Best videogame cover art/boxart

[samuraigaiden]

Let's celebrate the greatest part of videogame, the image on the boxes that don't even exist anymore. I'll start:

 

[schru]

 

[Wunderbar]

 

[Falksi]

 

[ferratilis]

 

[†††]

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Spoiler

The original Ico box art used in Japan (and more or less everywhere else except the United States):

 

[Budget_Sage]

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[A horse of course]

Spoiler

The original Ico box art used in Japan (and more or less everywhere else except the United States):

Meanwhile in realityland:

Despite the positive praise, the original title did not sell well. By 2009, only 700,000 copies were sold worldwide, with 270,000 in the United States,[21] and the bulk in PAL regions.[22] Ueda considered his design by subtraction approach may have hurt the marketing of the game, as at the time of the game's release, promotion of video games were primarily done through screenshots, and as Ico lacked any heads-up display, it appeared uninteresting to potential buyers.[64]

Sorry midwits but the mutts were right, nobody was going to buy Ico based on the Japanese cover. Nobody who saw it in a store would would be attracted by the boxart, nor does it actually communicate anything about the game beyond being "arty". The problem is that the American cover made it look like a child's game, which was just as damaging, though perhaps the American marketing department thought that would be its best chance to salvage some sales.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Meanwhile in realityland:

Despite the positive praise, the original title did not sell well. By 2009, only 700,000 copies were sold worldwide, with 270,000 in the United States,[21] and the bulk in PAL regions.[22] Ueda considered his design by subtraction approach may have hurt the marketing of the game, as at the time of the game's release, promotion of video games were primarily done through screenshots, and as Ico lacked any heads-up display, it appeared uninteresting to potential buyers.[64]

Sorry midwits but the mutts were right, nobody was going to buy Ico based on the Japanese cover. Nobody who saw it in a store would would be attracted by the boxart, nor does it actually communicate anything about the game beyond being "arty". The problem is that the American cover made it look like a child's game, which was just as damaging, though perhaps the American marketing department thought that would be its best chance to salvage some sales.

From the same Wikipedia article you quote from: "Since release, the North American cover has been considered one of the worst pieces of cover art for video games in contrast to the game's quality and the Japanese/PAL cover.[29][20] On reflection, Yasuhide Kobayashi, vice-president of Sony's Japan Studio, believed the North American box art and lack of an identifiable English title led to the game's poor sales in the United States, and stated plans to correct that for the release of The Last Guardian.[21]"


Ico was an exclusive to the Playstation 2, which sold more than twice as many units in the US than in Japan, and it appears that sales per console were lower for the ugly box cover version in America than for the original box cover version in Japan and Western Europe.

Not that this thread was intended to be on the subject of sales, until you raised it.

 

[A horse of course]

Meanwhile in realityland:

Despite the positive praise, the original title did not sell well. By 2009, only 700,000 copies were sold worldwide, with 270,000 in the United States,[21] and the bulk in PAL regions.[22] Ueda considered his design by subtraction approach may have hurt the marketing of the game, as at the time of the game's release, promotion of video games were primarily done through screenshots, and as Ico lacked any heads-up display, it appeared uninteresting to potential buyers.[64]

Sorry midwits but the mutts were right, nobody was going to buy Ico based on the Japanese cover. Nobody who saw it in a store would would be attracted by the boxart, nor does it actually communicate anything about the game beyond being "arty". The problem is that the American cover made it look like a child's game, which was just as damaging, though perhaps the American marketing department thought that would be its best chance to salvage some sales.

From the same Wikipedia article you quote from: "Since release, the North American cover has been considered one of the worst pieces of cover art for video games in contrast to the game's quality and the Japanese/PAL cover.[29][20] On reflection, Yasuhide Kobayashi, vice-president of Sony's Japan Studio, believed the North American box art and lack of an identifiable English title led to the game's poor sales in the United States, and stated plans to correct that for the release of The Last Guardian.[21]"


Ico was an exclusive to the Playstation 2, which sold more than twice as many units in the US than in Japan, and it appears that sales per console were lower for the ugly box cover version in America than for the original box cover version in Japan and Western Europe.

Not that this thread was intended to be on the subject of sales, until you raised it.

I read both the article and the articles it linked to, because I knew weebs would resort to denialism. You obviously missed the fact that its sales were a disappointment outside America as well.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080214102739/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12757

Sony's Shadow of the Colossus, the long-awaited second project from the team behind cult classic PS2 title ICO, has sold over 140,000 units in its first week at retail and gone straight in at number one in the Japanese charts.

The game, which has also been reviewed exceptionally strongly both in Japan and in North America, sold through almost 80 per cent of shipped units in the first two days, and is widely expected to match or exceed the 209,000 units of ICO which sold in Japan.

However, in Europe - where ICO is also considered a classic title but was not a commercial success - Shadow of the Colossus is not scheduled for release until early next year.

https://www.gamereactor.eu/ico-and-shadow-of-the-colossus-collection-review/

It's arguable that Ico was a success despite its poor sales, overriding critical acclaim for once and keeping the torch lit to allow the developer to carry on where others have seen closure. Four years later saw the release of Ico's spiritual sequel - different story, but the technique and expression the same - with Shadow of the Colossus.

There's a reason ICO is called a "cult classic" - because it sold badly in both regions. Thinking an arty Japanese puzzle/action-adventure would've somehow been a success in America if it had different cover art is just wishful thinking, which Sony also (publically) claimed. However, the cover art for ALL regional versions of their next game, Shadow of the Colossus, was explicitly action/horror oriented: https://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/shadow-of-the-colossus/cover-art

 

[Jason Liang]

We're being sarcastic right?

 

[lightbane]

This kind of thread keeps popping up from time to time. It's always welcome though.

 

[Mise]

Seeing as how even modern fallouts still have the same box art more or less, Ron Perlman might say: "Box art, box art never changes. "

 

[Glop_dweller]

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Fallout was great art

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

 

[samuraigaiden]

stuff

stuff

The 2008 darts game must've sold really well because they kept hiring the same models for all the sequels

You can see this is a darts game for the Wii because the man is holding a wii controller

 

[Great Deceiver]

The Atari 2600 had some great boxart - back in those days, we had to use our imagination because of the severely limited capabilities of the system. The art on the box/cartridge label definitely helped.

 

[HansDampf]

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

 

[Mexi]

Stronk woman.

 

[A horse of course]

For any Bongoloids who didn't notice, the woman is page 3 girl Maria Whittaker, and the man is the Michael Van Wyk, AKA Wolf from Gladiators