NES / Famicom Box Art thread

[CapitanClassic]

Time for an iconic RPG on Nintendo.

 

Dragon Quest - FC

The Dagon Quest series was extremely popular in Japan, enough so that rumors circulated that subsequent releases in the series need to be release on non-school days. The cover art, and all the enemy designs are the work of Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. The Japanese cover shows Prince Roto (Erdrick) facing off against the main antagonist, the Dragonlord. The title nicely matches the in-game title screen, with the gleam shining off the ‘T’ sword.

 

Dragon Warrior - USA 

 

The North American release of Dragon Warrior didn’t sell nearly as well (about 1/3rd), and many kids probably got their copy for free with a $20 subscription to Nintendo Power. The new cover art once again features Prince Erdrick facing off this time against a Green Dragon. The manga art style has been dropped for a more super hero comic book style. I don’t know if the artist for the USA cover has ever been identified, but the sequel Dragon Warrior II is a shining example of different art styles between the FC/NES. But that is another story.

 

No PAL/EU release.

[newtmonkey]

I definitely prefer the box art for DW and DWII over DQ and DQII.  The box art for DWII is especially good imo.  I generally like Toriyama's art, but don't care for the squat, chubby children depicted for these two games.  I know that the heroes of the first couple games are young, but they aren't toddlers!  I also don't like his habit of giving monsters cute googly eyes... it makes the dragon on the DQ box look ridiculous.  If you just remove the pupil and iris from his eyes (white), he would look a bit more threatening but still fun.

 

The box art for DQIII and DQIV, however, is awesome, with the characters still looking young, but not like little children.  The art for both games is also way better than the "let's empty our backpacks on the floor and take a photo of all our junk" cover of DWIII and "a sword" cover of DWIV.

Edited Thursday at 05:03 AM by newtmonkey

[CapitanClassic]

Speaking of which...I do prefer the DQ1 cover over the DW1 cover (but just barely). I may have also incorrectly identified the monster on the cover. It might be a Wyvern judging by the lack of hindquarters and wispy wings, but the art director thought it might look too much like a duck (I blame Atari 's Adventure) and mixed up the palette and monsters. I do like the Explorer's Handbook cover, even though it is an equipment dump. The internal illustrations and drawings are superior in the official Japanese guide though, since the USA guide lacks most of the illustrations other than the weapons and items.

 

 

Dragon Quest II - FC

Akira Toriyama returns, with a cover featuring our three protagonists. This time though, I don't like the action pose. Yes your main character is a tank, but the dive in front makes your teammates look weak and incapable. The closeup on Hargon doesn't make him look intimidating.

 

Dragon Warrior II - NA

The NA region cover is much better. Continuing the more grown up style, the art doesn't go all the way with a Frank Frazetta or Boris Vallejo depiction of fantasy characters (there's another NES / USA release in that style though), this is a kids game after all. The heroes are surrounded by multiple enemies, but each is holding their own. Hargon broods menacingly in the background bathed in white smoke, and if it weren't for the title, you could make out Malroth tinged blue and towering behind the pillars. The uncredited artist is Hiroshi Kajiyama, best known for his work on the Shining Series (not the cover art, but character design, game design, writing, programing, producing)

Spoiler

someone noticed the KiS signature on the cover art and matched it to the same signature of the works of Kensuke Suzuki, a pen name of Hiroshi Kajiyama. Clearly some of his work could take the place of Vallejo on the cover of a heavy metal album or fantasy novel.

 

[Wayler]

Another region battle and an interesting sounding game combining a space shooter and Zelda-style dungeon adventure that I have never played but only knew of it's existence by name. 

 

The Guardian Legend

 

PAL

This is the PAL cover and for some reason in my mind this and Journey to Silius get scrambled in my brain to be the same game. There is some retro-style scifi at play for both, even though they look very different. The PAL cover does the best job at displaying the main character in an tasteful and detailed manner. It's a very well done cover with all the elements working perfectly together, her look of resolution at the job at hand finishing the touch.

 

US

US = ugh, sucks. First of all, half of the box is taken by an offensively yellow block. And the other portion just looks like some generic placeholder fantasy art that has nothing to do with the game. And why do I say that? Because I was browsing SFC games to buy and came across this:

It is some random Mahjong game. This is the reason for this post because I started thinking where I have seen those eyes before. I also did a Google image search on the US box to see if there are similar example and found this.

Creature is a scifi horror movie from 1985. Whatever the significance of those eyes is (other than a dramatic stare), this same motif seem to be pretty common. But as the composition of this poster is so similar to the US box, The Guardian Legend does seem like a straight ripoff.

 

 

FC

The art for the Japanese cover is simply stunning, like a perfect marriage between HR Giger and cyberpunk. I like the choice of using only gray/blue/silvery coloring. It is a shame for that ugly title stamp as it dilutes the effect of the cover. As an art piece this is clearly the winner but I think PAL region takes the win this time as a cohesive whole.

[SlidellMan]

I might as well contribute with some from Sunsoft:

 

[Tanooki]

Those Sunsoft art choices... Blaster Master was equally confusing and terrible, too much space used with solid colors, over sized title, and then that huge cross hair next to it.  If you looked only at the front, didn't flip the box/vidpro card over you'd think it was a dumpy light gun game with pixelated aliens like the one on the cover.  Metafight may have been weaker buggy had issues and cleaned up so much nicer for the non-JP market that story/lore took over(RARE) but the box art is quite good and hits it better despite the girl making little sense at face value.

 

And Gimmick PAL with derpy art vs the japanese one is just no contest.  That pal art i like if kirby turned into a booger and grew a horn.

 

Battle Formula here vs Super Spy Hunter (the ad art is the box art.)  -- I prefer this one, it just has a bit more detail of the insanity going on, but it's more soft and not over serious/early CGI ish looking too.

[Wayler]

Yes, while Sunsoft delivered some great games for the system, they weren't exactly the masters of box art. I can't name a single western release from them that I like in this category. 

 

They did fare better on the famicom front. That Mr Gimmick is cute and original with its clay figure approach. Let's hope no one turns those gears or it'll be a colorful and clumpy mess. Also the Super Spy Hunter counterpart above is excellent with only minus going to the swollen looking car. 

 

My favorite is the FC release of Journey to Silius:

I have no idea why it's called raf World over there. Needs only a few lasers and it would be a perfect scifi action cover. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Wayler

[SlidellMan]

That Battle Formula box looks like a screenshot from an anime. (Seeing that they went with a Painted Celluloid and background.) Now, more box art:

The Quest of Ki takes place after The Return of Ishtar. Thus, it is another follow-up to The Tower of Druaga.

Man, Taito of America must have been doing peyote to have gone with something so absurd.

The Kanji Translates to The Legend of Acala/Fudo Myo-ouden.

[Wayler]

2 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Now, more box art:

I wish there was a more focused effort or maybe just a mention on why each image was worth sharing or perhaps your opinions on them. Something, anything, rather than this shotgun approach.

[Bloodreign]

@Wayler Raf World is pretty much a take on Rough World, just the way the Japanese pronounce it, it sounds like Raf.

 

@SlidellMan Quest of Ki takes place timeline wise before Tower of Druaga. Ki goes on her own in the Tower of Babel to defeat Druaga, and gets turned to stone for her troubles by Druaga. Tower of Druaga finds Gil out to scale the tower to defeat the beast, and to save Ki. When you go to place the rods after Druaga's efeat, you find Ki, turned into a rock, just like she was left after Quest of Ki. Return of Ishtar takes place after Tower of Druaga, where Gilgamesh and Ki must go back down and out of the tower.