thegame370

Does anyone else here think that most art used for game covers suck. I was looking at some games in my collection and thought to myself, "Man, most of these cover arts are bad!". For example, heres a few:

Jak II
Resident Evil Zero
Resident Evil (REmake)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
SSX
Silent Hill 3

Then ofcourse theres a few that are straight beauties like:

Kingdom Hearts
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow


So, what do you guys think? Which covers rule and which suck!? Or who could care less about game covers or what the hell im talking about

illennium

ICO is a gorgeous game that has a terrible cover.

DVD Lamer

Try looking at the Japanese and European covers.

PalmerJoss

I have to agree with you that most game covers suck. I myself prefer the Castlevania covers as of late, and I'm a sucker for the covers to the Zelda games--a classic design that never gets old IMO. I also love the Final Fantasy covers from the past 7 or 8 years.

I automatically hate all sports game covers because they are mostly all the same--take an athlete who is hot in a particular sport and paste their mug on the cover. Boring.

Outlaw

you hit the nail on the head PalmerJoss, I agree with almost everything you said.

One thing to consider though is that box arts have come a long way since Megaman 1 and Crystalis (those covers are the worst ever but the games were some of the best ever) Overall I think there are more good ones than bad ones. Here are some recent ones that I think are really well done:

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (or pretty much any of the GBA or PS2 castlevania's)
Mario and Luigi: SuperStar Saga
Kingdom Hearts

Here's something interesting, the Japanese release of Metroid Prime got a sweet box art . (link may or may not work).

Anyway I don't buy games based on the box art, in fact I don't see them 97% of the time after I get the game because they placed in a rack , but they are interesteing nontheless

Enjoy!

sararekuforever

Original covers are always better

Look at the Japanese covers for Shining Force 2 and Phantasy Star 4 on Sega Genesis

The Japanese covers are incredible anime arts that I wish I could have as posters [especially the Shining Force 2 one, the cover makes it look so EPIC, and the Phantasy Star IV is just cool]

However, the American covers for the two games are quite stereotypical [though the PSIV cover is not so bad, just a more traditional American comic style used for characters]

Another great cover in Japanese is the Xenogears one, very classy, very mystical, but the US cover just makes it scream "anime"

Then again, I don't think I would have bought the game had it NOT been for it being anime like...

Worst cover eve though...and no one can deny it..FFX

The instruction book art [with Yuna and Tidus in the oasis] is amazing

The Japanese art with the full logo is simple but cute

but they picked this totally surfer dude type picture of Tidus...they might as well have put Wakka and a Ninja Turtle and quoted it "Cowabunga, dude, FFX is gnarly"

PixyJunket

I like how you mention American covers being "stereotypical" and then you squirt your shorts over anime covers.

balancer

one of the worst covers i can recall was for the original Suikoden for ps1. Cheesy-ass european medieval looking people... when they could have left that sweet anime style, yeah!

sararekuforever

Umm, no, it's true

The cover for shining force 2 has a huge, muscular knight in armor on a white stallion, with a HUGE shield and a big broad sword...it looks straight out of a knock off Camelot film

Yet the game has nothing like it, actually, the designs for SF2 are very cute and original, and I think only one character has a shield and a huge sword [one of the barons, and he isn't even that important]

And the PSIV cover is weird because the game is an anime game, all the cut scenes are panel anime, and the battle engine is anime, to have the cover look like the cover of a dollar story fantasy novel is just weird

I would say the same thing if a game like NBA Live or Grand Theft Auto had a stylized anime cover, it wouldn't work because not one of the characters or models in the game is anime....so it would be stupid because it would just be "oh, hey, buy me because i have a cool cover"

sararekuforever

Yes, Balancer, that's what they did to my beloved SF2 and PSIV, they are games that mold everything around their anime influenvce, to give them a cover like that is not representing the game fully..

I know lots of people who bought SF2 expecting that sort of fare, and when they got huge eyed Sarah [mmm..so cute..like my sarah] and super deformed Bowie, they were VERY disappointed

AgtFox

How can you forget the [sarcasm]BEST[/sarcasm] cover ever: Phalanx for the SNES?

RUN-DvdMC

Is there anyone on the board that redesigns game covers just like the ones on the dvd covers forum? I would be interested in possibly looking or purchasing ones that I thought were cool and of high quality.

Joshic

The japanese cover for Dead or Alive 3 was much better than the US cover. Ditto for DOA Volleyball. It sux that US covers are always worse than JPN covers.

CreatureX

I really like the U.S. Mario Party 5 cover.

gusamo

Is there anyplace I can download a replacement cover? I need one for Super Smash Brothers Melee for GC

Outlaw

Good god thats awful, after seeing that cover I did some searching around and found screenshots of the game, never would have expected what kind of game it is.

The Dude

I never knew they made a game out of 'Deliverance'

thegame370

I was looking through my collection today and just thought id mention that all 3 Ninja Gaiden cover arts kick a$$! With that said, i just saw the cover art for the one coming out on Xbox, and sadly, it doesnt look as cool.