This is probably not very relevant today in the age of roms and flash carts but I find the subject very fascinating. You can really lift the experience of a game with an awesome box art. What's the best, what's the worst and why? Have you purchased any game just on the awesome box alone, only to find a turd inside? Or have you skipped on a gem because of an awful cover? Share your thoughts here!

 

I'll start by highlighting the greatness of early Konami titles. This for me is the holy trinity of "Angry heroes and a bunch of cool stuff".

One could argue that the tone and mood for Turtles in Time is a little too dark compared to the brightly lit and colorful game but it's still one of my favorites. And this has to be the same artist on all of these, anyone have info on that? The compositions of Castlevania and Contra are shockingly similar when viewed side by side.

 

The earlier console generations did have great boxes as well, but I think the graphical advances in the 16-bit era meant that you could incorporate things on the cover that translated somewhat similarly to the game. So the awesome things you saw in art-form are in the game also, without having to squint and imagine them to the screen.

 

[newtmonkey]

I've always liked Konami's US box art for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles, especially the Castlevania series.

 

@Wayler

The same guy did indeed do all of the box art above: Tom duBois.  My Life With Gaming did a nice little documentary on him a while back:

 

 

[Tanooki]

I usually was spot on almost always in games I bought and box art wasn't an influence thankfully in the retail of the era. But in the dying says into 1st gen 3D I'd hit the 8/16bit stuff on the second hand dirt cheap market.  For a few years only one really stands out, I ignored Phalanx.  I had no idea really what it was, but back then you'd often find complete games and they cost the same as loose ones.  I had an idea it was a shooter, but about what... nuking hillbillies?

 

Needless to say I never got into it until some years later, a loose copy, forgot about the banjo playing hick and it ended up being solid.

 

 

Shame they didn't modify the JP or even PAL art, it would have easily helped the game more.

 

[Wayler]

Yeah, Phalanx's box is art-wise famously atrocious and weird (or brilliantly weird, depending on your preference). I like to think that the marketing department was just mouthing the word "phalanx" and someone randomly had a banjo around and they realized it was just like the sound effect that instrument makes. And lots of cocaine.

 

Anyway, it was actually a horrible box art that made me think of this subject in the first place. I had a random Youtube SNES playlist going, that had the box images on every song that went on. When a song from Lost Viking 2 started playing, I was greeted with this:

I don't understand why we decided that CGI renders were cool looking in the 90's. It is like you can see the vacuum of space behind the eyes of the viking in the forefront. So soulless and bleak. And the whole image is a mishmash of things. On the other hand, I wouldn't say the PAL-version fares much better, but at least it is drawn:

 

[Tanooki]

You know I think I would totally back that classic 90s movie stereotype of the major coke binge way to think things out, that would make your concept of how the hick came to being used make some level of sense.

 

I don't get it either why marketing departments thought the CGI renders of stuff somehow was more appealing, other than it was cutting edge tech at the time, as was the dinos in the original cut of Jurassic Park, so it was the IT thing.  The problem is, there were good renders, then still 'oooh' budget renders.  Lost Vikings 2 fell into the fubar'd budget renders, and I remember avoiding stuff that usually used such visuals as I felt was a sign of trying to distract to sell the not the best products.  Sometimes that was a miss, but largely the rule seemed to apply well.  The crappier the CGI on the box/label, the crappier yet the contents underneath it.  Where they did that so so wrong, DK Country did it right so it wasn't all terrible, maybe a fine line on it, but even in the earlier/mid 90s you could do good CGI box art that didn't feel cringy.

 

Maybe its' a design choice but I see some of the even more popular titles have some pretty terrible art, and not all just CGI, it's just bad.  Let's start with Mystical Ninja.  This as with any I'm not making it the JP vs US argument, just that it looks bad/worse than it should.

 

This one is like some angry dwarf or something with pop out boston terrier eyeballs and just a lot of more weirdly disproportionate garbage visuals where they tried to western up some obviously formerly more anime looking stuff in the worst ways possible.

 

Rival Turf was pretty confusingly terrible, so is this like a game with teenage street punks looking tough?  Looks like a crappy cool kids clothing ad from JC Penney or the Sears catalog more than a belt scrolling brawler.

 

I want to rip on this one, but destructoid summed it up as I think is said best: After viewing this cover, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.   They call it best, I call it worst...wtf

 

Or how about a time when Pac-Man had a bad turn after a visit to Taco Bell that had old ladies mocking him?

 

And well....diabeetus?  Someone didn't take their morning shot of insulin before making and approving this:

Edited November 7, 2023 by Tanooki

[Kirk_Johnston]

For some awesome SNES/Super Famicom box art, this book is an absolute must imo:

Edited November 7, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston

[Lost Monkey]

Regardless of how good the box art may be, I have always disliked the layout of the front of the SNES boxes.  The spines are great though...

[+GoldLeader]

15 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I usually was spot on almost always in games I bought and box art wasn't an influence thankfully in the retail of the era. But in the dying says into 1st gen 3D I'd hit the 8/16bit stuff on the second hand dirt cheap market.  For a few years only one really stands out, I ignored Phalanx.  I had no idea really what it was, but back then you'd often find complete games and they cost the same as loose ones.  I had an idea it was a shooter, but about what... nuking hillbillies?

 

Needless to say I never got into it until some years later, a loose copy, forgot about the banjo playing hick and it ended up being solid.

 

 

Shame they didn't modify the JP or even PAL art, it would have easily helped the game more.

 

 

9 hours ago, Wayler said:

Yeah, Phalanx's box is art-wise famously atrocious and weird (or brilliantly weird, depending on your preference). I like to think that the marketing department was just mouthing the word "phalanx" and someone randomly had a banjo around and they realized it was just like the sound effect that instrument makes. And lots of cocaine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny,  I remember an article in some video game mag of the 90's talking about box art and they didn't get Phalanx either,  made a big deal of it.  Unless I'm way off,  I understood it in an instant.  Whether newscasts or old sci-fi movies (Or newer ones),  the joke was always,  Who's the first person to see a UFO?   It's always some hick out in the middle of nowhere,  and if the aliens do come down to meet us... they're not going to be impressed.

 

I could imagine the meeting where they're trying to market yet another space shooter.  Every idea seems to be an "also ran",  when some young exec who had just rented Close Encounters the night before says,  "I may have something..."

 

...And after the clever box art gets your attention,  You read the text right above the name and *Booom!*  There it is!

[Wayler]

On 11/7/2023 at 4:33 PM, Tanooki said:

Mystical Ninja.  This as with any I'm not making it the JP vs US argument, just that it looks bad/worse than it should.

 

This one is like some angry dwarf or something with pop out boston terrier eyeballs and just a lot of more weirdly disproportionate garbage visuals where they tried to western up some obviously formerly more anime looking stuff in the worst ways possible.

This is also the work of Tom DuBois. I think this quote from an interview sums up the situation:

"When it came to visual guidelines I can remember only a few times they would supply me with VHS tapes of game play. Never an actual game. I remember they were always in Japanese. I could tell they didn't really want me to take those tapes home with me and were explicit about the importance of their prompt return.

I would also be given character art guidelines, but they were simple and poorly drawn line art."

 

Given the japanese madness that is Goemon, it's not really surprising that while the cover is a cool and crazy creation on itself, it really really does not fit the game. Anime and manga was a pretty foreign concept in the erly 90's.

 

On 11/7/2023 at 10:23 PM, Lost Monkey said:

Regardless of how good the box art may be, I have always disliked the layout of the front of the SNES boxes.  The spines are great though...

I have to agree on this one. The orientation for one thing is always locked as landscape and the thick black borders constrict the image to be smaller than need to be. I like the more freeform style of the Super Famicom boxes.

[Tanooki]

@Wayler  I think I could agree with that largely, other than anime and manga in the earlier half of the 90s being foreign.  Around that time it had already been at least in cartoon established slowly, even if in disguise, since the Speed Racer and Starblazers efforts, but in that specific point of time Dragon Ball and Z were both run in the US as is on standard TV, Ranma in many places, VHS for both, Sailor Moon, a number of others but I get where he's going with it as it wasn't a full on accepted normal thing as it has been say post 2000.  But yeah, definitely...it's crazy, it's weird, and really REALLY does not fit the game (which is why I called that one out.)

 

I'm tempted to throw some solid art into the thread too but felt screwy would be appreciated.  Hell there's just BORING too, for all the fluff and wonder... WTF with Final Fantasy II and III??  Oooh the title logo, and one choice of color...so bold.

[Wayler]

Well as SFC has been mentioned, I'd like to compare some region differences. This is an area that has always fascinated me (looking at you, Super Probotector, ugh) and now even more-so as I've gotten to collecting SFC games a bit. I am mostly of the opinion that more is more when it comes to box art, so a minimalistic approach won't get me excited. Let's look at the mainline Mario-entries for the system.

 

First we have Super Mario World:

Marketing-wise, I get the decision to include only Mario&Yoshi on the cover for US/PAL. It continues the trend set by SMB2 and SMB3, where Mario is the highlight and then you see a snippet of something new on what the game has to offer. Turnip in SMB2, Tanooki-suit in SMB3 and here it's Yoshi and the cape. They want to inform it's the Mario you know and like but look, this time it's different. With PAL, they take the yellow color from SFC-box, but it doesn't change things. I still would prefer the colorful WORLD full of fun stuff for the SFC. Rest of the World - Japan: 0-1.

 

 

Things take a turn for Super Mario All-Stars though:

The SFC box is ugly and bland and a mishmash of elements. The golden Mario doesn't work for me with the yellow background. The art for US/PAL on the other hand is wonderful, highlighting a cartridge full of games and adventure. The inclusion of Mario as a magician is a perfect touch because it at the time, it felt like the release was full of magic: 4 whole games! The magical element is amplified with yellow-starry PAL-version, which I prefer. Game tied 1-1.

 

 

Lastly we have Yoshi's Island:

And weirdly enough, I think US/PAL takes a win in this one. Although full of color, SFC is again a mixture of elements that doesn't quite work together and I can't help to snicker at "Yossy Island". PAL-version is again continuing the weird yellow trend but the US box is this time more cohesive with it's black borders. I like how this time the image is bigger than normal and has a change to leap out more from the constraints and let the color shine. Final score: Rest of the world - Japan : 2-1.

 

And I said weirdly, because apart from US/PAL Konami art, I generally prefer SFC boxes over US/PAL but the Mario platformers seem to be an exception.

[SlidellMan]

Speaking of Super Famicom box art, some of my favorites are Star Ocean, Energy Breaker, and Dragon Quest V.

Favorite US box art:

-Demon's Crest

-Kirby's Dream Course

-Both of the Super Turrican games.

-All three of the Mega Man X games.

-All of Capcom's Disney titles

-Both of the Actraiser games

[Wayler]

SlidellMan's post made made my think up all of the numerous great RPG titles that the system has to offer. Often times they had great box art to entice the player to a wondrous journey. But then there are also other....instances (like Tanooki pointed out with FFII and III). Here are a few of my favorites.

 

Secret of Mana

Oh the sense of wonderment and awe this cover brings to mind, among all of the memories playing the game. The lush forest invites you to a magical adventure. This again though shows the limiting orientation of the PAL/US box design. The original Japanese cover is so much more beatiful with the whole Mana tree visible. Against the US version the PAL box is slightly better because of the dark green background but not by much. I'm glad that they at least present the full picture on the instruction booklet. And as a side note, the western release strangely just spreads lies with this text-quip "First game in a new action/adventure series". Well it's not new is it? You already released the first one on the Gameboy! (But I guess if you just change the title it will magically start a new series...). Also a bold move by Squaresoft Japan not to include any gameplay images on the back cover either. instead we are introduced to a yet another gorgeous painting by Hirō Isono. And some cute plushies! I wonder if they were available somewhere?

 

 

Terranigma

I think this game's cover art cleverly displays one of the key features, the rolling world map. That twisting tower indicates that something mysterious is going when your focus finally turns away from the strange orb. Somehow I think the localized release fares a bit better this time around. While the SFC box has the full image, the title text is really distracting and out of place. The western Terranigma-logo and font fit much more nicely to the image. The back cover goes to SFC though, with more interesting artwork and not just your paint-by-the-numbers blah-blah.

 

 

 

Rudra no Hihou (Treasure of the Rudras)

Well there's no comparison to be made here, as this was only released in Japan. But by god is this just a breathtaking image to look at. It's like Zdzisław Beksiński and HR Giger made an apocalyptic cyberpunk anime baby. That face in the sky looks so menacing, like it's ready to devour the entire world. And the stylized kanji or whatever blends in seamlessly. I haven't actually ever even played the game, just looked at this cover. Sadly the back cover is pretty meh, so no need to show it here.

[turboxray]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:26 AM, Wayler said:

Well as SFC has been mentioned, I'd like to compare some region differences. This is an area that has always fascinated me (looking at you, Super Probotector, ugh) and now even more-so as I've gotten to collecting SFC games a bit. I am mostly of the opinion that more is more when it comes to box art, so a minimalistic approach won't get me excited. Let's look at the mainline Mario-entries for the system.

 

First we have Super Mario World:

 

 The Japanese box art goes hand in hand with the title "Super Maro World". I mean it's got a lil planet haha. It makes more sense.

 

[SlidellMan]

Speaking of SFC boxart comparisions:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturricansnes.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturricansnesjp.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturrican2us.jpg

[turboxray]

44 minutes ago, SlidellMan said:

Speaking of SFC boxart comparisions:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturricansnes.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturricansnesjp.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturrican2us.jpg

The mask nose-piece makes it look like he has a stubby pig snout.

[Wayler]

15 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Speaking of SFC boxart comparisions:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/superturricansnes.jpg

 

whoa, never realized there so much weirdness packed in this.

 

So you got Peter Weller doing his best Robocop "I'm in pain" emotion, probably because his hand is on fire as a result of having a jet engine attached to his shoulder. We then also learn what happened to the evil robot Maximillian after the ending of The Black Hole. After plummeting into said hole, he has been transported to the Turrican universe. I guess along the way he has buddied up with Jean Luc Picard cosplaying as the devil and Dr. Zoidberg...

 

And let's just reverse the image when we publish it in another region, why not? Better yet, let's re-use the picture when we publish the sequal! And let's not get started on that Guyver/Griffith/Transformer/-wannabe that Japan got.....

 

[SlidellMan]

I will admit that Japanese rendition of the Turrican suit looks rather cool.

[Tanooki]

Yeah that anime style turrican art is top notch, slots nicely in the 1985-95 era style of anime from then which is phenomenal.  The western art is pretty bad, confusing, laughable at points like iron pig snout on the PAL release.

[Wayler]

Earlier I took a look at great RPG covers, time for the stinkers. 

 

Earthbound

It's like two different dimensions. We either have the Adventures of Sir Sniffs-a-lot in LSD-land or Socialist Utopia Simulator. And both of them fail horribly to convey what the game is really about. Nintendo seems to often drop the ball when it comes to box art. 

 

 

Tecmo Secret of the Stars

Oh boy, where to start with this one. The cover proclaims "Tecmo Secret of the Stars a Fantasy" but the picture says "Dollhouse: The Secret of Timmy's missing socks". It's also sold by Tecmo and a part of Tecmo RPG series. They sure think the name is a mark of quality. Warning sirens should blare as the back cover basically tells you that "yea we haven't done this before but trust us, it's really good (we are Tecmo by the way). What is a Tecmo Secret anyway? To produce a SNES game in '95 that looks like it belongs to NES? Not really surprising that their RPG series ended in part 1. (Can it be even called a series then?). A fantasy was that this would sell. 

 

The japanese counterpart doesn't fare much better. -The great roleplaying game-. Not in quotes by the way, so it's their own assertion. Okay, If you say so. The logo is nice I guess. The artist clearly played the game though as he slipped in a "subtle" warning: one of the characters is giving you, the future player and/or buyer, the middle finger. 

 

 

Final Fantasy III

Tanooki already mentioned this but let us take a closer look. I understand the logo. Although a bit blah, it's a continuation on the earlier releases and it's good to have uniformity in a series. But why the Moogle (both front and back)? A total side character. Just a baffling decision. 

 

Now here's maybe a controversial opinion. I don't like the official art by Yoshitaka Amano either. The mech is nice but why is there a Mardi Gras in the background? New Orleans wasn't part of this world by my recollection. The game is trying (and succeeding) to paint an image of a sad, bleak and broken world. The floaty, airy and fairytale-like drawings do not belong to the same world. Would have been a better choice to just only use the chibi-style characters, like in the back cover (and in previous games). 

[Tanooki]

You know I'd agree with FF2/3 US for uniformity, but was it though to start?  FInal Fantasy I had some solid box art, even if they westerned it up a bit it was nice with the floating land, and the intricate art to wow the customer with that back background around it but that just took it too far.  I'm not saying if they were chicken about it to use the amano stuff, but at least something like how it started on NES.  But even then they went lame and lazy on the GB saga as FF releases too.

[Wayler]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

You know I'd agree with FF2/3 US for uniformity, but was it though to start?  FInal Fantasy I had some solid box art

You are correct. FFI has a pretty cool box, I like the thick black background that highlights everything. And the title font/logo is distinctly different. That was a false memberberry on my part. 

 

Just looking at a NES box shows why the SNES had such an inferior design stylistically (personal opinion of course). 

[SlidellMan]

I also wanted to mention a hidden gem in regards to SFC boxart: Angelique by Koei.

Yuka Kairi did an excellent job with watercolors.

[Austin]

I have always enjoyed the Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts box art.

 

[WavyGravy]

Chrono Trigger had a great box, although it really confused me as a kid. Why is Marle using fire magic? I could never get Marle to use fire magic! And why are they fighting Heckran in the Ice Age? He only appears in the Present! No, no, none of this makes sense at all!